Over at the Friendly Atheist, Terry Firma has some harsh words about media outlets that congratulate themselves for standing up for free speech but refuse to publish images of the controversial Charlie Hebdo cover even in stories specifically about it. … [Read more...] about Free Speech From a Friend of the Blog
To Publish or Not To Publish
Rick Horowitz has an interesting post about his decision not to display any Charlie Hebdo cartoons in his post about the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Er, in other words, his post about the Charlie Hebdo massacre consisted of an explanation of why he wasn't posting Charlie Hebdo cartoons in his post about the Charlie Hebdo massacre. (Did you follow that? It was all very … [Read more...] about To Publish or Not To Publish
Je ne suis pas Charlie
I am not Charlie.Honestly, until this shit happened, I didn't know a damned thing about Charlie Hebdo. I don't have a clue what Charlie Hebdo stood for, so I'm not about to identify myself with them or support their editorial agenda, whatever it is.Besides, in my mind, "I am Charlie" links to the scene in the 1960 film Spartacus where rebellious former Roman slaves … [Read more...] about Je ne suis pas Charlie
Should It Be a Crime to Hate Police?
One of the implicit assumptions I make here is that the criminal justice system is not exempt from the general principle that social institutions enforce social norms. In a society hostile to minorities, giving authorities another law to enforce is giving them another way to punish minorities. Even a law intended to help minorities can end up hurting them if the intended effect … [Read more...] about Should It Be a Crime to Hate Police?
2014 in Review
According to Wordpress, 2014 was a slow year, with only 114 posts, almost a quarter of which were on a Saturday. And for the first time in years, the #1 post was not my anti-Sprint rant. Instead it was my post about the protests in Ferguson. In addition to the usual social media outlets, I owe Popehat and Gamso for much of my traffic.My most active commenter was Allison … [Read more...] about 2014 in Review