Single impact theory of dinosaur extinction is challenged.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Bonfire of the Bourgeois Vanities
Mar 2nd, 2004 | By David StanwayIn China, people of a certain generation will tell you stories about an era that might as well be a millenium ago. There are thousands of children, amassed in Shanghai’s train station, waiting for the beginning of what feels to them to be a big and important adventure. Their parents are weeping, watching their children bound towards the carriages on their way to the countryside, where – as part of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution – they will spend their formative years learning from the peasants.
The kids who participated in this vast exodus are now in their forties and fifties, and most complain of the gap in their education and the wasted decade lasting from 1966 to the death … Read the rest
Confidence in MMR Vaccine Grows
Mar 1st, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Thanks to conflict of interest allegations.… Read the rest
NHS Head Dismisses Charles’ Demands
Mar 1st, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The NHS will use anything that evidential research shows works.’… Read the rest
Antipathy and Propathy
Mar 1st, 2004 12:09 am | By Ophelia BensonI was planning in any case to say a few things about the case for the other side. In a laborious attempt to be fair, to avoid groupthink and confirmation bias, etc. No not really, that’s only a joke – there actually are some things to be said for the other side that I find persuasive. Not for the basic truth claims of religion, but for the idea that religion can be a good thing in some ways. (Not much of an admission, believers will think, but it’s the best I can do.) I was planning to do that today in any case and then by pure coincidence I got a reminder or reinforcement from Chris Bertram at Twisty Sticks… Read the rest
Groupthink
Mar 1st, 2004 12:08 am | By Ophelia BensonAre we all awash in a sea of mutual agreement and back-patting and groupthink here? Is all this discussion of lame defenses of religion just another smelly little orthodoxy*? Do we agree with each other too much, with the result that we are smug and arrogant, as the beleaguered minority that doesn’t agree with us says? My colleague probably thinks so, even though he’s just as critical of religion as I am. He thinks blogs tend to foster groupthink; he’s just written a very good column on the subject for TPM. He also thinks a lot of other skeptical things about blogs, which is tiresome of him. No doubt he thinks I’m being very pompous, vain, boring, etc, as some … Read the rest
Ian Bell Reviews Francis Wheen
Feb 29th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A cool, dispassionate look at Wheen’s Mumbo Jumbo.… Read the rest
Daniel Boorstin
Feb 29th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Washington Post obituary.… Read the rest
Is the French Government Anti-Intelligence?
Feb 29th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
French intellectuals have signed a petition to that effect.… Read the rest
US Trade Embargo Extended to Research
Feb 28th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Treasury Department warns against publishing scientific research from Iran, Libya, Sudan, Cuba.… Read the rest
The Hubble Telescope is Doomed
Feb 28th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bush administration has redirected NASA resources to Mars and moon trips.… Read the rest
Prince Charles Makes Fool of Himself – Again
Feb 28th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
More “alternative” treatments should be available on the NHS.… Read the rest
A Defense of Whig History
Feb 28th, 2004 | By Christopher OrletNot long ago the television show Biography aired a documentary on the life of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. Midway through the film came the obligatory two minutes concerning Ford’s anti-Semitic rantings, his Nazi medal, and his anti-Jewish newspaper The Dearborn Independent. When it came time to put Ford’s anti-Semitism into perspective, the film-makers explained that Ford’s views were part and parcel of growing up on a Reconstruction-era farm in southeast Michigan, and as such the great man was no different than anyone else of his time and place. The film-makers didn’t go into the reasons why the good folks of southeast Michigan should be naturally anti-Semitic. There were after all no Jews to speak of in … Read the rest
Another Bad Defense
Feb 27th, 2004 11:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonWe’ll get back to the religious discussion (and anyway it’s continuing in a lively manner in the comments), but other things come up in the meantime. This item may seem like just a bit of self-advertising, but it isn’t really. I hadn’t even seen it until today, and didn’t know about it, so I feel I came by it honestly. That is to say, I would have linked to it anyway, even if it had not been by someone who writes a column for B&W; I would have linked to it if I’d never heard of Julian. I would have done a Note and Comment as well, because he mentions some ideas I’ve been scratching away at lately, and others … Read the rest
MMR Parents Denied Legal Aid
Feb 27th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No evidence to justify a legal case against MMR manufacturers.… Read the rest
Julian Baggini ‘Not Extreme Enough’
Feb 27th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Race and culture are not inseparable, and simplification doesn’t help.… Read the rest
The Future of Multiculturalism
Feb 27th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Guardian readers react to David Goodhart’s essay on diversity versus solidarity.… Read the rest
Solidarity Can Conflict With Diversity
Feb 27th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The left’s love affair with diversity may come at the expense of the values it once championed. … Read the rest
Simple-minded but Nonetheless Bigoted
Feb 27th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Christopher Hitchens detests Gibson’s movie with a passion.… Read the rest