Category: Society

Carolyn Jessop tells her tale. The horror is made all the more appalling because it is a true story. Hopefully, there is a happy ending.

 

Update: John Carter Wood adds some worthwhile comment to the story. What I find the ultimate, depressing horror in this is that humans are all too willing to be complicit in their own degradation. In this case, it is the other handmaids who are willing to subject another woman to a sordid life.

 

Update 2: And then you get people such as Frédérique Apffel Marglin. I’m sorry, but words fail me. Such a crass anti-human mode of thought makes me wonder if the pod-people are truly amongst us.

Alastair Appleton writes about going to see the documentary film: In The Shadow Of The Moon with his mum and dad, and recalling some of the emotions he had as a child about the times. It is amazing to think that it is now nearly forty years ago that a man first stepped onto the surface of the moon. I was lying in bed, drifting in and out of sleep, watching a tiny TV with terrible reception at the time. I woke up just after Armstrong stepped onto the surface and so I missed his famous words. Typical.

 

Appleton captures the wonder and the almost rickety nature of this great human adventure. As one of the early astronauts, John Glenn, once said when asked what went through his mind while awaiting the moment of blastoff, it was: "this rocket has twenty thousand components, and each was made by the lowest bidder."  

…Is real in Ethiopia. A Swedish advert.

 

 

 

(hat tip to Osocio)

According to Scott Atran, these may be just as important as religion in what goes to forge a terrorist. He puts forward his thesis in this session from Beyond Belief: Enlightment 2.0. His presentation starts at about 1 hour and 21 minutes in.

 

I have to say that I found it extremely persuasive. Yes, he comes across to some as being smug, and perhaps he downplays the role of religion in terrorism; but to counter that I would say that he does seem to have the data on his side. His analysis of the data behind the Madrid bombings was very powerful, I thought.

 

Excellent stuff and very thought-provoking.

Good heavens, Theo Hobson has written an article that I actually agree with. It’s a Christmas Miracle!

There’s an interesting debate shaping up over at Stephen Law’s blog about whether faith schools are a good idea. Law’s position is that, too often, children at such schools are not exposed to critical thinking on the faith of the school, or even taught comparative religion. He’s had a response from Ibrahim Lawson, the founding head teacher of Islamia School. So far, I am more persuaded by Law’s arguments than by Lawson’s. No surprise there, then.

 

Update 13 December 2007: Is it just me, but isn’t this response from Lawson just obfuscating hand-waving?I feel that I want to take a large needle and prick a windbag full of hot air. Appalling.

The Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics has done something rather interesting and scary with its census data. You can now use Google Earth to check out census data at the level of neighbourhoods across the country. Hours of fun and sombre reflection.  

The case of Gillian Gibbons is a salutary example of how truth is stranger than fiction. I admit, that when I saw the headline that people were demonstrating against her sentence of 15 days for allegedly insulting Islam, I thought: at last, people are coming to their senses. But no; it turns out that the demonstrators want to have her executed. I’m sorry, but I am going to turn into a cranky misanthrope, if this is the best that my species can muster.

 

I trust that at least Khalid Al-Mubarak is reflecting on his ill-chosen words that the whole affair is simply a "storm in a teacup". But I leave it to Mo to point out the idiocy of the whole affair.

The UK seems to be moving towards having a tough stance on asylum-seekers, and to hell with the consequences. The Independent reports on two disturbing cases (Maud Lennard and Meltem Avcil), and Craig Murray reports on an even more disturbing third case (Jahongir Sidikov). Today I don’t feel proud of being British.

What makes for a good "quality of life", when looking at a society as a whole? Is it possible to come up with metrics? After all, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. I see that the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency has released a report that attempts to define that rather slippery phrase.

Flea has another brilliant post. This time she is musing on how best to teach history to her young son. Worth reading.

National treasure Stephen Fry shows, once again, why he is a national treasure.

 

He weaves together denialism of global warming, the difference between British and American culture, and Pascal’s Wager. Simply brilliant. Jim is a twat, by the way, but of course the fact that I immediately fall on that position whilst Mr. Fry is altogether more subtle merely shows why he deserves the title of National Treasure. He does, and I am merely capable of venting my spleen on ad hominem attacks.

Sigh, I’m not listed, but then that’s not really important. The kernel is that these sites hold the torch of rational thought aloft. Check them out.

 

 

I see that the Lyrical Terrorist has had her sentence handed down.

 

It’s a difficult case. Some, Like Inayat Bungawala, make her out to be almost a wronged innocent. I can’t say that I fully agree. I’m closer to agreeing with Rachel. She was a foolish young woman, but nevertheless was very close to being the unwitting foot-soldier.

 

When it all comes down to the line; when I was 23 years old, I did not dream of killing people to the extent that this misguided young woman appeared to do. Her mind has been poisoned. Hopefully, the poison can be drawn without destroying her.

I’m sorry, but in amongst a few good points, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari does talk a lot of nonsense. Stoning is a metaphor for disapproval? Tell that to those who have been killed by it. I also see that, rather than being in favour of book-burning, he is in favour of pulping those that he disapproves of. Oh well, perhaps he wants to keep his carbon footprint smaller.

 

Ah, I see that Ophelia has more. Worth reading.

Stephen Bates looks back on his stint as the Guardian’s Religious Affairs Correspondent. We live in interesting times, as the Chinese might say. And clearly, if Graham Dow, the Bishop of Carlisle, is anything to go by, there would seem to be more walking around outside the asylum than in it.

But obviously not to the Society of Homeopaths. I can’t say that I am surprised.

I think Mr. Eugenides has nailed it. Shared Values? Steve Bell also has a pertinent comment and Peter Tatchell gives chapter and verse.