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March 15, 2016 – 4:54 pm
Harry Potter and the Ivory Tower of Offence-Takers
March 15, 2016 – 1:58 pm
by Grania Spingies
Full disclosure: I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan. I have read them all and enjoyed some more than others, but I think that J.K. Rowling’s adult novels are far superior. That said, there can be no doubt that her books for children have gripped (at a conservative estimate) the hearts and minds of at least a generation of kids, and probably even more.
Neither the books themselves nor their writer are strangers to controversy and abuse, either. Rowling has managed to offend the very religious to the point of getting her Potter books banned by groups ranging from several flavors of Christianity to two of Islam – a fairly impressive feat. She even managed to annoy Wiccans for portraying their craft incorrectly (do please at least try to keep a straight face). Evidently, writing fantasy fiction for children is a metaphorical walk in a minefield, because while children may love and understand that this is pure fantasy, some adults are clearly incapable of doing the mental arithmetic required to separate this from Real Life.
The latest chapter in the “Oh my god, I am so offended by your Harry Potter book” saga comes from Dr Adrienne Keene; and this time the offended party is pulling out the Big Guns by using words with lots of syllables in them: cultural appropriation and colonialism.
The cause of all the outraged foot-stamping and furious finger-wagging is this: History of Magic in North America published on the online Pottermore website as an expansion of the Harry Potter universe. You can read all about Rowling’s numerous sins here, if you wish. That’s just Part 1 in the link. There are other parts before and after.
These sorts of tooth-gnashing episodes that break out from time to time on the Internet are such a waste of an opportunity and ultimately counter-productive.
First, when a highly-educated academic starts complaining that all this is mine and you may not touch or even look at without my permission; they resemble nothing so much as a spoilt brat stomping their feet at a party because someone has dared to arrive in a dress that resembles their own. It does poor service to any marginalised and underrepresented community that one might claim to speak for.
Secondly, no-one can correctly claim that they speak for an entire community, let alone a collection of communities. Your offence may not be shared by other members of your community, as was evidenced recently by the Kimono Wednesday debacle in Boston recently.
Finally, this is the most bone-headed way of trying to communicate a culture or facilitate an outreach program. Harry Potter has millions of fans worldwide. The books have been translated into 68 languages. The outreach is huge and global. The smart thing to do if one really wanted to promote an underrepresented and hitherto marginalised group would be to launch a social media campaign on the back of the new addition to the Potter world. Something like: You read the Harry Potter version, now come and explore the rich treasures of the real cultures and peoples!
I guarantee that hundreds of thousands of Potter fans would have clicked through and started to learn some real history, and learn about cultures and people and communities that they had previously known nothing about.
Instead, Keene’s shenanigans have produced a somewhat bitter taste in the mouths of all involved, and the well has been poisoned by its own self-appointed guardian—and that goes for the many Potter fans who might have really wanted to learn more but are now too intimidated to ask.
Mother Teresa to attain sainthood in September
March 15, 2016 – 12:00 pm
Yes, the Pope announced today that old fraud, Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, otherwise known as Mother Teresa, will ascend to the pantheon of Roman Catholic saints on September 4. As CNN reports:
In December, Francis announced that Mother Teresa would become a saint after recognizing a second miracle attributed to her: the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors after loved ones prayed to her to heal him, the Italian Catholic bishops’ association’s official newspaper Avvenire reported. That miracle occurred after her death.
The nun was beatified in October 2003 by now deceased Pope John Paul II. He approved a first posthumous miracle.
A 30-year-old woman in Kolkata said she was cured of a stomach tumor after praying to Mother Teresa. A Vatican committee said it could find no scientific explanation for her healing and declared it a miracle.
Bojaxhiu died in 1997, after long opposing birth control (in India!), and having run a string of institutions where dying people were given Jesus instead of medicines. On top of that, at least one of the two miracles required for sainthood was a hoax. As I discussed in Faith Versus Fact, the “cure” of the Indian woman Monica Besra, supposedly afflicted with ovarian cancer that regressed after she looked at a picture of Bojaxhiu, was actually a cure of a tubercular tumor, and her doctor, who gave her conventional medical treatment, took the credit. I know nothing about the other “miracle” (a cancer as well), but of course some cancers spontaneously regress.
Never mind: the Church needs saints to keep feeding its supplicants. If you want to know what Bojaxhiu was really like, read Christopher Hitchens’s The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (great title!), or dig out the free 2013 paper (in French) by two Montreal researchers that pretty much comes to the same conclusion: Mother Teresa was a fraud, unworthy of even an encomium. (I have a summary in English here.)
News of the day: II. Catholic students in U.S. taunt Jewish rivals in basketball game as Christ-killers
March 15, 2016 – 11:00 am
More sport-related blasphemy: I suppose this sort of thing is par for the course at UK soccer games, but it’s just not done in the U.S. It’s worth a mention, though, if for no other reason to show that this sort of sentiment is still alive in the U.S. As Yahoo News reports:
Administrators from a Massachusetts Catholic high school have apologized after students at a basketball game reportedly chanted “you killed Jesus” at Jewish rivals.
Dozens of students from Catholic Memorial School in West Roxbury were reportedly heard chanting the offensive phrase at Newton North high school, which has a substantial Jewish population.
In the face of swift and widespread outrage, Catholic Memorial School released a statement concerning the incident on Saturday.
“Catholic Memorial School is deeply disturbed by the behavior of a group of student spectators who made an unacceptable chant Friday night while playing Newton North High School,” school officials wrote.
The Archdiocese of Boston even gave a statement on the matter, notes WCVB.
“We are pleased that the administration of Catholic Memorial took corrective action immediately during and after the basketball game. This incident, while not representative of the school community, presents an opportunity to promote an important learning experience for the students,” the Archdiocese said.
I’m not going to make a huge deal of this, and maybe the Catholics were just messing around, but it’s worth remembering, as a riposte to those who claim that Hitler exterminated people from atheist motives, that the Christ-killing trope is, in the end, why he did in six million Jews. And, of course, blaming the Jews for killing Christ has long been a part of Catholic teaching, tempered only in the last few decades.
h/t: Lesley
News of the Day: I. Pakistani cricket player given legal notice for saying he’s more popular in India than in Pakistan
March 15, 2016 – 10:00 am
This reminds me of the furor that erupted when John Lennon proclaimed that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. That was in 1966, but it caused such a kerfuffle—one I well remember—that it has its own Wikipedia page. You wouldn’t believe how pissed off religious America was!
A similar fracas is brewing in Pakistan, but it’s not really about religion—although it has religious roots. Shahid “Boom Boom” Afridi, captain of the Pakistan national cricket team, put his foot in it last Sunday when he said something really bad—if you’re a jingoistic Pakistani. The Express Tribune reports:
LAHORE: Pakistan T20 cricket team skipper Shahid Afridi was served a legal notice on Monday over his ’more loved in India than Pakistan’ statement.
Afridi on Sunday said during a press conference in Kolkata, the capital of India’s West Bengal state, that his team always enjoyed playing in India and was loved by Indian crowds more than back home. “We have always enjoyed playing in India and have been loved by Indian crowds more than crowds back home in Pakistan. Cricket has always brought people together and I think politics should be kept away from cricket,” he said.
However, his remarks did not settle well with everyone. “Your remarks have hurt the feelings of Pakistanis,” the notice which was sent on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s official address by Judicial Activism Panel Chairman Azhar Saddiq read.
The notice pointed out that establishing diplomatic relations or otherwise is the duty of the government and not of a player, adding the Pakistan team captain should not have issued such a statement.
Further, it demanded Afridi to issue a clarification of his statement otherwise an application would be filed to try him for treason charges under Article 6 of the Constitution.
This would be just another “I’m offended” statement to ignore, save the threat of treason. Of course Afridi will “explain,” and Pakistan can’t afford to lose someone like him. It will all blow over, but the threat of a treason trial is reprehensible. Such is modern-day Pakistan, or should I say medieval Pakistan.
Other cricketers have criticized Afridi as well:
In an interview with a local TV channel, [former Pakistan captain Javed] Miandad described Afridi’s act as shameful.
“These cricketers should be ashamed of themselves for saying such a thing. Shame on you!” said the former skipper.
The 58-year-old said Pakistan should focus on cricket rather than pander to the hosts.
“What have the Indians given us? Speak the truth even while in India. For the last five years what have they given us or done with Pakistan cricket? Having served Pakistan cricket for so many years, I am shocked and hurt to hear such comments from our players,” he said. “The job of this team is to go and play well in India, not make such unnecessary comments.”
And so the animus between Pakistan in India, begun in 1947 with hundreds of thousands slaughtered by each side, goes on. At least it’s over cricket and not borders, for both sides have nuclear weapons. I once thought that if World War III were to begin, it would start between Pakistan and India, but now I think it will begin, if it does, in the Middle East.
h/t: Steve
Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse: Body and Soul
March 15, 2016 – 8:45 am
For years I had ignored Amy Winehouse, assuming that she was just a mediocre rock singer. Of course, I’d never hear a single song of hers. And then, on a plane coming back from England, I watched the new documentary about her, “Amy“, and I was just blown away. (The movie is, by the way, the highest-grossing British documentary of all time, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.) Winehouse was a fantastic talent, and when she wasn’t drunk or high, amazing sounds would come out of her mouth. She was a natural jazz singer, with the kind of talent that is wholly sui generis. If you listen to her speaking voice, with that strong North London accent, you’d have no idea that she could sing at all!
Most of you know that Winehouse died young, and had a difficult life fighting addiction, with her every move followed and reported by the tabloid press. She was only 27 when she was found dead in her bed in Camden Square (incidentally, right next door to the house of my friend, geneticist Steve Jones, who used to complain constantly about the paparazzi).
I’m only now beginning to work my way through her music, but wanted to put up at least one piece: her recording of the jazz standard “Body and Soul” with Tony Bennett (one of Winehouse’s idols). This was her last recording session, and the song was released a few months after her death in 2011. I’m sure she’s not in her best voice, and Bennett, of course, has lost a few licks (this was recorded when he was 84!), but it’s still wonderful to hear a lovely duet between an old Italian-American guy and a nice young Jewish girl from Golders Green.
If you see the movie, as you must (trailer is here), you’ll be amazed at her intake of drugs and alcohol, which, toward the end, made it difficult for her to even climb onto a stage. But despite it all, you can’t help feeling great affection for someone who, despite all the notoriety, always remained that shy girl from Golders Green, here awed by singing with one of her heroes.
Below is some documentary video showing their meeting for the recording session, the recording, and then, at 10:57, Bennett muses about Winehouse’s death. After she died, Bennett said this:
“Amy Winehouse was an artist of immense proportions and I am deeply saddened to learn of her tragic passing. She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist and I am truly devastated that her exceptional talent has come to such an early end.
“She was a lovely and intelligent person and when we recorded together she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance. I was honored to have the opportunity to sing with her. It had been my sincere hope that she would be able to overcome the issues she was battling and I send my deepest sympathy to her father Mitchell, her entire family and all of those who loved her.”
Pareidolia: Satan afflicts a sick baby?
March 15, 2016 – 8:00 am
Reader Peter sent a freaky photo of his sick son. His notes:
You sometimes post some pareidolia shots and so I thought I would send this screenshot I took off my webcam while I was monitoring my sick baby. I guess because he was so sick, I was spending extra time looking at him and just when he rolled this suddenly popped up. In the split second that my brain took to see the picture I was startled before rationality set in. The growbag that he is in is all white with coloured dots on it (hard to see from the infra-read webcam). There are no images of anything else. This peculiar set of conditions that enabled these shadows to pop up in this configuration is quite rare, I would think. I can only imagine what an irrational mind would think of it.
Could it be . . . ?
Readers’ wildlife photos
March 15, 2016 – 7:30 am
Though I’m taking my wildlife folder to India, be aware that I might not be able to post much of it until I return in early April: those posts take both tim and good Internet, and I’m not sure I’ll have much of either in the next few weeks. But, like Maru, I do my best.
Reader Tony Eales from Brisbane sent a selection of beautiful spider pix. Check out the resting position of the Garden Orb Web Spider, and the colors of the jewel spider.
Common Lynx Spider, Oxyopes quadrifasciatus:
Garden Orb Web Spider, Eriophora transmarina:
Golden Orb Weaver, Nephila plumipes:
Male Green Jumping Spider, Mopsus mormon:
Jewel Spider, Austracantha minax:
This genus has only the single species. I’ve inserted a photo of a female from Wikipedia to show its beauty close up:
Northern Golden Orb Weaver, Nephila pilipes:
Silver Orb Spider, Leucauge granulata:
St Andrews Cross Spider, Argiope Keyserlingi:
Tuesday: Hili dialogue
March 15, 2016 – 6:30 am
It’s not only Primary Election Day in Chicago (fortuitously, my polling place is in my building, so I can go downstairs to vote at 6 a.m.), but it’s also the Ides of March, when Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in 44 B.C. (but how do they know the calendar is the same?). On May 15, 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after his first trip to the Americas, and in 1922, Fuad I became King of Egypt after that country gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Finally, on March 15, 1956, My Fair Lady opened on Broadway.
Notable births on this day include Andew Jackson (1767), Jimmy Swaggart (1935), and Sly Stone (1943)—and that’s pretty much it. Those who died on the Ides of March include Julius Caesar, of course, as well as H. P. Lovecraft (1937), Aristotle Onassis (1975), Rebecca West (1983), and Benjamin Spock (1998). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili has spotted swans flying over the Vistula. How she knows the Latin name of the genus is beyond me.
Hili: The dinosaurs have returned!A. What dinosaurs?Hili: The big white ones! Cygnus in Latin.
In Polish:
Hili: Dinozaury wróciły.
Ja: Jakie dinozaury?
Hili: Te takie duże, białe, po łacinie Cygnus
Sadly, only two readers sent in photos of themselves eating pie on Pi Day: Fiona Clifton, who sent a photo of herself consuming a lovely pie, and Jonathan Harvey, eating a store-bought blueberry pie:
Here I am celebrating Pi day in Horsham, England, with a blackberry and apple lattice pie served with custard. Delicious!
Jon Harvey:
And. . . Rachel Housinger, daughter of reader Sharon, put together a compilation of 44 pie-related movie and TV clips:
Hillary Clinton supports the federal death penalty
March 14, 2016 – 4:17 pm
Here’s a video of the prime Democratic candidate supporting the federal death penalty. Clinton’s answer is in response to a question at Ohio State University from a man unjustly convicted of murder. She says she supports the penalty for “terrorists,” including American terrorists like Timothy McVeigh, “in cases where there have been horrific mass killings.”
And yet, at the beginning of her answer, she says that she would “breathe a sigh of relief” if the Supreme Court eliminates the death penalty, and it’s not clear whether she’s talking about state death penalties or both federal and state death penalties. But does it matter? Death is death, whether imposed by state or federal governments. And if she means total elimination of executions at all levels, then her subsequent statement is mendacious. And seriously, are potential terrorists going to be deterred from murder by the death penalty? Give me a break!
This is almost a non-negotiable for me; there is NO reason that I can see for executing any criminal. The US is in fact the only First World country, save Japan, that still does it. Shall we refresh our knowledge? Look at the red countries, where execution is legal:
(The red country in eastern Europe, sticking out like a sore thumb, is Belarus.)
Of course all the damn Republican candidates endorse the death penalty. But Bernie Sanders opposes it—unreservedly. And Clinton’s stand is something I oppose just as strongly.
If Clinton wants to retain execution, let her justify the practice, and explain why she disagrees with the 21-year sentence Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik got, a sentence that can be repeatedly extended in 5-year stints if he’s not judged “reformed”. (Read about the Norwegian justice system here, and see why it’s so much more humane—and successful—than ours.)
My take? Clinton wants to pander to everyone, something she’s trying really hard to do. Americans are split almost right down the middle on the death penalty vs. life in prison without parole (also an insupportable stance). By walking that fine line (just as she walks that line between Wall Street and Main Street), Clinton tries to ensure that her views will appeal to everyone. But what are her principles? Is she for or against the death penalty?
Tomorrow is Primary Day in Illinois, and I just might vote my conscience. But if Hillary’s the nominee come the fall, I will of course vote for her.
