It’s My 5-Year Blogaversary!!
I’ve been blogging as VirusHead for five years. Wow. My first post: 11/21/2003 The Problem with Fundamentalists
Atheism is Not Enough
Slavoj Žižek makes a very interesting defense of atheism in the editorial “Defenders of the Faith” (New York Times, 3/12/06). Certainly atheism deserves the restoration of the inherent dignity of its position. But his overall argument, at least in the context of our current realities, is flawed. It could be a readerly effect, since the article looks as though it might have been chopped up. (Boo-hiss to the editor if that is the case – Žižek deserves better.) Still, I…
Napoli: Sodomy of religious virgins might justify abortion
I don’t think I had ever seen South Dakota’s State Senator Bill Napoli speak before tonight. He was commenting on the abortion ban there that would close down – gulp – the only operating clinic that’s left in the entire state (this one clinic has to fly in medical volunteers from out-of-state). Guess there wasn’t really much left to do. Online NewsHour: South Dakota Bans Most Types Of Abortion — March 3, 2006 BILL NAPOLI: When I was growing up…
Reality will not be overthrown
The United States has, until now, been a (if not "the") world leader in scientific research and the development of technologies. This has been the backbone of public policies that navigate reality, and it has brought us our highish standard of living and our economy of relative priviledge. But I think we’re on the way out of that role. When ideologies replace knowledge, it is always the people who pay. Certain fundamentalist groups, suspicious of all intellectuals, "eggheads," and independent…