Rick Santorum is our Captain Ahab

I have to say that Rick Santorum is the most interesting candidate, psychologically speaking, in the presidential race. And this is in the face of stiff competition from Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich, all of whom would make fascinating studies of deluded thinking.

One thing that you must concede in favor of Santorum is that when it comes to his anti-women, anti-sex, anti-contraception, anti-gay, anti-secular agenda, he is [Read more…]

Another example of how religion poisons everything

The absurd fuss over contraception in the US is a classic example of religions abusing the language of ‘freedom of religion’ to advance their anti-women agenda. It turns out that Israel is also experiencing a similar phenomenon. Orthodox soldiers are apparently objecting to having to hear women sing at military functions.

The army’s insistence on men hearing women sing is such a serious attack on religious freedom, according to one prominent far-right rabbi, that “we’re close to a situation in which we will have to tell soldiers, ‘You have to leave such events even if a firing squad is set up outside, which will fire on and kill you.'”

Some see a more sinister agenda at work than [Read more…]

The deplorable practice of quote-mining

Scholarly articles tend to follow pretty much a four-step formula.

  1. The author identifies the problem being investigated, explains why it is of interest, and why it is important to find a solution.
  2. The previous solutions to the problem are discussed and reasons are given (in the form of evidence and arguments) as to why those earlier attempts are unsatisfactory.
  3. The author proposes a new solution to the problem and gives reasons (again in the form of evidence and arguments) why the new solution should be accepted.
  4. Other auxiliary problems will usually also be identified and addressed in the course of making the larger case.

In order to make the case that their research is important, [Read more…]