Randi Harper, “Still Here, Part 2: Call to Arms”
What’s even more troubling than the abuse, however, is that so many people are oblivious to these issues. Even after Kathy was brave enough to post her personal story, people think she’s a statistical abnormality. Since I’ve started talking more openly about my experiences, a staggering number of men that I know and respect have spoken to me privately, apologizing because they didn’t know this was happening. I’ve related those conversations to other women, and they were shocked. They didn’t understand how men could not see these problems, but it’s because so many of us are being so goddamn quiet. I have to stop being quiet. I have to start talking about the things that have happened, because if we continue denying or hiding the abuse that is an epidemic in this industry, it will never get better.
Chris Rock, “It’s a White Industry”
But forget whether Hollywood is black enough. A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough? You’re in L.A, you’ve got to try not to hire Mexicans. It’s the most liberal town in the world, and there’s a part of it that’s kind of racist — not racist like “F— you, n–” racist, but just an acceptance that there’s a slave state in L.A. There’s this acceptance that Mexicans are going to take care of white people in L.A. … I remember I was renting a house in Beverly Park while doing some movie, and you just see all of the Mexican people at 8 o’clock in the morning in a line driving into Beverly Park like it’s General Motors. It’s this weird town.
You’re telling me no Mexicans are qualified to do anything at a studio? Really? Nothing but mop up? What are the odds that that’s true? The odds are, because people are people, that there’s probably a Mexican David Geffen mopping up for somebody’s company right now. The odds are that there’s probably a Mexican who’s that smart who’s never going to be given a shot.
Damaris Zehner, “The Perspicuity of Scripture? Hmm.”
The reality is that interpreting the Scriptures by means of reading them in isolation has led to a seemingly endless proliferation of nuttiness and division that do not bring God glory.
The reality is that the Gospel comes into the world in flesh, not in paper. The Word of God is Jesus, not the Bible. I believe, with those who accept the doctrine of perspicuity, that the Holy Spirit does open people’s eyes to the truth of the Gospel. I differ from the perspicuity people by believing that the Holy Spirit works most commonly through the actions of people, not through the written word in isolation.
Mark Fallon, “Dick Cheney Was Lying About Torture”
The self-defeating stupidity of torture might come as news to Americans who’ve heard again and again from Cheney and other political leaders that torture “worked.” Professional interrogators, however, couldn’t be less surprised. We know that legal, rapport-building interrogation techniques are the best way to obtain intelligence, and that torture tends to solicit unreliable information that sets back investigations.
Yes, torture makes people talk — but what they say is often untrue. Seeking to stop the pain, people subjected to torture tend to say what they believe their interrogators want to hear.
David Brin, “Abortion and the ‘Jesus Effect'”
What conservatives needed was a single issue that would make the crucial difference, like an on-off switch. Something so pure and absolute that Jesus would have to switch sides, holding his nose and saying: “I disagree with you right-wingers on every social and economic and general moral point, and yet … I must still side with you against the goll-durn lib’ruls. Bcause I can’t abide baby-killers.”
If you had to come up with such an all-or-nothing test, “baby-killing” would pretty much be it. Just by defining humanity at conception, you eliminate any need to consider Jesus’s wishes on other matters, like economic fairness, or pacifism, or inheritance by the meek, or … You get it; nothing else need be considered!
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