Marxist left and Hindu fundamentalist right subordinate history to political goals in India.… Read the rest
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
Are Standards and Expertise a Bad Thing? 
May 31st, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sarah Bryan Miller wonders, just what is an elitist anyway?… Read the rest
All Entertainment All the Time
May 30th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jonathan Yardley comments on perpetual entertainment as a form of leisure.… Read the rest
Watching Someone Dig With a Brush is Boring
May 30th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
TV prefers pseudoarchaeology to the real thing.… Read the rest
Self-serving Argument #478
May 30th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If you think they write bad novels it is because you are jealous, gloomy and snobbish. Of course.… Read the rest
Hitchens on Blumenthal
May 29th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A Theodore off-White style and keeping two sets of ethical books.… Read the rest
No Kidding
May 29th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Demanding schools place pressure on students, research shows. Really?!… Read the rest
Interview with E.O. Wilson
May 28th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Ecology’ is about more than saving charismatic large mammals.… Read the rest
Hobsbawm and Hitchens
May 28th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A deferential sparring match at Hay-on-Wye.… Read the rest
Dystopias and Mad Scientists
May 27th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why is science fiction so pessimistic?… Read the rest
Conflation of ‘Guerilla Theater’ With Politics
May 26th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A politcs of dramatic gestures, style without substance.… Read the rest
MM Logic
May 26th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Television studies are mocked now as Shakespeare was then, therefore television studies are no more time-wasting than Shakespeare.… Read the rest
‘Flooding the Zone’ a Mistake?
May 26th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Speed instead of depth, frat boy instead of nerd, football metaphors instead of ethical probity.… Read the rest
Now It Can Be Told!
May 25th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women talk, men sit and stare. Stone the crows.… Read the rest
Mound of Feel-good Styrofoam Peanuts
May 25th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Marketing sappy techno-utopian ‘revolution lite’ via PageRank™.… Read the rest
Yes, Hip Cool Sexy People Are Phobic Too
May 24th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They just hide it better, says Julie Burchill.… Read the rest
Orwell Could Be Such a Misery
May 23rd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But he would have cut ‘today’s higher theoreticians’ to shreds.… Read the rest
Jayson Blair Talks
May 22nd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I just couldn’t stop laughing.’… Read the rest
Blooming Buzzing Confusion
May 22nd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Do we see what we see or is our brain stitching it all together?… Read the rest
How to Win the Argument Against Philistinism
May 21st, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Not the kind of knowledge that flatters authorities,’ Frank Furedi says.… Read the rest
