Archive for the ‘society’ Category
The joy of violence
This is a very thoughtful, if jokey, consideration of non-violence from someone who understands violence a lot better than pacifism.
Here, she’s exactly right:
Pacifism as a concept kind of pisses me off.
Still, non-violence intrigues me, not least because of its power to frustrate the violently inclined. The central paradox of terrorism—we will hurt you, but we [...]
Prejudice against the ugly
This from Comment Is Free’s Tanya Boyle.
Susan will probably win Britain’s Got Talent. She will be the little munter that could sing, served up for the British public every Saturday night. Look! It’s “ugly”! It sings! And I know that we think that this will make us better people. But Susan Boyle will be the [...]
Rape culture
This essay by Latoya Peterson is essential reading:
This is how the Not Rape epidemic spreads – through fear and silence, which become complicit in perpetuating the behaviors described here. Women of all backgrounds are affected by these kinds of acts, regardless of race, ethnicity, or social class. So many of us carry the scars of [...]
Christmas gifts for people who could really use them
Please consider donating to Oxfam Unwrapped and similar charities, this Christmas. Economic downturn or not there are people who desperately need survival aid, especially in Somalia.
Hope that helps, if you wondered what to get me *grin*
Alice Walker’s letter to Barak Obama
Dear Brother Obama…
The myth of selfishness: Part 3 – A new gift economy
If society is in tune with human proclivities it works better, because people enjoy what they do. You only have to look at small boys playing “hunting”, or notice the difference between the incentives necessary to get people to sit in an office shuffling papers compared with those required to get people to dance and [...]
The myth of selfishness: Part 2 – The Rise of Capitalism
Much of this has a European focus, and I apologise for that, especially because colonialism and its devastating effect on the world are consequently not given proper attention. The focus of the article is narrow and designed as a contrast to the situation described in Part 1 – Ancient Economics. By the way, I’m no [...]
The myth of selfishness: Part 1 Ancient Economics
This article is the first in a series. I’m leading up to something and it takes quite a long time to get there, but it’s generally about my idea that people are far less self-interested than it appears.
NB:
In the following I have used the term “traditional culture” to refer to the ancient and complex social [...]
Who is the leisure class?
Vasco Pyjama has been on fire since coming back to Australia. Here she outlines the basis of the divide between the developing world and the west:
Two years ago, I travelled through Mindanao, the war-torn southernmost island of the Philippines. Villages there were populated with modest wooden huts made with coco lumber and leaf roofing. Then [...]
Living the decaf life…
Following a post by Robin Warner, a rant on decaf.
You see, I have a guiding principle which steers me away from decaf. It’s based on the idea that fun is temporary – nothing lasts forever and you can have too much of a good thing. So when you enjoy something, really enjoy it. Don’t be [...]
Washington Times financed by Rev. Sun Moon on behalf of GOP
Consortium News reports that the US Republican Party’s propaganda organ the Washington Times has been financed by the Rev. Sun Moon at a cost of $3 billion over the years.
Principles of freedom
Positive and negative freedom
Suppose a person is on their way to an appointment, and they reach an intersection where they can go left or right. There are several possible reasons why they might choose to go one way or the other, and these reasons relate to the person’s freedom:
If the road is open and the [...]
Golf courses
Bristling Badger has some musings on the popular support for Chavez in comparison to Bush. He mentions in passing
The mayor of Venezuela’s capital Caracas says he plans to expropriate two exclusive golf courses and use the land for homes for the city’s poor.
Mayor Juan Barreto has said playing golf on lavish courses within sight [...]
Submission to the Tasmanian Human Rights Project
What follows is my submission to the Colin Brown Human Rights Project. This is a community consultation process carried out by the Law Reform Institute of Tasmania, at the behest of the Tasmanian State Government. The project is described here in more detail. It will culminate in a recommendation to Parliament for human rights legislation.
Introduction: [...]
Tasmania considering human rights legislation
Tasmania is considering bringing in a bill or charter of human rights, following the lead of the Australian Capital Territory and the state of Victoria. It has asked the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute to investigate the matter, consult with the community, and produce recommendations and a summary of the submissions it receives.
Australians don’t enjoy very [...]
Is the NYTimes on a sexist morals crusade?
The New York Post can be expected to blame the victim for her rape, but when you see the New York Times constructing an article around the idea that young female doctors are showing too much flesh:
There was just one problem. As she delivered her thoughtful patient presentations to me and the other attending doctors, [...]
Feeding the monster
I believe in the noble savage, or rather in the idea that in the absence of an overriding desire or fear a person’s essential nature is compassionate. So I’ve always been interested in evil although I think it’s overrated. When the lights are on all those monsters lurking in our psyches stop being powerful and [...]
Uncovered meat on the barbie
In spite of their name, Australia’s ruling “Liberal Party” is conservative. Since winning the 2001 election by manipulating public fears about asylum seekers and security concerns after 9/11, they have not hesitated to play the race card. John Howard is too clever to do this overtly, however. Instead he engages in what has been called [...]
Censorship in Australia
Freedom of speech in Australia is in far worse shape than generally understood. Frank Moorhouse, researching his essay, “The writer in a time of terror” came across first one and then a large number of extremely frightening examples of Orwellian censorship and government interference. The following article is based on an interview Moorhouse did with [...]
When good memes go bad
Complex systems can have emergent properties. In other words the interactions between the constituent elements of the system can give rise to events, patterns, and behaviours which are not easy to predict by examination of the individual elements in isolation. In fact I would say two other things about this:
To predict the future state of [...]
