Culture Warriors category archive
Paleolicious 0
Writing at the Guardian, Jason Williams examines the “paleo diet” and finds it paleolithic in unexpected ways. A snippet:
In my view, the answer to that has little to do with food. The paleolithic is a favoured era because of the way it answers to a desire to justify or reimpose certain social hierarchies, especially those concerning gender.
For John Durant, a paleo thought leader, feminism is a particular bête noire. He spends pages of his cash-in book, The Paleo Manifesto, railing against the feminist Carol Adams, who connected feminism with vegetarianism. At one point he writes that “Adams’s meat-hating, man-hating mantra – ‘Eat Rice Have Faith in Women’ – is intended to undermine the male culture of meat-eating, thus undermining male power, thus reducing rape”.
Missing from his analysis, but also noteworthy, is that the “Paleo Diet” is based on the imagined diet of paleolithic Europeans. THe “Paleo Diets” of persons in the various regions of the Americas (if there were any at the time), Africa, and Asia would have been much different, as they would have eaten foods native to their regions and their varying climates.
It is, ultimately, not only Euro-centric, but also an intellectually dishonest construction promoted by charlatans, as fad diets are wont to be.
The Snaring Society 0
Der Spiegel takes a look at the megalomaniacs of Silicon Valley and finds it’s not a pretty sight. Here’s a bit; the entire article is worth your while.
That message holds that technology can change humanity for the better. The people from the valley who hope to reshape the world fundamentally believe that their high-tech solutions will create a better future for all of mankind just as pious Hindus believe in reincarnation. But they are not interested in external interference. The Silicon Valley elite has little use for policymakers and considers regulation to be more than just a hindrance, they see it as an anachronism. Their message seems to be: If societal values such as privacy and data protection stand in the way, then we simply have to develop new values.
Do You Believe in Magic? 0
Jessica Valenti suggests that Republicans think that women are magickal beings with mystical powers beyond masculine understanding.
Methinks she is onto something.
Then, again, mayhaps they are simply sexist nutcases.
Inquiring minds want to know.
None Dare Call It Terrorism 0
In the Charlotte Observer, Glenda Gilmore, an ex-pat North Carolinian now living in Connecticut, comments on the case of Craig Hicks, who killed three Muslim students for reasons that remain unclear.* A snippet:
Plus Ca Change 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., places Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore’s recent invocation of nullification in the face of gay marriage into context. A nugget (please read the rest):
That’s what necessitated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Freedom Rides of 1961. It’s why federal troops had to march into Little Rock in 1957. For that matter, it’s why they had to march into Richmond in 1865. The demagogues always use the same justification, always say that in denying it the right to discriminate as it sees fit, the federal government steps on the South’s “traditions.”
(snip)
Of course, “tradition” is just a smokescreen word, like “values,” “heritage,” “faith” and all the other pretty terminology opponents of marriage equality use to justify their increasingly untenable position. . . . It is, and ever has been, only about a single ugly word: bigotry. . . .
One more time, when you hear someone invoke “states’ rights,” ask, “States’ rights to do just what, precisely.”
Dollars to doughnuts you don’t get a precise answer.
Anti-Vax Facts 0
The Deseret News skewers the notion of “religious objections” to vaccinations.
But the world’s major faiths — Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam — have no explicit prohibitions against oral or injected vaccines. At times, some followers or preachers within a given religion or sect may have spoken against vaccination, but researcher John D. Grabenstein of Merck Vaccines, writing in the scientific journal Vaccine in April 2013, could find no sustained teaching against the practice in any major faith community.
According to the story, even Mary Baker Eddy said that vaccinations were okay.
“Love Thy Neighbor” 0
Yeah. Right.
The Dallas Voice reported that Stone’s husband, Jay Hoskins, has been trying to find a place to memorialize his partner since Stone’s death on January 19.
These folks must worship some Jesus I never heard of.