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Randomness
May. 26th, 2013 10:17 amThings I have read this week:
- I wish there was something like tumblr saviour for the internet as a whole. Internet saviour. Then I wouldn't have to read anything David Morrison has to say ever again. As it is, I can only look for his name and skip his comments, because I know they will inevitably leave me boggling at best and seeing red at worst.
- What's The #1 Killer Of Girls Aged 15-19 Worldwide?
- A map of the world's most and least racially tolerant countries
- On Grittiness & Grimdark
There’s nothing wrong with wanting realism in your fantasy – most readers demand it to some extent – but that doesn’t mean we’ve all agreed on what realism in fantasy is. It’s a mistake to assume that your preferred flavour of honesty is the only legitimate one; or, just as importantly, the most legitimate one.
- Sexual squeamishness does women no favours
While we remain silent on what we actually want – the unsanitised fantasies that drive us to masturbate at night, rather than the tamed-down versions we'll admit to after a drink or two – we're letting other people dictate what we should and shouldn't enjoy.
- "Agora" and Hypatia - Hollywood Strikes Again
Socrates Scholasticus finishes describing Hypatia's achievements and the esteem with which she was held and then goes on to say "Yet even she fell a victim to the political jealousy which at that time prevailed". In other words, despite her learning and position, she fell victim to politics. There is no evidence at all that her murder had anything to do with her learning. The idea that she was some kind of martyr to science is totally absurd.
- ‘Stance’ vs. substance: why evangelicals are confused about the actual harm Chik-fil-A is doing to actual people
Every stance will, inevitably, produce some form of action, but when stance is paramount, those actions are an afterthought. In the stance-obsessed evangelical culture, such actions tend to be of a rather passive variety — demonstrations of verbal, financial or political support for a particular stance. (Or verbal and financial support for political action in accordance with that stance.) But when one’s stance is what matters most, the consequences of such actions are viewed as inconsequential.
- I wish there was something like tumblr saviour for the internet as a whole. Internet saviour. Then I wouldn't have to read anything David Morrison has to say ever again. As it is, I can only look for his name and skip his comments, because I know they will inevitably leave me boggling at best and seeing red at worst.
- What's The #1 Killer Of Girls Aged 15-19 Worldwide?
- A map of the world's most and least racially tolerant countries
- On Grittiness & Grimdark
There’s nothing wrong with wanting realism in your fantasy – most readers demand it to some extent – but that doesn’t mean we’ve all agreed on what realism in fantasy is. It’s a mistake to assume that your preferred flavour of honesty is the only legitimate one; or, just as importantly, the most legitimate one.
- Sexual squeamishness does women no favours
While we remain silent on what we actually want – the unsanitised fantasies that drive us to masturbate at night, rather than the tamed-down versions we'll admit to after a drink or two – we're letting other people dictate what we should and shouldn't enjoy.
- "Agora" and Hypatia - Hollywood Strikes Again
Socrates Scholasticus finishes describing Hypatia's achievements and the esteem with which she was held and then goes on to say "Yet even she fell a victim to the political jealousy which at that time prevailed". In other words, despite her learning and position, she fell victim to politics. There is no evidence at all that her murder had anything to do with her learning. The idea that she was some kind of martyr to science is totally absurd.
- ‘Stance’ vs. substance: why evangelicals are confused about the actual harm Chik-fil-A is doing to actual people
Every stance will, inevitably, produce some form of action, but when stance is paramount, those actions are an afterthought. In the stance-obsessed evangelical culture, such actions tend to be of a rather passive variety — demonstrations of verbal, financial or political support for a particular stance. (Or verbal and financial support for political action in accordance with that stance.) But when one’s stance is what matters most, the consequences of such actions are viewed as inconsequential.
