by Carl Howard | Nov 24, 2015 | Atheism and Religion, Atrocities and Oppression, History, Race
Last year, the Sydney siege prompted many to demonise people with mental illness and to claim that the perpetrator couldn’t have been a true Muslim (see my post about it for more). With the recent attacks in Europe (and it’s all about Europe), this is recurring on a...
by Carl Howard | Nov 16, 2015 | Ethics, History, Race
Instead of a direct answer, a parable. Conversation the first: Alice: Australia has a gender wage gap of 17.9%. This is caused by sexism! Bob: [Pats Alice on head] Au contraire my naive friend! Actually, there are some excellent reasons for the wage gap that are the...
by Carl Howard | Nov 3, 2015 | Atrocities and Oppression, Ethics, Feminism and LGBT, History, Resources, Food and Environment
In a village north of the Longgang Zhen (the town) in Yangxin county. The hand-painted white text on the wall (below the pig-breeder’s ad) apparently threatens village women who’ve exceeded the two-child limit with tubal ligation. [CN: Reproductive coercion, crimes...
by Carl Howard | Sep 15, 2015 | Biases and Fallacies, History
If there’s one thing I love to hate-read more than anti-smartphone moral panics (see some previous examples), it’s anti-tech memes. They distill the moral panic clearly, without much chance to obfuscate. They also get shared a lot. Recently I saw someone share an...
by Carl Howard | Jul 28, 2015 | Atrocities and Oppression, Biases and Fallacies, History
[CN: War, starvation, genocide] The legacy of WWII is a much bigger deal in the former Soviet Union than can be imagined in many other countries. The Victory Day celebrations of May 9th are a major international event in Moscow (although this year’s 70th anniversary...
by Carl Howard | Jul 25, 2015 | Atrocities and Oppression, History, Race
Earlier this year my partner got us tickets to the opera production of The Rabbits because a lot of people recommended it to her. Now, I live in a massive ivory tower when it comes to children’s literature. Before that I’ve never heard of John Marsden and Shaun...
