What, Why & How do we Know ?
[This piece extended in many footnotes below the line since original publication.] The cast of blue-tick players is: @glinner – Graham Linehan (since banned from Twitter) – vs – @frankieboyle – Frankie Boyle @billybragg – Billy Bragg @OwenJones84 – Owen Jones The recent round started with this Tweet, for which Glinner has got a fair … Continue reading “Calling Out Celebrity Supporters of Gender Self-ID”
Richard (Rick) Ryals died 01 Dec 2018 from what I presume to have been throat or pharyngeal cancer. I only knew him as an on-line contact. Originally using the on-line user name “Island” or “Island9”. In the few days, inside the week before his death, I was private-chatting with him on Facebook Messenger after he’d … Continue reading “Rick Ryals”
This is my third piece in a month on these topics, and I’m still adding footnotes here, though my written interest goes back four years to Alice Dreger and her “Galileo’s Middle Finger”. It’s highly recommended as an introduction to the politically-motivated disfigurement of a very complex technical and cultural topic with serious consequences for … Continue reading “Gender Dysphoria and Trans-Activism”
[#2 Cut straight to he chase? There’s now a #3 post in this series.] I keep finding myself in these gender / trans / terf threads on Twitter , and am constantly amazed by the range of misunderstandings and poorly conceived freedoms and rights agendas (and viscious discourse, do I need add?) [Three or four … Continue reading “A Second Kick in the Nads”
An interesting edition of The Sacred Podcast with @TheosElizabeth inteviewing @SethAnzisca about his book “Preventing Palestine: A Political History from Camp David to Oslo” Tweeted a few responses as I listened – it resonated with so many of my own agenda items. This one merges the opening and closing thoughts: “Skepticism of (the content of) … Continue reading “Sacred Scepticism”
A review of: “How The World Thinks – A Global History of Philosophy” by Julian Baggini All my reviews are done in the context of my own philosophical journey and often, like this one, a review done very early on in the reading, so that my own prejudices are laid bare for later analysis and … Continue reading “Zen and the Art of Philosophy”
One day, the point of this “Meta” topic will stick with my readers, but for now this is just a holding post to collect previous attempts and add a few new inputs that might help me clarify it. Back in 2011 I had Meta and Meta#2 attempts (*). Meta itself as a concept runs through … Continue reading “Meta#3”
There are some Proof-of-ID trials happening in the upcoming local elections in the UK. Naturally the system is “flawed”. All the usual responses of course, to the infringement if individual freedoms aspects. If freedom is worth anything, it’s worth protecting IMHO. But I say: Cock-ups like Windrush happen because of a public attitude to (things … Continue reading “ID Cards & Voting – Enlighten Me Someone?”
I’ve been sitting on this link for a while, an Independent piece by Andy Martin on his interview of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She’s someone I’ve kept at arm’s length through the whole recent Islamophobia period – care is needed when unpicking the political correctness of anti-Islam / Islamism rhetoric and campaigns. Islam has a problem … Continue reading “Trust in Ayaan Hirsi Ali”
The immediate data: Actual 2015 Result in Full. Comparing D’Hondt PR with FPTP in 2015 Voting. (ER Tweet) (Proportionality) Electoral Reform and A Constitutional Convention (<<< This) Unlock Democracy and Joint Electoral Reform Petition (naff link, may need to search each org for fresh link) 2015Constitutionalists [Community Union] [Paul Mason’s Blog] [Adam Bienkov’s Blog] [Left Foot Forward] [Alan Johnson] [Spiked Brendan … Continue reading “Data For When The Dust Settles Later”