But there are other ways to communicate. As a Christian of the Catholic tradition, I have serious reservations about the more radical aspects of Gender Theory. I do not, for example, believe that sex and gender are fluid, and — if we must define the human person in narrow and reductionist biological terms (we are more than the sum of our bits) — I struggle with the claim that ‘trans women are real women.’ But trans women and men are real people.
Accidental ‘Fake News’ Experiment
A shark on the road is what it is. It’s a shark on a road. This is Ockham’s Razor 101. It didn’t happen. Yet it’s easy it grasp, it tickles the imagination, it allows us to be seen to be enraged or be one of the smarty pants who myth busted it. What it is, is bubble gum for the brain. But what we are missing is that this is precisely how the media – the “real” or “mainstream” media – has operated for decades. Now these techniques of mass anaesthesia are being used – thanks to the internet and social media – by people and organisations that have more sinister messages to spread than shark memes.
Taking Things Literally
Truth cannot be calculated by the application of formulae. People’s accounts of events; the presentation of their truths, be that in books, the newspaper, or their spoken words, stake a claim on truth which cannot be factuality because it speaks to a distinct category of knowledge.
Violence is the Words that we Speak
Follow @UrFhasaidh Words describe our worlds and realities. Words describe and define, and in defining they assume the power to imprison people and ideas within their limits. Words assume a knowledge over the cosmos. They imagine they have control. ‘I am hungry’ defines me, yet the same in another language, ‘Tha an t-acras orm’ threatens … Continue reading Violence is the Words that we Speak
Peace Won by the King’s Shilling or a War Chest from Europe
Follow @UrFhasaidh As a Scot seasoned in a campaign for Scotland’s independence against the Westminster establishment and its BBC lapdog, it galls me to read Jonathan Powell, former Downing Street Chief of Staff under Tony Blair, pontificate on peace-building through risky dialogue. In every paragraph his words stink to high heaven with that nauseating stench … Continue reading Peace Won by the King’s Shilling or a War Chest from Europe
This is Where I Draw the Line
So what was this need to take the 'unreliable' oil? Britain must be in the business of collecting unreliable resources from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Scotland.
Employing a Hermeneutic of Suspicion
Only in the worlds of fiction and fantasy are we ever likely to encounter truly ‘good guys’ and truly ‘bad guys.’ Real life is much more complicated than we can ever hope to imagine.
Geometry of Human Connectedness
Not a single part of a person can be free whose mind is not at liberty. If for a moment we can accept Descartes’ dictum that thought presupposes being, then we must begin to perceive that even the most rigid barrier is merely the chimera of our inner fearful thoughts. Everything is impossible for us until it is done.
Random Public Journal 