by Carl Howard | Jul 6, 2016 | Atrocities and Oppression, History, Race, Travel
Lately I’ve been thinking about how hard it is to take something seriously enough when you’re not the target. How knowing that something is wrong is important but doesn’t get you all the way. The distinction between blackface and Jewface has highlighted this. I’m not...
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 18, 2014 | Feminism and LGBT, History, Race, Travel
Many kids have movies they love to watch over and over again. One of mine was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I’ve just seen it again for the first time in 15+ years. I suspected that it’d probably be quite racist but it exceeded my racism+sexism expectations by...
by Carl Howard | Jun 2, 2014 | Biases and Fallacies, History, Race, Society, Travel
This March I was in Israel for a wedding. We flew to Eilat, a holiday destination at the very south of Israel, on the Red Sea. Eilat is right near the border of Egypt and Jordan and you can see both countries right across a small stretch of water: Here’s a photo I...
by Carl Howard | May 15, 2014 | History, Resources, Food and Environment, Society, Travel
I don’t know a whole heap about life in the Gulf States (by which I mean Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman). But I’ve formed impressions from reading some online articles, looking at some stats, having a stopover in Qatar and...
by Carl Howard | Mar 20, 2014 | Atheism and Religion, Atrocities and Oppression, Race, Society, Travel
I went to a modern-Orthodox Zionist high school. You can imagine the kind of stuff they taught there. Highlights included: A school assembly with a debate of students about the validity of the (1990s) peace process. With someone on the side that it’s not worthwhile...
