Although most people recognize that IQ tests do not measure important mental faculties, we behave as if they do.
—(via Scientific American)
I’ve been asked why I care about being an atheist, why can’t I, since I don’t believe in a god, be content to quietly not-believe in my own private corner. It’s sometimes hard to communicate that not believing and not caring are different. Why do I care? Why do I have opinions on religion? This is why.
A high school student stood up to the status quo. She challenged her school’s tradition of displaying a Christian prayer inside the public school. She challenged it, had her day in court and won. What followed were threats of violence, rape and murder. Here. In the United States. In 2012. Some of the things said about her include:
“shes not human shes garbage”
“We can make so many jokes about this dumb bitch, but who cares #thatbitchisgointohell and Satan is gonna rape her.”
“I found it, what a little bitch lol I wanna snuff her”
Those are the opinions of her peers and fellow citizens. Her state representative, Rep Peter Palumbo even joined in by going on a local radio program and among other things said she was an “evil little thing.” That’s not a few loners or a small handful of powerless people. That is the establishment. American Christian privilege and violence is a real phenomenon. Jessica Ahlquist is an intelligent and brave woman* and we could use a few more like her.
* people have been using the term “girl” but when someone stands up to the status quo,death threats be damned, they are done growing up.
Super Cold-Treatment Reference Spectacular
It’s cold season, I suggest a dose of information.
Coke Talk: Coke Talk of the Day
There was a large group of ultra-orthodox jews on my flight this morning, each with a vast array of wacky hats. Some of the hats were big and fuzzy. Some of the hats were tiny and made of wood. None of the hats were allowed to touch the ground, so it took forever to board the damn plane.
Things…
I keep (very unfortunately) getting into conversations that end up focused on why I get passionate about religion even though I’m not religious and why I can’t just go with the flow and do what they would like me to do. This story so perfectly sums up why people shouldn’t give religion a free pass because it’s old or because of some idea that it’s inherently worthy of respect.
If any individual person started pitching a fit on a plane because they had to come in contact with a gender/ethnic group/nationality/body type they found distasteful they would be bounced to the tarmac and everyone else would exchange a round of “wow, did you get a load of that wild-eyed nutter?” Swap that lone crazy for a pack of sacred-crazies affiliated with a religion and it’s a different story. It turns from nutter-bouncing to “excuse me miss, would you mind removing yourself from this man’s presence, you’re gender offends him.”
It’s important for people to stand up to that, as many clearly fantastic women on this flight did.
(Source: coketalk)
On January 13th 2012, the world will reach a remarkable milestone in the fight to eradicate polio – 12 months without a single case of polio for the first time in India’s history.
—(via The End of Polio)
Colin Stetson, The stars in his head (Dark Lights Remix) / New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges. Shot by Radwan Mounmeh, Montreal, 2011.
(via williac)
If the sport of football ever dies, it will die from the outside in. It won’t be undone by a labor lockout or a broken business model — football owners know how to make money. Instead, the death will start with those furthest from the paychecks, the unpaid high school athletes playing on Friday nights. It will begin with nervous parents reading about brain trauma, with doctors warning about the physics of soft tissue smashing into hard bone, with coaches forced to bench stars for an entire season because of a single concussion. The stadiums will still be full on Sunday, the professionals will still play, the profits will continue. But the sport will be sick.
—via Grantland
Debt ain’t so bad
First, families have to pay back their debt. Governments don’t - all they need to do is ensure that debt grows more slowly than their tax base. The debt from World War II was never repaid; it just became increasingly irrelevant as the U.S. economy grew, and with it the income subject to taxation. Second - and this is the point almost nobody seems to get - an over-borrowed family owes money to someone else; U.S. debt is, to a large extent, money we owe to ourselves.
I’ve heard the “family debt” analogy quite a bit in the last bit. The above quote from Paul Krugman nails it. Debt can be bad, but a modest rise in taxes should do the trick. Also, since interest rates have been pushed down so far recently, the government should be able to give itself some huge loans at almost 0% interest. Nice way to shore up an aging infrastructure and create some much needed jobs.
via Chron
LA Stylophonic
The real joke is on the rest of us. After the biggest financial meltdown in 80 years - a meltdown caused by the type of rogue financial manipulation that Romney embodies - and a consequent long, steep drop in the American standard of living, who is the putative front-runner for one of the only two parties allowed to be competitive in American politics? None other than Romney, the man who says corporations are people. Opposing him, or someone like him, will be the incumbent President Barack Obama, who will raise up to a billion dollars to compete in the campaign. Much of that loot will come from the same corporations, hedge fund managers, merger and acquisition specialists and leveraged buyout artists the president will denounce in pro forma fashion during the campaign.
—Mike Lofgren (via azspot)
(via azspot)
