Education | diabola in musica

Tag Archive for 'education'

10 October 2008 10:29 pm

She’s Not Lower Class, Just Small-Minded

Elitism in this sense is not about educational or class credentials, not about where you went to school or whether you use “summer” as a verb. It is, rather, about the pursuit of excellence no matter where you started out in life. Jackson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton were born to ordinary families, but they spent their lives doing extraordinary things, demonstrating an interest in, and a curiosity about, the world around them. This is much less evident in Palin’s case.

– “The Palin Problem”, Newsweek

categories: academia, culture, media, politics, quotes

tags: class, education, newsweek, sarah palin 2 spoke back

20 June 2008 08:09 am

Friday Leftovers

Book on McCain and his racist remarks to be released on July 4th. Titled Gook: John McCain’s Racism and Why It Matters. I understand the bitterness that someone can have from a war, but racial slurs are not acceptable under any circumstances. But considering that McCain called his wife a cunt in 1992, I think that McCain may be less racist and more rude, inconsiderate, and insensitive (to put it very lightly). (via angry asian man)
A (relative) old-timer expounds on the difficulties of dating when you’re a gay Asian male. In the past, many gay Asian males date Caucasian guys in America to the point where it’s “revolutionary” to date another Asian guy. Seeing how many Asian women also date Caucasian men (and also are burdened with the submissive stereotype), it says to me three things: (1) there are lots more Caucasian men than Asian men in America, (2) Caucasian men are likely to have the pick of the litter because of their social desirability, and (3) the Asian submissive stereotype is not limited to women. But still, since the gay dating pool is so much smaller, it becomes clear how straight (or bi) people have it so much easier when it comes to racial dating politics.
The 2008 Sexies winners have been announced. What are the Sexies? They are awards for sex-positive journalism. The Sexies are not about sensationalism, but are looking for accurate and unbiased stories that treat sexuality as “something other than a problem or prurient curiosity”. (via Greg Laden)
Buck Angel, A Man With a Pussy: LGB Without the T. An article about the divide between transgendered people and everyone else—even gay people. But the trans rights movement is on the rise. Trans people have been left out of the cultural narrative (in a positive way) for so long; it’s about time to include them. (via The Ch!cktionary)
The Taiping Rebellion, or How the Religious Crazy Happens in China, Too. China in turmoil. Charismatic person believes himself to be Jesus’ little brother wants to spread Christianity (and overthrow the government) to end turmoil. Said person killed twenty million people. Startling history lesson. (But without the Taiping Rebellion, we wouldn’t have Mahjong.) (via denialism blog)
Being gay may be due to pre-natal hormone levels and what that means. Homosexuality is not learned behavior, but it doesn’t seem like it’s genetic either. Theories now say that it could be exposure to hormones in the womb. If so, then homosexuality can be screened and “cured”. (via Gene Expression)
A scientist’s reflection on how creationism is fighting for the science classroom. Creationism doesn’t belong in a science class, but that doesn’t mean that all creationists are fervent, close-minded, religious adherents.
Advice on learning math for the mathphobe. Many ex-mathphobes also share (in the comments) their own struggles and also give advice.
Norway legalises gay marriage. Previously, gay couples could get civil unions but not church ceremonies or could they adopt. The new law takes effect January 1st.
Emma Grant, senior vice-president of engineering for the computer-database company Ingres, says that men and women code differently. But she says that women code more helpfully, including comments, while men write more cryptic code without such aids for other programmers. Like hell. When someone codes, he or she is supposed to provide comments and documentation. People who comment their code are good programmers. Those who don’t need to go back to Coding 101.

categories: academia, activism, culture, history, links, media, news, politics, science

tags: asia america, books, china, christianity, civil rights, computer science, creationism, education, false science, friday leftovers, gblt, gender, john mccain, journalism, math, misogyny, programming, qing dynasty, racism, religion, sex, taiping rebellion, teaching, the sexies, transgenderism 0 spoke back

21 April 2008 11:19 am

Advertising for Expelled on NPR

As a regular reader of ScienceBlogs, I know all about Expelled, Ben Stein’s new film about how educators and scientists are being persecuted for their belief in intelligent design. Expelled contains misinformation about science education and evolutionary science, and clearly promotes the teaching of intelligent design in the science classroom. Since its release on April 18th, the film has received poor reviews, and rebuttals from the online science communities. Overall, the film has received much negative attention.

So far, I’ve stayed away from this bit of media news. I’m no fan of intelligent design—since it is just another form of creationism and the subject should be left for philosophy or theology, not science—but I was hoping (and I should know better) that the film will open and pass without much of a blip on the media radar.

Obviously, I was wrong. The film opened as one of the top ten at the box office, and reviews have appeared all over the Internet. What really caught my attention, however, was that an NPR podcast had advertised for the movie.

Yes, you read that correctly. NPR published a podcast—specifically the April 7th show of On Health—that advertised for the production company that created Expelled. I couldn’t believe it. All is far in love and media, but give some thought to what you are saying when you link yourself to creationist propaganda.

Don’t only link heavily to the rebuttals. Write e-mails to websites, radio stations, any media outlet that promotes this film. Tell them what they are inadvertently (or not) supporting. The purpose of media is to elucidate, and when media advertise films that purposely obscure information, one can only wonder what else they can be hiding.

categories: academia, activism, links, media, science