Tag Archives: violence

Steven Pinker Says Violence Is On The Decline. Really.

A short and excellent talk, by Steven Pinker, on the global decline of violence.

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Beauty That Is Also Repellent

Israeli artist Ori Gersht (b. 1967) says that one of the things he tends to aim for in his art is the foregrounding of beauty against a background of violence. In the video piece below, he sets up a traditional still … Continue reading

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The Truth of Progress: Steven Pinker Interviewed by Reason Magazine

Steven Pinker’s new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, on the decline of violence through history, is great—maybe his best book ever. Well, on second thought, let’s say it ties his The Blank Slate. That’s saying a lot. Here’s Pinker talking about The … Continue reading

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Judge William Adams Alludes to the Bible as He Beats His Daughter, Hallie

The below video shows Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge, William Adams of Texas, reminding his 16-year-old daughter, Hallie, of the apostle Paul’s commandment to obey your father and mother (see 4:20 in the clip) as he beats the living shit out of her for downloading … Continue reading

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In Baghdad, Muslims Go Ahead and Hate Their Christian Neighbors

If there’s a hell, the Muslims who slaughtered their Christian brothers and sisters in Baghdad over the past ten days have certainly raised their odds of going there. The following was buried in a much longer story at the New York Times yesterday. The … Continue reading

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If I don’t think Islam is an inherently violent religion, then what theory do I offer for explaining contemporary Islamic terrorism as a phenomenon?

I’ll offer one to start: the collapse of Marxism as an ideological force over the past 20 years has left the poor in formerly colonial powers at a loss for an ideological substitute for resistance to what they perceive as … Continue reading

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Is Islam a violent religion in the same way that it is a patriarchal religion?

In a recent New York Times essay, Robert Wright attempts to complexify the “jihadi intent” narrative for the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, to which Jerry Coyne dismissively retorts: It’s social difficulties, mental illness, financial problems, and American depredations in the Middle … Continue reading

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Target Democrats

When is a metaphor not a metaphor?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            . The double entendre accompanied by (im)plausible deniability. Republicans have been escalating this sick game for over a year.

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Rush Limbaugh and a Disturbing New Authoritarian Phenomenon: The Brick Throwing “Patriot”

Talk about pushing the Overton Window to the right. Yesterday Rush Limbaugh (who calls himself a “Christian”) equated Barack Obama with Hitler and put up this rather uncharitable battle cry against Democrats: We need to defeat these bastards. We need to wipe … Continue reading

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Imagine a World Without Religion. Would It Be Less Violent?

At first glance, one thing that atheism clearly seems to have going for it is this: it doesn’t have any holy books with violence advocating passages in it. Indeed, it doesn’t have any holy books at all. So score one for atheism? Not so … Continue reading

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Here’s a Link to Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer”

In case you’re interested.

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A Muslim Imam Who Once Advocated Violence Now Renounces Terror

The heart intervenes. This today in Spiegel: In 2001, imam Mohammed El Fazazi of Morocco preached that it it is a Muslim obligation to “slit the throats of non-believers” in a Hamburg mosque. Among his listeners and star pupils were … Continue reading

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Evolutionary Psychology and War: Are We Chimps, Bonobos, or Something Else?

Is war, in some sense, natural? Here’s an example of a recent book (reviewed by the Washington Post) that makes the argument that it is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/06/AR2009030602021.html And here’s the book at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sex-War-Biology-Explains-Terrorism/dp/1933771577/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243042063&sr=8-16 And, of course, there is always Desmond … Continue reading

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Our Monsters, Ourselves

The MONSTEROUS plays an enormous role in literature and the human imagination—from the Book of Revelation and Dante’s Inferno to Nosferatu and Mad Monster Party. It also plays a large role in politics—as in the demonizing, by the far right, of Barack … Continue reading

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Did You Know That Sartre, in the Name of World Revolution, Would Not Have Prevented the Burning of the Mona Lisa? Neither Did I!

In 1972 Jean Paul Sartre, then age 67, was interviewed by Esquire magazine. The interview appeared in December of that year.   How do I know this? Because I had the displeasure of reading the interview today, not from an … Continue reading

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Death Proof: Quentin Tarantino Finds His Mojo in Foot Fetishism—and Shows His Feminist Side

I thought that with the two “Kill Bill” films, Quentin Tarantino had lost his way as a filmmaker. “Death Proof,” for me, is his comeback film. It’s an enduring, “Jackie Brown” quality piece, with a great feminist subtext (though if … Continue reading

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