Tag Archives: society

David Bowie and Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Statutory Rape Problem

Rock star escapades from that period have been glamorized for decades with no regard for how disturbing or illegal the behavior was. It became a part of the mythos—a disgusting testament to how little the writers documenting the happenings of the day cared about taking their heroes to task. And it was right there in the music itself: The Rolling Stones sang about underage girls in “Stray Cat Blues” and Chuck Berry glorified the teenage “groupie” in “Sweet Little Sixteen” a decade earlier. But we can’t look

Source: David Bowie and Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Statutory Rape Problem

How the Netherlands Feeds the World

That copious output is made all the more remarkable by the other side of the balance sheet: inputs. Almost two decades ago, the Dutch made a national commitment to sustainable agriculture under the rallying cry “Twice as much food using half as many resources.” Since 2000, van den Borne and many of his fellow farmers have reduced dependence on water for key crops by as much as 90 percent. They’ve almost completely eliminated the use of chemical pesticides on plants in greenhouses, and since 2009 Dutch poult

Source: How the Netherlands Feeds the World

Political Correctness: «Das ist ein normales religiöses Verhalten» | NZZ

Die Menschheit hat sich als eine religiöse Spezies entwickelt. Wir wählen etwas aus, wir kreisen darum, wir verehren es. Von aussen sieht es aus, als ob wir verrückt geworden wären, aber wir sind nicht verrückt, wir haben eine Glaubensgemeinde gebildet. Das hat uns Emile Durkheim gelehrt. Wenn wir um die Kaaba in Mekka kreisen, bringt uns das als Muslime zusammen. Wenn man um eine Opfergruppe kreist, dann ist man vereint in einer Glaubensgemeinschaft, die dasselbe noble Ziel verfolgt. Dann hat das Leben ein

Source: Political Correctness: «Das ist ein normales religiöses Verhalten» | NZZ

Viral memes are ruining our politics. Share if you agree

Viral politics is fun but it makes me nervous. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I like my politics argumentative, aggressive, shouty, but wherever possible accurate and detailed. Viral politics is often the opposite. Short, overly simplified, snappy, and scant opportunity for discussion. What matters is views, hits, shares, likes. Don’t care how you get them, just get them! And that incentivises content to be ever more outrageous, simple, or funny. It also produces something else: the narrowing of political discussion, since virals tend to percolate within the same group: and that can close off discussion, making the converted more zealous, and more entrenched. We also took a look at how these virals spread on Twitter, by mapping them against the different political tribes.

Source: Viral memes are ruining our politics. Share if you agree