As you’ll see this week, I am at times very lucky to have a handful of countries, without whom my job would be a lot more difficult and would require me to actually WORK to produce material, rather than just commenting on stories in the news. But, luckily for me, Iran is still going strong: …
Monthly Archive: July 2010
Jul 19 2010
What is “black”? – Part 2: self-identity
I have allowed myself to become too focussed on religion, and so I am posting some essays on race and race issues that I wrote for Black History Month in February, 2010. This is part 2 of a 6-part discussion of what I see as significant questions in the discussion of race. This post originally …
Jul 16 2010
Tragic story from the Maldives
Anyone who thinks that religious involvement in politics is good, or even neutral should feel free to move to the Maldives: A man in the Indian Ocean island state of the Maldives has died, apparently by suicide, after complaining of being victimised for not being a Muslim. Suicide of any type is tragic. This hits …
Jul 16 2010
Movie Friday: DOUBLE RAINBOW!
Apparently this video went viral, so I’m a bit tardy to the party. WARNING: he starts openly weeping about 1 minute in. People often accuse skeptics and atheists of failing to recognize the beauty and majesty of the world because we break things down into their constituent pieces. While I don’t think it’s necessarily true …
Jul 15 2010
Please sign this petition
You may remember last week when I talked about the government making changes to the long form of the census. Marianne Levitsky, a citizen who works in health and safety (she does not work with the census data, but recognized its importance) has started a petition to repeal the decision. I urge you to sign …
Jul 15 2010
New Westminster gets it EXACTLY right
Here’s a rarity: a bit of good news on the racial front right here at home: John Stark, the city’s senior social planner, said the Chinese reconciliation process undertaken by the City of New Westminster is the first such process taken by a municipality in Canada. He said research done by staff confirmed that city …
Jul 14 2010
To kill a classic novel
I guess I have some re-reading to do: I refuse to go along with this week’s warm, feel-good celebrations of Harper Lee’s novel (published fifty years ago today), To Kill a Mockingbird. Simply put, I think that novel is racist, and so is its undying popularity. It’s also racist in a particularly insidious way, because …
Jul 14 2010
Why do I care about free speech?
I think it’s a fair question to ask: why do I care about free speech? I live a live of great privilege – I don’t have many unpopular political beliefs, I am not discriminated against in any major way, there are no great social causes that I have to fight for on a daily basis …
Jul 13 2010
Update of Courtenay, BC attack: he was asking for it!
If anyone knows a decent orthopaedic surgeon, I did some serious damage to my wrist. Reading this article caused me to facepalm so hard, I may have fractured something: In his closing submissions, defence lawyer Doug Marion said Mr. Phillips “consented” to a three-on-one fight with the men and “could have walked away from this …
Jul 12 2010
What is “black”? – part 1: skin colour
I’ve been picking on religion too much with my Monday ‘think-piece’ notes, and neglecting the other part of this blog: discussions of race and race issues. In February, 2010 I participated in my yearly tradition of observing Black History Month by doing something scholarly. I decided to share some of my thoughts and findings, which …
About the Author
Recent Comments