Cross-posted from State of Formation. In today’s news, we hear that a group of high school students were offended and walked out of a talk because they were told that they are too moral to do things like stoning women for being non-virgins on their wedding night or owning slaves. […]

As you have almost certainly surmised if you read Dan Savage’s apology, it isn’t an apology for much. It’s more of a clarification– an explanation of 1) how the distinction between how you act (pansy-assedly) and who you are (a pansy-ass) matters, but not as much as we sometimes like […]

From Skepchick, Guest Post: IGN Agrees, Women are Whores Money quote: There aren’t many words more denigrating to women than ‘whore’. It’s the one that summons mental images of domestic violence, of the worst sort of reduction to a sexual object. That Deadwood smack of ‘disposable, beatable hole’ makes me physically […]

I really enjoy reading everything Greta Christina has to say on her blog. Sometimes I forget to check it, which is an oversight on my part, but every time I go and read through a new entry I feel edified by the experience. The same, sadly, cannot be said of […]

When talking about laws impinging on freedom, laws that impinge on important freedoms matter. But laws that impinge on unimportant freedoms matter more. Why? Because a law that says you fundamentally may not say what you think or feel, own your own property, express a meaningful choice about your rulers […]

In discussion about Gloria Allred’s attempt to prosecute Rush Limbaugh at Dispatches, a commenter called Harold observed the following (the first line is a quote from another comment, to which he is responding): Is Allred trying to give Limbaugh the upper hand in the court of public opinion? I believe […]

Technically this doesn’t count as me saying something, because it’s Jon Stewart saying something…right? A lot of things. A lot of very funny things, regarding Limbaugh but specifically regarding Republican presidential candidates’ and Fox News’ reactions to his shenanigans: The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political […]

I write a lot about very particular things that have happened, and then try to extrapolate a larger significance. This is satisfying to me, but I try to be aware that there is definitely a ratchet in people’s brains that rises and lowers according to the specificity of what they […]

Cross-posted from State of Formation. I think Gene Marks has now been thoroughly excoriated for his column “If I Were a Poor Black Kid” on the Forbes web site last week. In his effort to explain how it’s still possible for underprivileged kids to succeed, he succeeded only in displaying a shocking lack of empathy. By that […]

Cross-posted from State of Formation. University of Nebraska Assistant Coach Ron Brown prayed on behalf of his football team and that of Penn State prior to their game on November 12th, in the wake of the latter university’s scandal regarding former head coach Joe Paterno. Which you already know about if you […]