Quickies
Quickies: Gut Bacteria, Scientology, and Gendered Martyrdom
- The (Accidental) Power of MOOCs – “Massive open online courses looked like they were on their way out—and then researchers discovered something curious about who’s participating.”
- Fox News’ shocking racism effect: The alarming statistical relationships underneath conservative viewing habits – “Even controlling for other variables, those who watch Fox News are more likely to hold a number of alarming beliefs.” From mrmisconception.
- Can the Bacteria in Your Gut Explain Your Mood? – “Given the extent to which bacteria are now understood to influence human physiology, it is hardly surprising that scientists have turned their attention to how bacteria might affect the brain. Micro-organisms in our gut secrete a profound number of chemicals, and researchers like Lyte have found that among those chemicals are the same substances used by our neurons to communicate and regulate mood, like dopamine, serotonin and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).”
- Why I Left Scientology – “The day I was taken to The Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles for the first time, I had no idea how much the visit would change and shape me into the person I am today. Or what I’d be like if the fates had something different in mind for me.” From Courtney.
- The Norwegian Soccer Team’s Timely Response to Sexist Stereotypes – “During a women’s World Cup already plagued by gender disparities and run by an organization headed by a noted sexist, Sports Illustrated writer Andy Benoit decided he had something important to add. The NFL analyst tweeted on Monday night that his personal disinterest in women’s sports spoke to a universal truth.”
- Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain and the Gendering of Martyrdom – “In the same season we’ve been presented with two different comprehensive documentaries of two of our most iconic and tragic, gone-too-soon figures in recent decades. Brett Morgan’s Montage of Heck depicts the slow unraveling of Kurt Cobain in the preamble to his suicide, Asif Kapadia’s Amy depicts a corollary narrative about Amy Winehouse’s life, and in the process sheds light on how unequal the treatment of male and female artists truly is, even in death.”
- Inspired by Science and Nature: An Interview with Amy Roth – Our Amy was interviewed for Secular Woman–check it out!
Dying of alcoholism is not ‘martyrdom.’ Gender aside, the refusal to see the decline and death of everyone from Bix Beiderbecke to Amy Winehouse as ANYTHING but the relentless toll of a fatal condition is irresponsible.
The Doomed, Too-Sensitive, Artist trope is inexcusable, but it seems like popular journalism won’t report on booze and drugs realistically. That women addicts and drunks have a terrible additional burden of sexism is just an extension of the same idiocy. Though a particularly fatal one.