Crommunist

Author's details

Name: Ian Cromwell
Date registered: September 26, 2011
URL: http://freethoughtblogs.com/crommunist

Biography

Crommunist is a scientist, musician, skeptic, and long-time observer of race and race issues. His interests, at least blog-wise, focus on bringing anti-racism into the fold of skeptic thought, and promoting critical thinking about even those topics that make us uncomfortable. READ THE FAQ. E-mail: crommunist at gmail dot com

Latest posts

  1. I’m not dead — May 6, 2013
  2. MP Scott Reid goes after atheists in the House of Commons #DefendDissent — April 23, 2013
  3. Go Home, Arab — April 16, 2013
  4. Possibly foreign — April 16, 2013
  5. Vanity Friday – This Love — April 12, 2013

Most commented posts

  1. Free thoughts from the hive mind — 199 comments
  2. When the rug is pulled — 196 comments
  3. “It’s my movement too”; the white whine of atheism — 175 comments

Author's posts listings

May 06 2013

I’m not dead

Categories:

Uncategorized

by

Just dropping a note here to say that I am, in fact, not dead. Lot of irons in the fire at the moment, and writing has been the lowest on my list of priorities. Am currently working on something rather large, so expect that in a few days. My apologies to anyone for whom this …

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21 comments

Apr 23 2013

MP Scott Reid goes after atheists in the House of Commons #DefendDissent

Categories:

Canada, civil rights, news, politics, religion, secularism

by

Our beleaguered and religion-soaked cousins south of the border may, from time to time, look northward with envy at Canada’s largely non-religious civil society. Our politics are not replete with the same invocations to the intercession of the supernatural that plague the American landscape; indeed, it is considered somewhat gauche in most circles to make large …

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21 comments

Apr 16 2013

Go Home, Arab

Categories:

forces of stupid, news, racism

by

I'm a brown dude in New York City & I'm nervous to walk around alone today. This is how racism works.

One of my favourite standup comedians is a guy called Hari Kondabolu. He talks about race from a non black/white standpoint, and does so in a way that is consistently hilarious. Yesterday, he Tweeted this: I thought this was a particularly sad commentary on reality for many Asian Americans, forced to pay the price for …

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112 comments

Apr 16 2013

Possibly foreign

Categories:

critical thinking, crommunism, news, racism

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As you’ve no doubt heard from countless media sources, two devices exploded yesterday at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing two and wounding dozens. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for what appears to be an attack. I am trying to cage my language as much as possible here, for reasons I …

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12 comments

Apr 12 2013

Vanity Friday – This Love

Categories:

Vanity

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Haven’t done one of these in a while. I have a gig with the band tonight and a solo gig tomorrow at the King’s Head Pub, the place where I got my start in Vancouver. Should be interesting. I also bought a new effects pedal that I am slowly learning to use (so many options, …

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5 comments

Apr 11 2013

Justice for Rehteah

Categories:

Canada, news

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I mentioned this story briefly in passing on Tuesday, but an atrocity has occurred in Nova Scotia (trigger warning for suicide): Rehtaeh Parsons had a goofy sense of humour and loved playing with her little sisters. She wore glasses, had long, dark hair and was a straight-A student whose favourite subject was science. On Sunday night, …

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8 comments

Apr 11 2013

Pride goeth before…

Categories:

anti-racism, freethought community, psychology, race, racism, science, skepticism, sociology

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Ashton-James Fig

It has become a sort of pop-psychology truism that people who engage in prejudicial behaviour are doing so from a place of insecurity. It makes intuitive sense that if you don’t feel good about yourself, you can bring yourself up by tearing others down. Indeed, there is some evidence that threats to self-concept are likely …

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15 comments

Apr 10 2013

“Accidental” racism and intentional brilliance

Categories:

black history, critical thinking, forces of stupid, history, music, news, race, racism

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Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows what my position is on “intent” when it comes to things like racism and misogyny. Intent lies on an orthogonal axis to racism – someone doing something intentionally racist just adds bad intent to bad action. If we are of the opinion that racism is harmful in and of …

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21 comments

Apr 09 2013

Segregation in 2013

Categories:

black history, civil rights, education, forces of stupid, hate, history, news, race, racism

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I went to a high school with an incredibly diverse student body. While I didn’t really recognize it at the time, I was incredibly lucky: I was surrounded at all times by people from all over the world with a wide variety of experiences and beliefs. It didn’t “force me” to be tolerant or anything …

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38 comments

Apr 09 2013

Rose DiManno, rape culture ambassador

Categories:

crime, critical thinking, feminism, news

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I had an MRA show up in the comments yesterday. In between the bluster and the self-aggrandizing and the laughable talking points, he did manage to slip in the kernel of an actual point (I know – nobody was more shocked than I was). He reminded me of the claim that I made a couple …

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21 comments

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