You might think that the people who annoy me the most are those who hold views I strongly disagree with. Actually, though, it’s the people who don’t really care one way or the other, and–this is the important part–who insist on inserting themselves into every single political debate to yell at us for having opinions. …
Tag Archive: politics
Sep 19 2012
I Won’t Write About the Conflict; Or, What I Think Of When I Think Of Israel
I won’t write about the conflict. Yes, I know I’m from there. I know I must have Such Interesting Perspectives on that whole…situation. I know I have friends in the IDF. I know I once strongly considered moving back, and thus getting drafted myself. I know I’ve seen rubble and remains of Qassam rockets and …
Sep 18 2012
[In Brief] On “Smug” Liberals
Sometimes I see conservatives derisively claiming that liberals/feminists/progressives are just “smug” and self-satisfied, that we hold the opinions that we hold because it gives us some sense of self-righteousness, that we do it in order to feel like we’re better than everyone else. I find this bizarre. I, for one, was considerably more smug and …
Sep 10 2012
[Guest Post] The Chicago Teachers Union: A New Hope for Public Education
After months of deadlocked negotiations with the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education, the 26,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union began their first strike in 25 years today, shutting down over 600 schools that serve over 400,000 students. The 600 delegates of the CTU voted unanimously in favor of the measure at a meeting August 31, two months …
Aug 30 2012
[In Brief] Romney's Abortion Flip-flop
In 1994, one of our current presidential candidates said the following: I have my own beliefs, and those beliefs are very dear to me. One of them is that I do not impose my beliefs on other people. Many, many years ago, I had a dear, close family relative that was very close to me …
Aug 23 2012
Why Do We Keep Talking About Akin and Not About Other Stuff?
I’ve noticed that every time a high-profile conservative says or does something stupid and it blows up in the media, some rank-and-file conservatives–in my Facebook newsfeed, elsewhere on the internet–have a very interesting response. They say something to the effect of this: “Why are people talking about [insert stupid conservative here] so much more than …
Aug 07 2012
A Texas Republican (Who Else?) Thinks Schools Need Mandatory Bible Reading
Hey, you know what will help teens avoid pregnancy? Comprehensive sex education, right? Nah. Here’s Rep. Debbie Riddle, a Republican in the Texas state house: What I think is that that’s unconstitutional. Apparently many other readers of Rep. Riddle’s Facebook page thought so too, and told her in no uncertain terms, because she followed up …
Jul 31 2012
[Guest Post] Rebuild America! Become a Narc!
Sometimes it’s very helpful to have friends who know things you don’t. That’s why I gladly accepted my friend Brian’s offer to write a rant about drug policy–namely, about no knock raids. Just over a year ago was the 40 year anniversary of America’s great unsung job program. Like that great majestic albatross known as …
Jul 19 2012
Chikin With a Side of Homophobia: Why You Should Boycott Chick-Fil-A
The president of Chick-Fil-A, Dan Cathy, recently confirmed what most of us have known for a while–the company is virulently homophobic. I mean, he didn’t come right out and say, “We’re a homophobic company.” But he did say, “Well, guilty as charged” when asked about Chick-Fil-A’s position on LGBT rights. He went on: “We are …
About the Author
Brute Reason Tumblr
- I keep hearing all this stuff about how secularism/atheism has nothing to do with feminism and...I keep hearing all this stuff about how secularism/atheism has nothing to do with feminism and blahblah. Here’s the interesting thing. For me, my journeys to each of those identities were deeply intertwined with one another. Although I haven’t believed in god for a really long time, what really led to my final break with organized religion was when I travele […]
- "How unfortunate is it that my parents had to literally force me to wear beautiful parts of my..."“How unfortunate is it that my parents had to literally force me to wear beautiful parts of my culture because I was afraid of being ostracized, but Selena Gomez can take aspects of the clothing I grew up with and make money off of it? How unfortunate is it that South Asian immigrants and South Asian Americans are Otherized every single day for the way they […]
- "The next question people always ask me [about being a model] is, “Do you get free..."“The next question people always ask me [about being a model] is, “Do you get free stuff?” I do have too many 8-inch heels which I never get to wear, except for earlier, but the free stuff that I get is the free stuff that I get in real life, and that’s what we don’t like to talk about. I grew up in Cambridge, and one time I went into a store and I forgot my […]
- "It’s not just the internet. And we can’t push the problem aside with a wave of our hands and an..."“It’s not just the internet. And we can’t push the problem aside with a wave of our hands and an offhand comment of “Oh, that’s just how the internet is. Don’t you know better than to go to reddit?” For many women, reddit is not an isolated internet thing. It’s the community that we have to deal with face to face, day in and day out. So yes, we need to chang […]
- "I am one of the lucky ones. I managed to turn my history of science and philosophy degree into..."“I am one of the lucky ones. I managed to turn my history of science and philosophy degree into graduate education in a semi-practical field. I’m not too worried about my employment opportunities once I finish my PhD. But I have friends who are suffering. They are being bounced around between unpaid internships, or desperately sending out resumes, or stuck w […]
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Two things to keep in mind:
1. I am bad at answering lengthy emails. Sorry!
2. I may ask you for permission to blog about our correspondence. However, if you are harassing/abusive/trollish, then I no longer have to ask you for permission. Proceed with caution!
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