Another one of these. Another murder to defend a long dead “prophet” against another putative insult. There’s a bit of “political correctness” for Sam Harris.

A policeman in Pakistan hacked a man to death for allegedly making derogatory remarks about the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, police said, just two days after a Christian couple was lynched over blasphemy in the same province.

It’s understandable though. The guy wouldn’t stop.

The man, Tufail Haider, 55, was taken into custody late on Wednesday in the city of Gujrat after a group of people allegedly overheard him making the remarks, beat him up and handed over to police.

“Officer Faraz Naveed brought him to the police station and sent him to lock-up. Haider did not stop using nasty words about Sahaba (the companions) despite warnings from various officials,” said police officer Khurram Shehzad.

“At around 5.00 a.m., Naveed could not control his emotions. He went into his cell, brought an axe, entered the lock up and hit Haider’s throat several times.”

And that was the end of Haider.

Blasphemy charges, even when they do go to court, are punishable by death in Muslim-majority Pakistan. They are hard to fight because the law does not define clearly what is blasphemous.

Even presenting the evidence in court can sometimes itself be considered a fresh infringement.

Pakistan’s minorities feel that the state fails to protect them, and even tolerates violence against them.

Because it does, and it does.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Iram Ramzan interviewed Nazir Afzal for the Oldham Chronicle a few days ago.

Mr Afzal hopes Stockport MP Ann Coffey’s report into child abuse in Greater Manchester won’t deter victims from coming forward. But he doesn’t think the report does enough to highlight the achievements of his service.

Ms Coffey’s report suggested that the perceived attitudes of jurors caused the CPS to fail to charge suspects. She reported that in some cases the CPS highlighted the victim’s clothing, or that members of her own family had been derogatory about her behaviour, and that these facts had persuaded the CPS not to prosecute.

In the last six years 12,879 sexual offences against children were reported to GMP, but only 2,341 defendants were charged and 1,078 found guilty.

One of Mr Afzal’s first acts on becoming a chief crown prosecutor was to start prosecutions against the Rochdale grooming gang, overturning an earlier CPS decision.

He says the CPS record has improved a lot over the last three years.

“We’re in a better place. One of the things the report didn’t highlight was the conviction rate is the highest ever. I wouldn’t want anything to deter victims from coming forward.”

North-West figures show that in 2013-14, 194 of 288 child abuse cases were successfully prosecuted.

That’s a massive improvement.

Mr Afzal stresses the majority of sexual abuse occurs within the home – and by white perpetrators. The second largest incidence is online, the third is institutions — such as in schools — and finally comes street grooming: “It’s a sizeable but small group,” he added.

The judge sentencing the Rochdale gang told the defendants they preyed on girls because they weren’t part of their community or religion. But as Mr Afzal pointed out, Oldham defendant Shabir Ahmed was also convicted of the rape of a Pakistani girl.

Mr Afzal suggested the grooming gang preyed on vulnerability: “The perpetrators weren’t religious, they were men controlling women and girls. We need to stop getting distracted by ethnicity and focus on what this is — women and girls being abused, feeling they can’t talk about their experiences.”

And that’s far from being a monopoly of the religious.

“You don’t provoke rape by your dress, or the choices you make. You don’t provoke rape because you’re drinking. In no way is that an excuse for what that man does. The perpetrators are doing it because they want control. As a prosecutor I will make them face the consequences.”

He does believe women of south Asian and other minority backgrounds find it more difficult to speak out due to issues of honour and shame: “Asian victims don’t come forward — it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We have to reach out to them.”

Mr Afzal said he has received strong support from Pakistani people since the Rochdale case.

The only offensive comments have been from the far right. “I damage their narrative,” he added.

As do women like Iram Ramzan and Tehmina Kazi. Damage that narrative! Damage it and then bury it.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Coolio, some people are sending their responses to Sam Harris’s request for examples of Political Correctness run amok publicly, so that we can read them. This fella on Facebook for example.

Sam Harris, remember back when Richard Dawkins “ranked rape”?

Well, he tried to make a point about logic and then everyone said they understood what he meant, but still did the exact opposite of what a person who understood would.

The media wrote about how he ranked rape, even though rape was only a hypothetical example in his argument about logic, not at all the main point of what he said.

We’re not allowed to have logical discussions about anything that’s emotionally sensitive, or even use it as an example to illustrate a point.

http://www.independent.co.uk/…/richard-dawkins-says-date-ra…

‪#‎PoliticalCorrectness‬‪#‎PC‬‪#‎freedom‬‪#‎freespech‬‪#‎freedomofspeech‬‪#‎logic‬‪#‎liberal‬‪#‎p2‬‪#‎progressive‬

Totally. Absolutely. Because Richard Dawkins for sure no question felt an urgent need to explain to people that saying X is worse than Y does not equal saying Y is good. Just that. No reference to anything else, just a purely about-logic point. He just happened to use rape as an example, but it could have been anything else, anything at all. It’s only politically correct chumps who miss the purely about-logic point and zero in on the example, which is completely beside the point.

Also, Twitter is the best possible medium for making points about logic, including while using rape as an example. The very best possible. Nothing could ever possibly go wrong; it is always perfectly easy to make your points clear, and engage with questions and criticism, and say everything that needs to be said. Nothing ever goes haywire on Twitter, and it’s just amok political correctness to suggest that Twitter isn’t the place for discussions of comparative rape.

If Sam Harris is writing a book on Political Correctness run amok, there is every sign that it will be a humdinger of a good book, probably his best since The Moral Landscape.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Sam Harris is getting help, or at least psychological support, in his quest for political correctness run amok. Bill Dembski Denyse O’Leary at Uncommon Descent is all sympathy.

Guy made the mistake of actually challenging something serious now.

Like, he could have been a pop sci celeb, with articles like “Ten reasons you go to church that you wish you never knew,” or “Ten reasons you give to charity that have nothing to do with caring,” or “Why the government really does know what is best for you.”

Legacy media editors can’t get enough of that stuff, even if readers are dropping away like fleas off a dead moose.

Instead, unaccountably, the guy decided to take on the current pussyfoot between progressive politics and Islamic terror. Hope he has insurance against being brained with a picket sign or just plain blown up.

Meanwhile, do let’s help. (I sent him Rotherham. – O’Leary for News)

Aw, that’s sweet. Dembski thinks Harris is just thinking of the segment of the left that confuses criticism of Islam or Islamism with persecution of Muslims. Apparently Harris’s contempt for feminism has escaped his notice…or possibly he prefers not to mention it because he shares it.

Another ally comments:

There is no need to look very far, IMO. Darwinism, materialism, machine consciousness and parallel universes are all examples of political correctness gone crazy.

Have fun with that, Sam!

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Last July in Malaysia a fatwa was issued on Sisters in Islam; the New York Times gives some facts:

In July, the official religious council in wealthy and populous Selangor State issued a fatwa, or religious decree, against Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian group that advocates women’s rights.

The fatwa declared Sisters in Islam “deviant” and also denounced “any individual, organization or institution that upholds the belief of liberalism or pluralism in religion.”

The fatwa did not define liberalism or pluralism, but called on the authorities to ban and seize books that promote the ideas and to “censor and block any social website contrary to Islamic teachings.”

Rosli Dahlan, a Malaysian lawyer who has represented clients challenging the power of the religious authorities, said the scope of the fatwa was unprecedented.

“This is an attempt by religious authorities to extend their tentacles into areas where they don’t belong,” Mr. Rosli said. “This seems to be a return to the Spanish Inquisition.”

The Rakyat Post reports on a press conference held by Sisters in Islam on October 31:

It was just 10 days ago that Sisters in Islam (SIS) found out the organisation had been declared as subscribing to “religious liberalism and pluralism” in a gazetted fatwa in Selangor.

The fatwa, gazetted on July 31 this year, also singled out “any individuals, organisations or institutions”.

Shocked at the fatwa, it compelled SIS to file a judicial review against it at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning.

This isn’t one of those meaningless internet fatwas that any random schmuck can issue, this is an official fatwa. (So why didn’t the council inform Sisters in Islam? I have no idea.)

SIS is challenging the fatwa by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) on several constitutional grounds, including the violation of their right to freedom of expression, association and religion, as guaranteed by the federal constitution.

They will also question Mais for allegedly having trespassed federal powers that only the Parliament could make laws restricting fundamental liberties and the fact that the religious authority could not direct federal institutions like the Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to block social media sites.

According to the fatwa, it deemed any publications with elements of liberalism and religious pluralism as “haram” and also urged the MCMC to block websites that opposed Islamic teachings and laws.

What a nightmare.

Also present at the press conference, Zaid said he supported the judicial review and questioned whether the religious authorities themselves understood the meaning of “liberalism and pluralism” in the matter.

“I know they (SIS) have done a lot of good work. As Muslims it’s our obligation to help those in need.

“How can you ‘haramkan’ an organisation that helps people, Muslims in fact,” he said.

Zaid said it goes back to the prime minister himself, who has lauded moderation in the country and Malaysia’s involvement in the UNHCR, but let the likes of Isma, PAS and Perkasa run free.

“I go back to the prime minister. He needs to make the system practical so that it doesn’t breach the rights of others.

“We want the prime minister to tell us where we are going. The country is in a serious situation and we have to distinguish where we draw the line,” he added.

Sisters in Islam issued a press release on their challenge October 31.

Sisters in Islam (SIS) has filed a judicial review on a gazetted fatwa in Selangor declaring SIS as subscribing to “religious liberalism and pluralism”, and therefore deviating from the teachings of Islam. The fatwa allows for any publications deemed “liberal and plural” to be banned and seized. In addition, it calls for any form of social media that go against the “ajaran Islam dan hukum Syarak” to be blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commissions (MCMC).

We view with grave concern the allegations made against us and question the basis for this fatwa.  Since 2003, SIS has served close to 10,000 Muslim women who turned to us for legal help to seek redress to their marital problems.  We have trained over 4,000 women on their legal rights through our popular legal literacy workshops. More than 90% of them stated that the knowledge provided by SIS has empowered them to know their rights in Islam. We teach women how to access the justice system for themselves and for their children, accompany them to court, and recommend lawyers to represent them. These thousands of women we have helped and trained have gone on to help others in their families and communities.

They explain the legal situation, which is quite startling:

Malaysia is the only Muslim country that enables a fatwa to have the force of law through a mere gazetting process and then criminalises any violations of the fatwa. According to section 13 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995, any person who gives, propagates or disseminates any opinion concerning any issue, Islamic teachings or Islamic Law contrary to any fatwa for the time being in force can be fined up to RM3,000, or jailed for up to 2 years, or both. Any document or other medium [sic] may be seized and destroyed even without any conviction.

So there you go. This council can issue a fatwa, not inform the people who are subject to the fatwa, and then get them fined or thrown in jail or both for continuing to do what they’ve been doing for years. What a grotesque set up.

These excessive powers exercised by the religious authorities of Malaysia, with the complicity of the executive and legislative bodies are dragging the country down the road to theocratic dictatorship.The criminalisation of non-compliance to a fatwa deviates from Islamic legal theory and practice. A fatwa is merely an advisory opinion to guide Muslims to lead a life according to the teachings of Islam. It is not legally binding and it is optional for the individual to follow it, or seek another fatwa.

It’s gruesome. Now the theocrats are bullying SIS for challenging the fatwa.

PAS Youth castigated Sisters in Islam (SIS) today for plans to challenge in the courts a fatwa, or religious edict, against liberalism and religious pluralism, labelling the Muslim women’s group as “insolent” and “extremist”.

Defending Selangor’s Fatwa Council, the Islamist party’s wing also accused SIS of challenging the monarchy and the Federal Constitution, which it said puts Islam as the religion of the federation.

“SIS’ insolence in challenging the National Fatwa Council’s prohibition against it for professing liberalism and religious pluralism is proof that the group is driving a deviating agenda against Islamic teachings in this country,” said a statement by the wing’s deputy chief Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi.

“Insolence” is it – people daring to think they have rights is “insolence.”

We need to keep a beady eye on this.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Sam Harris is looking to set a trend again.

Sam Harris @SamHarrisOrg · 6 hours ago
Looking for examples of political correctness run amok. Please send links/stories here: http://www.samharris.org/contact

That trend has been set already, back around 1985 or so, but Sam was probably too busy studying the biology of gender differences to notice.

So, yay. The atheist movement can throw a big ol’ party with Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins as the hosts and everybody else dressed up as various kinds of political correctness run amok. Hilarity will ensue. And the atheist movement will continue to watch bemusedly as sensible people head for the exits.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Remember that excellent, well-argued, informative comment by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain on a post by Andrew Brown at CiF yesterday? That I re-published here for your convenience and edification? It’s all the more convenient now, because the wises ones at CiF have deleted it, claiming – absurdly – that it doesn’t meet their community standards. CEMB tweeted the news a few hours ago.

Ex-Muslims Forum @CEMB_forum · 5 hours ago
We wrote this at Guardian about how Exmuslims are silenced http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=27640.0 … … its now been silenced & deleted

Maajid Nawaz asked the wise ones why.

Maajid Nawaz @MaajidNawaz · 18 hours ago
.@Guardian publish http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/nov/05/islam-muslims-hate-ideology-racism … then @CEMB_forum comment http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=27640.0 … Enforcing a blasphemy code, Guardian delete comment

What is the Guardian doing enforcing a blasphemy code?

To further ironize the irony, yesterday that comment was an Editors’ Favourite.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

So here’s another cultural artifact I wasn’t aware of – this “comedian” who goes by Dapper Laughs, who sounds about as funny as a poke in the eye.

It all kicked off when the website UsVsTh3m tweeted a link to a not-so positive review of the 14 track record.

The album includes songs called A Walk To The Pub…With A Tramp, Cracking On To A Sweetheart and Leaving The Pub…With A Tramp.

Sounds hilarious…

He’s new to Eleanor Margolis at the New Statesman, too.

I’ve also been told that he’s a comedian, although I’m struggling to find any evidence to support this. His brand of, not comedy exactly – more like yelling lists of words – consists almost entirely of harassing and degrading women. This is what’s known as “banter” – ie: being obnoxious, but louder and faster. And there is nothing Dapper Laughs won’t mock in the name of banter. Rape, domestic violence, sexual assault: you name it, this guy will demote it from a serious issue to a dad joke. A kind of horny dad joke, but a dad joke nonetheless. Laughs – real name, Daniel O’Reilly – rose to fame via his Vine channel, by posting short clips of himself making some pretty retro sexist jokes, claiming he has a massive dick, and using the word “moist” a lot. In one Vine, he pretends to threaten his girlfriend with a gun for wearing a short skirt. LOL?

…

O’Reilly/Laughs has just been given his own show by ITV2, who have taken it upon themselves to promote this hyperactive throwback from some wanker on the internet to TV star. The clear message here is that misogyny is just as marketable as ever. It’s been pointed out that feminism’s fourth wave has become a bit of an industry. If so, Girl Power is a burger stand and sexism is McDonalds. The fact that social movements are just as tied up in the free market as everything else is often overlooked.

I’m new to Dapper Laughs, but I’ve been horribly aware of the lad culture industry that spawned him for a long while. A “lad”, for those fortunate enough to think it’s just old fashioned slang for “boy”, is someone who is part of a competition to see who can degrade women the most, in the name of banter. Grabbing a woman’s arse? Banter! Rating a woman’s tits, out of ten? Banter! Shooting a woman? Top notch banter!

When and why and how did this become so fashionable? Where was I at the time? Why wasn’t I consulted?!

Outside of the internet and the media though, one of lad culture’s favourite haunts is our universities. In a recent article about the phenomenon, the Guardian reported that 68 per cent of women at UK universities have been sexually harassed. The Americans, who have a solid history of university sexism deployed by fraternities, are probably wondering why us Brits have only just recognised this as A Thing. What seems to have happened is that aggressively macho frat culture has somehow hitched a ride over the Atlantic.

Really? Oh god. I’m sorry. I apologize for my country. I’m so sorry. Mind you, I was never consulted on that either, and I’ve never liked it or found it amusing or had anything to do with it. But still, I live here, and I apologize.

A driving force behind this movement is the idea that those opposed to it are simply humourless. The sour-faced feminist trope is an old one, and it’s still being used to silence women. The banter brigade have convinced themselves that they own comedy, meaning that anti-banter is fundamentally anti-humour.

And anti-sex, and anti-free speech. All of those. Misogynist rapey banter is all the good things and its critics are all the bad ones. #banter!

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

The Freethinker reports that Yemi Adedeji of the Evangelical Alliance supports the opening of a faith school in Kent by a witchcraft-besotted Nigerian church, and that human rights campaigner Leo Igwe strongly opposes it.

According to this report, Winners’ Chapel International – currently under investigation by the Charity Commission – wants to open the school at its Dartford site, but human rights campaigners such as Igwe, as well as the National Secular Society, are urging the government to turn down the school bid.

The proposed Kingdom Heritage Model School is intended for children aged four to seven.

The church links child “disobedience” to witchcraft.

Uh oh. UH OH. DANGER DANGER.

No, UK, you should not have a state school that links disobedience to witchcraft. You shouldn’t have any school that does that, but especially not a state school.

Stephen Evans, from the NSS, said the Metropolitan Police had investigated 27 cases of child abuse related to witchcraft this year. He said:

There’s a need to be vigilant and there’s a need to tackle this. You don’t do this by allowing organisations that believe in witchcraft and are associated with witch-hunting to open in the UK.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it had received an application and was aware of concerns. A spokeswoman said:

All independent schools must meet stringent standards before they are registered. These include tough rules on welfare and safeguarding. Police intelligence and criminal record checks are also carried out on the proprietor of the school, and any links to organisations which suggest the school might not meet the standards are investigated.

Well…sometimes it takes years before those investigations happen. Let’s hope the DfE does better than that with the proposed Kingdom Heritage Model School.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Julien Blanc has been forced to leave Australia after his visa was withdrawn. His visa was withdrawn because the government took heed of protests pointing out that Blanc gives lectures on how to assault women.

Controversial US “pick-up artist” Julien Blanc has cut short his Australian tour after having his visa cancelled in the wake of protests against his seminars, which promote dangerous and abusive behaviour towards women.

“We can confirm Julien Blanc left Australia overnight,” Victorian police said on Twitter. “His assistant is also due to leave shortly.” The pair had planned to stay until December.

The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, said Blanc’s visa was cancelled Thursday night.

There are cries of free speech and anti-sex. No really, there are.

Helen Razer @HelenRazer ·10 hours ago
Call me old-fashioned. But anything that Scott Morrison and the anti-sex league of Collective Shout endorse make me less than utilitarian.

That’s feminism for you, she adds.

Not the first time feminist interests have coincided with those of the moral right, though.

So Helen Razer considers it “sex” – as in, mutual consensual pleasurable sex between two or more people – to grab strangers in the street or a bar and shove their heads into one’s crotch? That’s “sex”? I say that’s not sex, it’s assault. I say it’s weirdly anti-sexual to call assault “sex”.

The Guardian continues:

Australians were outraged after discovering Blanc, a so-called “date coach”, was holding seminars to teach men how to “pick up” women using physical force and emotional abuse.

Venues in Melbourne refused to host his events after protesters highlighted his videos, Twitter feeds and photos promoting violence against women and abuse as a means of attracting them.

Of “attracting” them? No. As a means of having “sex” with them – as a means of penetrating them genitally or orally.

Blanc’s assistant then attempted to hold a seminar on a boat on Melbourne’s Yarra river on Thursday night, which a handful of men paid to attend.

Protesters rallied along the river and also trailed the pair by boat, and Melbourne River Cruises cancelled the event as soon as they were told what was happening. In the end police escorted the men off the vessel.

But free speech!

Yes, free speech, but not free instructions in how to commit violent crimes against people.

Neither Blanc nor his company [has] responded to requests for comment. According to his tour schedule, he is due to appear next in Japan.

He has a history in Japan, as we know. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Originally a comment by Eric MacDonald on A bishop always knows better.

There are several things wrong with the bishop’s objection to Brittany Maynard’s choosing to die. First of all, the term ‘dignity’ is a highly contested one, but Ignacio plays on two completely separate and unrelated meanings of the word. In Roman Catholic theology (and I think this is a new use of the word, though I have not been able to establish this), ‘dignity’ refers simply to the “God-givenness” of life. It does not refer to dignity in the strict sense, which consists in a person’s feeling of respect for herself (given present circumstances), and the respect paid to her by others (as opposed to pity, for example).

Dignity, in the sense relevant to Brittany’s decision, is acting according to one’s own will and in accordance with one’s own sense of value as a person.

Catholics will say that human life itself has dignity, but this is a far cry from the individual’s sense of her own dignity. What Catholics mean, I take it, is value, and they think of the value of life as infinite. However, someone in Brittany’s situation cannot feel that what the future holds (especially in the case of a brain tumour, than which there is perhaps no more excruciatingly painful way to die) will be characterised by dignity in the personal sense, however much Ignacio might hold a life characterised by unbearable pain to have infinite value.

Besides, how he supposes that Brittany would have been able to carry out the church’s mission at the point of direst pain is simply beyond me. I have sat and watched helplessly a patient with brain cancer die. Her last hour was one long, uninterrupted scream, the doctor standing by meanwhile saying defensively that there was nothing he could do. How someone in that situation is supposed to carry out a mission to others in that condition is simply beyond me, and Ignacio does not explain, because he can’t. These are rote proclamations based on the church’s dogma, and do not reflect the actual situation of people in such conditions.

I think the term ‘dignity in dying’ is an appropriate one, for most people’s deaths are not dignified. In my life as a priest I saw only one person die with what I could describe as dignity. The rest simply crumbled away into pain and a final struggle for air, or continuous vomiting. How aware they were I did not know, but their lack of dignity was the most striking thing about their deaths. Many relatives and loved ones stay away because they “didn’t want to remember [their loved one] in such distress.” They wanted to remember them as the people they really were, people with dignity, acting from their own centre, and in accordance with their own desires and values. It is a scandal that the church cannot see beyond the repetition of its dogma, rather than consider with compassion what might be the best way for a person to die, given their own choice in the matter. Forcing someone to die in a manner not of their own choosing is slavery (as Montaigne aptly said). It is interesting to see that the church still maintains this residual commitment to the enslavement of those who are most in need of freedom.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Now that I’ve given you something elevating to contemplate in the ALMA picture of planet formation, we have to bump back down to squalid theocratic bullying again. This time it’s the Vatican’s reaction to Brittany Maynard’s decision to die before reaching the last horrible stages of death by brain tumor. Catholic News Agency reports what an official had to say.

Spanish Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican, explained to ANSA news agency, “We don’t judge people, but the gesture in itself is to be condemned. What happened in her conscience we don’t know.”

Bishop Carrasco de Paula said Maynard decided to take her life “thinking she would die with dignity, but that is the error.”

No it isn’t. I’m not a fan of the phrase “death with dignity” but even so, I think there are a lot of kinds of helplessness and malfunction that are hell on anyone’s sense of privacy, self-respect, dignity, enjoyment of not being a helpless excreting blob in a bed. It’s not an error to prefer to die before losing the ability to hold a spoon or walk to the toilet or brush one’s own teeth. It’s a preference, and different people will have different preferences, and it’s not up to the bishop to say Maynard’s was an error.

He called this view “an absurdity” because “dignity is something incompatible with putting an end to your own life.”

“Committing suicide is not a good thing; it is bad because it’s saying ‘no’ to one’s own life and to everything that it means regarding our mission towards the people around us in this world.”

Not when you have a terrible terminal illness it isn’t. But the Vatican doesn’t seem to accept that it has any obligation to take particulars into account when delivering these dogmatic generalized announcements.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Golly.

Have a snapshot from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), courtesy of a press release from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Astronomers have captured the best image ever of planet formation around an infant star as part of the testing and verification process for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array’s (ALMA) new high-resolution capabilities.

This revolutionary new image reveals in astonishing detail the planet-forming disk surrounding HL Tau, a Sun-like star located approximately 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.

ALMA uncovered never-before-seen features in this system, including multiple concentric rings separated by clearly defined gaps. These structures suggest that planet formation is already well underway around this remarkably young star.

A snapshot of planet formation! How cool is that?

ALMA image of the young star HL Tau and its protoplanetary disk. This best image ever of planet formation reveals multiple rings and gaps that herald the presence of emerging planets as they sweep their orbits clear of dust and gas. Credit: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); C. Brogan, B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

All stars are believed to form within clouds of gas and dust that collapse under gravity. Over time, the surrounding dust particles stick together, growing into sand, pebbles, and larger-size rocks, which eventually settle into a thin protoplanetary disk where asteroids, comets, and planets form.

Once these planetary bodies acquire enough mass, they dramatically reshape the structure of their natal disk, fashioning rings and gaps as the planets sweep their orbits clear of debris and shepherd dust and gas into tighter and more confined zones.

The new ALMA image reveals these striking features in exquisite detail, providing the clearest picture to date of planet formation. Images with this level of detail were previously only seen in computer models and artist concepts. ALMA, living up to its promise, has now provided direct proof that nature and theory are very much in agreement.

That’s exciting.

ALMA’s new high-resolution capabilities were achieved by spacing the antennas up to 15 kilometers apart. This baseline at millimeter wavelengths enabled a resolution of 35 milliarcseconds, which is equivalent to a penny as seen from more than 110 kilometers away.

“Such a resolution can only be achieved with the long baseline capabilities of ALMA and provides astronomers with new information that is impossible to collect with any other facility, including the best optical observatories,” noted ALMA Director Pierre Cox.

These long baselines fulfill one of ALMA’s major objectives and mark an impressive technological and engineering milestone. Future observations at ALMA’s longest possible baseline of 16 kilometers will produce even clearer images and continue to expand our understanding of the cosmos.

We live in interesting times.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

UN human rights experts set out countries’ obligations to tackle harmful practices such as FGM and forced marriage

GENEVA (5 November 2014) – For the first time, two UN human rights expert committees have joined forces to issue a comprehensive interpretation of the obligations of States to prevent and eliminate harmful practices inflicted on women and girls, such as female genital mutilation, crimes committed in the name of so-called honour, forced and child marriage, and polygamy.

“Harmful practices are frequently justified by invoking social or religious customs and values often embedded in patriarchal cultures and traditions. They are deeply rooted in attitudes that regard women and girls as inferior to men and boys. They are also often used as a means of ‘protecting’ the honour of women, children and their families and as a way of controlling women’s choices and expressions, in particular their sexuality,” said Violeta Neubauer from the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

“Harmful practices are found across the world. They have become increasingly common in some countries where they did not used to exist, mainly as a result of migration, while in some regions, especially those affected by conflict, they had declined but are now re-emerging,” said Hiranthi Wijemanne from the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The Committees’ Joint General Recommendation/General Comment* – released today – also highlights other harmful practices such as virginity testing, binding, widowhood practices, infanticide, and body modifications including fattening, neck elongation and breast ironing. The Committees also pay attention to practices such as women and girls undergoing plastic surgery to conform to social norms of beauty.

“It is time to examine harmful practices from a human rights perspective. Children have a right to be protected from practices that have absolutely no health or medical benefits but which can have long-term negative effects on their physical or mental well-being,” said Ms. Wijemanne.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child both contain provisions under which harmful practices constitute human rights violations and obliging States to take steps to prevent and eliminate them.

“Prevention is vital, and that requires the design of measures aimed at changing existing social norms and patriarchal cultures. Very often, the parents who decide to marry their girl-child or agree to FGM being performed on her do so in the belief that they are doing what is best for their daughter in a given community,” said Ms. Neubauer. “We also need to recognise that boys also suffer from harmful practices and that men and boys have a key role in eliminating them,” Ms. Wijemanne said.

The Committees’ recommendations to States on ensuring their full compliance with their legal obligations detail the criteria for determining the causes and manifestations of harmful practices. They call for a holistic approach, backed by appropriate legislation, political will and accountability, to tackling them. Strategies should be coordinated at local, regional and national level and across sectors such as education, health, justice, social welfare, law enforcement, immigration and asylum. Communities, including traditional and religious authorities, should be involved in challenging and changing attitudes that underlie and justify harmful practices.

The joint General Recommendation/General Comment reflects the common effort to ensure respect for the rights of women and children, and has been adopted as CEDAW marks its 35th anniversary and CRC its 25th anniversary.

H/t Michael DeDora

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The Swedish Humanists, Humanisterna, have awarded a prize to Taslima. Here’s my edit of Google Translate’s version:

The Hedenius Prize 2014  has been awarded to the writer, commentator and feminist Taslima Nasrin, for her commitment to freedom of thought and equality for women. The prize is awarded annually by the Humanist Association to a Swedish citizen who worked in the spirit of the philosopher Ingemar Hedenius. On Sunday 9 November at 2 p.m.  Taslima Nasrin will accept the award at the ABF building in Stockholm, and give a talk about the need for a new enlightenment and secular renaissance in the world.

Wkipedia on Ingemar Hedenius:

Per Arvid Ingemar Hedenius (April 5, 1908–April 30, 1982) was a Swedish philosopher. He was Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Uppsala (1947-1973). He was a famous opponent of organised Christianity. The Swedish Humanist Association, known in Sweden as “Humanisterna”, offers the Ingemar Hedenius Award each year to support humanist ideas and critical thinking.

Grattis, Taslima!

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Adam Savage talks to Indre Viskontas for Inquiring Minds. In the final segment he talks about GamerGate and what Indre (rightly) calls “so much rage against women in these fields.”

Rebecca Watson tells us that he is a for-real feminist, and one who gives a shit.

The full interview is great, but my favorite part was when Adam weighed in on the issue of #Gamergate and harassment of women online. I know this is an issue he feels passionately about, and I also know that there are a lot of people in his audience who he can help educate and motivate. I hope he gets more opportunities to speak out about it – it’s unfortunate but true that a man will have more of an impact saying the same thing women have been saying for years. Adam knows this and takes great pains to make sure he is helping without speaking over women. He’s one of the best, most thoughtful male feminists I know, and I’m glad that other people are now seeing that side of him as well.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=u67x9FUoSfc

Here’s the full interview:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNHbJ1fBrpA

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I’m re-reading Frederic Douglass’s Narrative. It’s available at Project Gutenberg, so it’s easy to share passages for discussion or admiration.

There’s the early paragraph about his relationship with his mother…

I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night. She was hired by a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from my home. She made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day’s work.

She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise, unless a slave has special permission from his or her master to the contrary—a permission which they seldom get, and one that gives to him that gives it the proud name of being a kind master. I do not recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone. Very little communication ever took place between us. Death soon ended what little we could have while she lived, and with it her hardships and suffering. She died when I was about seven years old, on one of my master’s farms, near Lee’s Mill. I was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burial. She was gone long before I knew any thing about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.

Short, and heart-breaking. Imagine being that mother. Imagine those journeys to be with her little boy: twelve miles, over bad roads or rough ground, after a hard day of labor, and then twelve hours back having to start hours before dawn.

In chapter 7 there is a passage on his early reading and how it affected him.

I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart. Just about this time, I got hold of a book entitled “The Columbian Orator.” Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book. Among much of other interesting matter, I found in it a dialogue between a master and his slave. The slave was represented as having run away from his master three times. The dialogue represented the conversation which took place between them, when the slave was retaken the third time. In this dialogue, the whole argument in behalf of slavery was brought forward by the master, all of which was disposed of by the slave. The slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things in reply to his master—things which had the desired though unexpected effect; for the conversation resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master.

In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan’s mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation. These were choice documents to me. I read them over and over again with unabated interest. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance. The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights. The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men. As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish. As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid of it. It was pressed upon me by every object within sight or hearing, animate or inanimate. The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in every thing. It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it, and felt nothing without feeling it. It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm.

He got out, but he was the exception, not the rule.

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