Quickies
Quickies: Uganda and Anti-Gay Laws, Joss Whedon’s Biography, and RBG is Branded a “Misandrist”
- Uganda Anti-Gay Law Struck Down by Court – “A Ugandan court struck down a punitive anti-gay law on Friday that has strained Uganda’s relations with the West, but the court ruled on narrow technical grounds, preserving the possibility that the measure could be revived.” From Will.
- The Real Reason Why Joss Whedon Named His Space Western Show Firefly – “Nathan Fillion auditioned unsuccessfully for the part of Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And years later, he had five troubled auditions for the role of Mal on Firefly, before he finally clicked. That’s just one of the amazing facts from a new biography of Joss Whedon.”
- The Tragedy of Not Knowing History – Anthropology News takes on the trope of the “Tragedy of the Arabs.” From CriticalDragon1177.
- Fox News Calls Ruth Bader Ginsburg an Ignorant Misandrist – “Ginsburg’s comments inspired comical levels of umbrage-taking on The Five on Fox News, where Andrea Tantaros worked herself into full-blown ‘misandry!’ mode. ‘Isn’t she sort of saying, “Keep men away from this court?” ‘ she complained. ‘I get it. She’s a fan of birth control, but she is an enemy to the Bill of Rights.’ “
I always wondered why the Firefly universe had such a strong Chinese cultural influence when there wasn’t a single Chinese CHARACTER. I think there may have been one in the whorehouse shootout episode, but otherwise there were no Asian characters at all. Did they all die out or did they all stay on Earth?
According to the series bible, there’s such a strong Chinese influence because the ‘verse is almost half ethnic Chinese! Where they’re all hanging out is a mystery to everyone except the casting director…
NOTORIOUS RBG didn’t say that, but I will.
Keep us men away from the fucking Supreme Court! We had our chances, and cocked it up!
Ah, the disappearing Arab Golden Age. Ibn Warraq’s ‘Why I Am Not a Muslim’ talks about the ease with which Western observers projected wishful positives onto the Islamic world:
Some enlightenment era types, grasping that Islam didn’t have a Papacy or priesthood (?) projected the image of a nearly secular world. 50 years later, Catholic reactionaries were idealizing the Arabs as a peasantry disciplined to obey their rulers without question.
Both versions were rooted in ignorance and utterly misleading.
John the Drunkard,
People tend to idealize and demonize other cultures when they don’t understand them or know much about them. From what I understand, some things were discovered and invented during that period in the Middle East, although it may have been exaggerated somewhat.
John the Drunkard,
By the way, at the very least I would have to say that Ibn Warraq is somewhat of a flawed source when it comes to Islam. Klingscore bad a pretty good video on him.
“The Ibn Warraq Principle” (The Need for Nuance)