The spiritual politics-moral values thing has been exaggerated.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Hunt Protestors and Assassination Fears
Nov 7th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDeepening resentment towards the government could result in people being killed.… Read the rest
A Sunday Snicker with Stott
Nov 7th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘I was wearing classic Joseph tuxedo pants’ while nabbing table items from posh caffs. How eco!… Read the rest
Creationism in Wisconsin
Nov 7th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSchool district mandates the teaching of more than one theory of origin.… Read the rest
With the Devout
Nov 6th, 2004 8:18 pm | By Ophelia BensonReligion again. Or rather, still. It never does go away, does it. Funny how people keep urging us to have more of it when its consequences so often seem so very…unpleasant.
Jonathan Derbyshire has a couple of posts on the subject – one about the fallacy that atheists and materialists lack a sense of wonder or awe and the other a review of what sounds like a very irritating book on atheism. Theists have the most remarkable way of assuming that only they are capable of an enormous range of human qualities and aspirations – morality, imagination, dreams, commitment, wonder, honesty, dedication, kindness, mercy, courage, putting the cap back on the toothpaste, virtue, monogamy, not picking their noses in public. … Read the rest
Islam in Indonesia
Nov 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘On paper, Indonesia is a secular country, but it’s illegal not to have a religion there.’… Read the rest
More on van Gogh, Hirsi Ali, the Netherlands
Nov 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“I feel terribly guilty,” a shocked Hirsi Ali told Dutch media.… Read the rest
Garry Wills on Yearning for the Enlightenment
Nov 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCan a people that believes more fervently in the Virgin Birth than in evolution still be called an Enlightened nation?… Read the rest
Paying Too Much Attention
Nov 5th, 2004 8:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonI find the murder of Theo van Gogh quite disturbing, upsetting, disgusting, infuriating, etc. As I’m meant to, of course; as we all are – all we unrepentent atheists and secularists and women who wander around in the world without asking anyone’s permission. Killing him is meant precisely as a message – to people like him, to people like his co-producer of the film ‘Submission,’ Ayaan Hirsi Ali, to people who criticise or resist Islamism in general.
Some of the coverage of the murder is slightly peculiar. It seems somewhat – cowed. Hesitant. Apologetic. It seems to want to say or signal that van Gogh kind of sort of asked for it. That he shouldn’t have said such mean things … Read the rest
More on van Gogh, ‘Submission,’ Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Nov 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMP Ali has blamed Islamists for fostering repression and domestic violence; she and van Gogh were threatened.… Read the rest
UNESCO Condemns Murder of Theo van Gogh
Nov 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThough in an unfortunately apologetic way.… Read the rest
A Critical View of van Gogh in Index on Censorship
Nov 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRohan Jayasekera says van Gogh’s work was abuse of his right to free speech.… Read the rest
British v French Enlightenment
Nov 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMcLemee on Himmelfarb’s ‘sociology of virtue.’… Read the rest
Jonathan Derbyshire Reviews Silly Atheism Book
Nov 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAlister McGrath makes his case by mischaracterising atheism.… Read the rest
Being a Woman in Afghanistan
Nov 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt takes some nerve.… Read the rest
A Mistake in Arendt Biography Gets Repeated
Nov 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEdward Said repeated Young-Bruehl’s error in article, later reprinted, despite her correction.… Read the rest
Another Murder Committed by Political Islam
Nov 5th, 2004 | By Azar MajediYesterday Theo van Gogh, a journalist and a filmmaker, was brutally murdered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He was murdered because he cared and dared to expose the inherent misogynism in and the brutal nature of Islam. An act, which sadly, nowadays calls for great courage, due to advancements of political Islam and the rise in religion’s influence in the society. He was murdered by political Islam, a reactionary movement that resorts to intimidation and terror as its main tools for gaining power and achieving its goals. This is not the first crime committed by this movement as a way to silence the critics of Islam and Islamists, and if we do not stand against it, it will not be the last. … Read the rest
Shaming
Nov 5th, 2004 1:06 am | By Ophelia BensonAnd now that we’ve given the charitable reading room to breathe, let’s take it back again. Let’s say the hell with the charitable reading – it can hold its breath. Because the problem with the possible feelings of superiority thing (besides the ones I’ve already mentioned) is that it just isn’t necessarily true, and it’s destructive (and often hostile and unkind) to assume that it is. Sure, it’s always possible that The Subject likes [Shakespeare/Bach/Whatever] for invidious reasons, just as it’s always possible that The Subject does anything for invidious reasons, but that’s not quite good grounds for assuming that she does. What the feelings of superiority explanation overlooks is the possibility that The Subject just really does like [Shakespeare/Bach/Whatever] … Read the rest
Breathing Room
Nov 4th, 2004 4:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonOkay, first, to be fair, let’s try to make a case for anti-‘elitism’. Let’s try to figure out if people who stake out claims to the anti-elitist moral high ground have any good reasons for such claims – let’s try to figure out if there is anything going on here besides one-upsmanship and a paradoxical (not to say ironic) kind of elitism via reverse-elitism. (It is kind of funny from that point of view. It can be seen as nothing but an endless silly regress. ‘You’re an elitist and I’m not, therefore I’m better so I’m in the elite and you’re not…um…wait…’) Let’s try to do the charitable reading thing, just this once.
The moral core of the idea seems … Read the rest
Anti-gay Singer’s Tour Cancelled
Nov 4th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe British tour by Jamaican star Sizzla has been called off after protests that his music would incite attacks on gay men.… Read the rest