In order to protect certain inalienable, universal human rights, a just society must place a limit on its tolerance of the practices of other, less just societies. This statement seems innocuous enough, and repeated aloud in most social circles in the U.S. or Europe it is unlikely to draw harsh opposition. Some may even deride it as being a statement of the obvious. Considering, however, that the West is scarcely more than a century removed from the age of colonialism and slavery, perhaps we should be a little shy about affirming any ideology that alludes to concepts like inalienable, universal, or just. […]
Entries from January 3rd, 2007
In the Eyes of the Beholder
Female Genital Surgeries and the Illegitimacy of Universal Human Rights
January 3rd, 2007 · Written by Les Beldo · No Comments
The Best of Intentions
January 3rd, 2007 · Written by Jason Glover · No Comments
Once in a while a friend or relative will inform me, enthusiastically ecstatic, that they are headed off to some foreign land for missionary work. Unassailable on their moral high ground and armed with benevolent yet insidious weaponry – you know, peachy platitudes like vaccines, schools, modernization – their eyes twinkle with altruistic intentions as they expect me to share in their “doing the right thing” intoxication.
Righteous delusions aside, the reality of the situation is that each of these potential mouthpieces for Judeo-Christian cosmology are complicit in an ongoing catastrophe. […]
→ No CommentsTags: Opinion · Cultural Diversity · Extinction · Foreign Aid · Indigenous
Symbiotic Relationship
How Technology is Saving the Rainforest
January 3rd, 2007 · Written by Jason Glover · No Comments
To some, the technological prowess of our culture is seen as the ultimate destructive mechanization – responsible for everything from our current global ecological crisis to the general feelings of isolation and loneliness afflicting the modern world.
But is this necessarily the case? […]
→ No CommentsTags: Current Events · Cultural Diversity · Indigenous · Internet · Technology
The Icelandic Revolution
How Björk and Sigur Rós spawned the booming post-rock movement
January 3rd, 2007 · Written by Paul Bickler · 3 Comments
Something supernatural on the east coast of England birthed the Beatles in the 60s. Fans in the United States fainted at their mere presence. During the 70s and 80s, the Sex Pistols and the Clash demanded a revolution and American street kids gave them one. During the 90s, the likes of Carl Cox and Paul Oakenfold held the torch as electronica swept across the ocean and over the dance floors of the United States. Simultaneously, bands like Oasis, Radiohead, Coldplay and the Muse grabbed a hold of America’s musical landscape and have yet to let go. This post-rock movement continues to boom as we blaze into the twenty-first century
And America has fallen in love again. But this time, not with England. […]
→ 3 CommentsTags: Features · Music
The Origin of Species
January 3rd, 2007 · Written by M. Alan Cox · No Comments
Life on Earth began as a gum wrapper made of aluminum, lying on a sidewalk; several stalks of peppermint grew inside it.
Human life began as a series of interruptions in global telecommunications—later explained as Sun spots. Our primary line of flight extends from a point (a mole on god’s face) and eventually intersects with a moment where it properly becomes an actual line of flight instead of a romantic novel:
a caterpillar is simply a caterpillar—it’s not a moth. […]
→ No CommentsTags: Poetry · Experimental · Prose · Surrealism