What, Why & How do we Know ?
Islamism – non-secular political aspirations of Islam – are a problem of Islam and a problem for all of us, but that problem is Islamism, not Islam per se. And, like any religion, interpretation and fragmentation mean Islam has plenty of other problems with tolerance and respect for individual rights and freedoms, but there can be … Continue reading “Growing-up with Maajid Nawaz in “Radical””
I’ve expressed before the underlying belief that Anne Marie Waters heart is in the right place and her actual understanding pretty deep and nuanced … and heartfelt. (Though I was once moved to update that opinion. And again here on “modesty”.) Politics is a dirty business, requiring tough choices guaranteed to “offend” at least half … Continue reading “Reductive Choice”
Interesting to see today’s news on standardisation of units of measure, that time, distance and mass are now to be unified through the Caesium clock with application of the speed of light (c) and Planck’s constant (h). (Hat tip to Jim Al-Khalili on Twitter). Fascinating article in itself, however yet more evidence that the accepted standard … Continue reading “Carlo Rovelli – A Fresh Spin on Fundamental Physics”
It’s a common claim in some form, in many a situation, where were are in danger of confusing or conflating prejudice based on race with prejudice based on some other social construct. It works on the assumption that race is a naturally objective class about which an individual has no choice, whereas religion is a … Continue reading “A religion is not a race, it’s an idea?”
One current Brexit / Corbyn / Trump meme – the disaster that is 2016 politics the world over it seems – is the whole Citizen of the World vs Nationalism polarisation. It is perfectly reasonable to have national pride and interest whilst participating individually, collectively, actively, rationally and ethically in our environmental cosmos of course. … Continue reading “Human Belonging”
I’m regularly “guilty” of this, referring to Corbyn/Trump (delete as inapplicable), so I thought I’d make a point. Sure, they are apparently at opposite extremes of the right-left spectrum, but as is often pointed out historically fascism has existed at both extremes. The tendencies to fascism are the same however; demagoguery appealing to prejudice, personality cult, … Continue reading “Corbyn – Don’t Compare me to Trump”
All this “antisemitism” (or is it anti-Zionism) swirling around Labour and lefty politics again is utterly crass – pure PC perversion. Our statement on the remarks of Jackie Walker about Holocaust Memorial Day: https://t.co/FpBUld768t pic.twitter.com/pjyPzkQVvy — HMDT (@HMD_UK) September 28, 2016 Look, the word “holocaust” was in the Jewish lexicon as a sacrificial burnt offering … Continue reading “You say holocaust, I say Holocaust.”
I wrote a general piece on identity politics last year when the then current topic was “Islam is not a race“. The whole nation / race / culture / religion subject is fraught with definitional problems, that really only resolve in self-identity. The fact that Semite has nothing to do with being a Jew in the … Continue reading “The Labour Antisemitism Row”
As promised, I’ve obtained and started reading Alice Dreger’s recent (2015) personal account of mis-directed politics both in science and in its place in society. Clearly very much within my own agenda, so as I often do, I like to post a preview of my first impressions and (my own) prejudices, it ensures any eventual … Continue reading “Galileo’s Middle Finger by Alice Dreger – A Preview”
Reading Paul Mason’s “Postcapitalism — A Guide to the Future” after earlier mentioning the previews and as is my wont recording some notes around the mid-way point. That is, I don’t really know his conclusions for future action yet, but as previewed it is indeed full of material I already identify with, indeed have been … Continue reading “Atomisation of Markets & Labour @paulmasonnews”