So it made up its mind and snowed at last. Then it stopped and I went out to walk around and look at it. It was pretty. Melting fast, but pretty. It doesn’t snow much here.

… Read the rest

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

From Identity and Violence:

My disturbing memories of Hindu-Muslim riots in India in the 1940s…include seeing – with the bewildered eyes of a child – the massive identity shifts that followed divisive politics. A great many persons’ identities as Indians, as subcontinentals, as Asians, or as members of the human race, seemed to give way – quite suddenly – to sectarian identification with Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh communities. The carnage that followed had much to do with elementary herd behavior by which people were made to “discover” their newly detected belligerent identities, without subjecting the process to critical examination. The same people were suddenly different.

So were their identities really “Hindu” or “Muslim” or were they not? If Sen is … Read the rest

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

A couple of months old, but too stupid and bad to overlook.

Women will be boxing at the Olympics for the first time this year. And…can you guess what follows?

Geniuses in the International Amateur Boxing Association think maybe they should wear skirts.

Skirts.

For boxing.

Really? Really? It’s so important that everyone should have easy access to women’s Little Special Place that they have to wear skirts even for boxing? So that when they fall down everyone can check for visible pubic hair?

What’s next? Rules requiring women to wear high heels, a plunging neckline, lipstick, earrings, long hair?

Adults and Tiaras.

 … Read the rest

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

What Jessica Ahlquist has to put up with.

A small sample (all spellings theirs):

• May that little, evil teenage girl and that judge BURN IN HELL.
• U little brainless idiot, hope u will be punished, u have not win sh..t! Stupid little brainless skunk!
• How does it feel to be the most hated person in RI right now? Your a puke and a disgrace to the human race.
• shes not human shes garbage
• Fuck Jessica alquist I’ll drop anchor on her face
• Jessica Ahlquist may have won her case, but she’s going straight to hell.
• literally that bitch is insane. and the best part is she already transferred schools because she knows someone will jump her
• I hope there’s

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

What Jessica Ahlquist has to put up with.

A small sample (all spellings theirs):

• May that little, evil teenage girl and that judge BURN IN HELL.
• U little brainless idiot, hope u will be punished, u have not win sh..t! Stupid little brainless skunk!
• How does it feel to be the most hated person in RI right now? Your a puke and a disgrace to the human race.
• shes not human shes garbage
• Fuck Jessica alquist I’ll drop anchor on her face
• Jessica Ahlquist may have won her case, but she’s going straight to hell.
• literally that bitch is insane. and the best part is she already transferred schools because she knows someone will jump her
• I hope there’s

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

I hate my country sometimes. Really hate it. Visceral stomach-heaving loathing.

One such time is when candidates for high office tell us that ignorance is good and knowledge is bad. It makes me murderous. Yes, ignorance is good, poverty is good, starvation is good, disease is good, pain is good – and that’s what we have to offer, the candidates imply. Vote for us and pride yourself on not knowing any pesky foreign languages.

Quelle horreur! Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has been skewered in a new political attack ad – for speaking French.

The ad, released by rival Newt Gingrich, seeks to draw unflattering parallels between Mr Romney and another Massachusetts politician, John Kerry.

Entitled The French Connection

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

Another installment of Heathen’s Progress. It starts with prayer and then generalizes to religious ritual compared to secular ritual.

I’ve recently started praying. Well, not exactly praying, but doing something that fulfils what I think are its main functions. Prayer provides an opportunity to remind oneself of how one should be living, our responsibilities to others, our own failings, and our relative good fortune, should we have it. This is, I think, a pretty worthwhile practice and it is not something you can only do if you believe you are talking to an unseen creator. Many stoics did something similar and some forms of meditation serve the same kind of purpose. My version is simply a few minutes of

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

Ohhhhhhh the Daily Mail. It’s a sin to tell whoppers.

Headline on story about Jessica Ahlquist and the judge’s decision:

School ordered to remove ‘religious’ banner which tells pupils to be kind

Scare quotes on “religious” when the banner starts with “HEAVENLY FATHER” – does the Mail think that’s a secular greeting?

A school has been ordered to tear down a banner encouraging its pupils to be kind to one another after a judge decided it violated the First Amendment.

The banner at Cranston High School West in Rhode Island was judged to promote religion because it takes the form of a prayer addressed to ‘Our Heavenly Father’ and concluding ‘Amen’.

Yes…….a prayer that begins with “our heavenly father” … Read the rest

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

From Nirmukta:

Ajita was raised in the city of Coimbatore, India. His passion for science and reason went back to early childhood.

…

Ajita was an active participant in freethought throughout his years in America, forming ties with freethinkers who would become part of Nirmukta’s extended family. Employing his versatile talents, his contributions towards the cause of reason were manifold: as a prolific and edifying writer, as an insightful interviewer, as an adept podcast host, as an energetic community organizer both on-ground and online, and as a welcoming mentor to many freethinkers young and old taking their first steps towards embracing freethought.

In 2008, he started what would later become our organisation known as Nirmukta.

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

What? What’s that?

It’s a fun game in India and Bangladesh: stalking and/or taunting women. It has a funny jokey haha name, so obviously it’s totes harmless, even though some women kill themselves to get away from it (silly bitches) and some people get murdered trying to stop it.

Young women often face verbal abuse and taunts in Bangladesh, and sometimes stalked by colleagues at school or other young men.

Some young women, unable to bear the repeated insults, have even gone so far as to commit suicide.

…

The High Court last week asked the government to take measures to stop sexual harassment and stalking of women after a number of suicides and killings related to the issue

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

Of local interest – I’m told that the historian Olivier Zunz has written a very good book on philanthropy. He’ll be at Town Hall January 16 at 7:30.… Read the rest

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

Yet another petition. But it’s a good one. I couldn’t resist (typical woman, eh).

After 4 years of marketing research, LEGO has come to the conclusion that girls want LadyFigs, a pink Barbielicious product line for girls, so 5 year-olds can imagine themselves at the café, lounging at the pool with drinks, brushing their hair in front of a vanity mirror, singing in a club, or shopping with their girlfriends. As LEGO CEO Jorgan Vig Knudstorp puts it, “We want to reach the other 50% of the world’s population.”

That makes my head want to explode, so I signed.

As representatives of that 50%, we aren’t buying it! Marketers, ad execs, Hollywood and just about everyone else

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