by Carl Howard | Jan 12, 2016 | Ethics, Feminism and LGBT, History
I’m not a David Bowie fan but now that he’s died I’ve become even more aware of the profound effect he’s had on the world. Many people are grieving (some more than they expected to!); if that’s you I’m sorry for your loss. Hopefully, you’ll have also seen something in...
by Carl Howard | Dec 22, 2015 | History, Race, Resources, Food and Environment, Travel
One genre that does well online is photo-essays about food around the world. The food is often fascinating but the pieces can also elicit some interesting and simplistic reactions from the online audience. The form I’ve seen this take is people from wealthy...
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...
