Dahlia Lithwick, “Carly Fiorina’s Big Lie”
This is an extraordinary moment in the annals of political deception. No walk-back, no clarification, just a persistent insistence that a video that doesn’t exist and can’t even be manufactured in the underground labs of political deception is really out there but, like the Emperor’s new clothes, only the virtuous can see it. In Fiorina’s world and the world posited by Goldberg, if people want to believe the big lie about the kicking fetus and the brain harvesting badly enough, who are we to tell them it couldn’t have happened?
Therese Oneill, “Why Rape Was Impossible: A Look at the Terrifying Medical Logic of 18th Century Law”
Elements is full of intelligent forensic observation on everything from murder to insanity. But mostly, it’s about how damn sneaky women are. This wasn’t a random misogynistic pamphlet or a singular rant. It was a book that courts and doctors grew to rely upon as a guide to decide the fate of women. The information it dispensed would still be used in courts for decades to follow. It helped cement crippling attitudes toward women that reverberate even today.
Kate Botkin, “Why men who submit to authority are prettier”
Let’s put this another way. Let’s claim that men who spend all their time deflecting accurate criticisms by trolling the internet hordes with shots about “small-breasted biddies” are themselves bulbous, unattractive effetes whose physical masculinity is obviously so tenuous that they need to assert themselves by regularly throwing verbal tantrums like two-year-olds obsessed with the idea that not enough people think they’re in charge. Actually masculine men don’t need to spend all their time convincing people that they’re masculine. Actually witty men don’t need to spend all their time convincing people they’re witty. Men who actually show honor to women — all women, not just the perfectly-dressed, perfectly-submissive ones — don’t need to spend time protesting that they’re nice to all the women who deserve it.
I’ve said all this, but note that I’m not necessarily insulting Doug Wilson with those statements.
Edmund Waldstein, “David Graeber on Usury and the Psychology of the Conquistadors” (via)
Sadly, the Church basically lost the struggle against usury. This failure helped make the terrible cruelties of the conquistadors possible. And it also helped make possible the capitalist economic system which we have today, financed largely by interest bearing loans. Capitalism’s ability to make Christian religion “seem frivolous in comparison” to the imperative of economic growth is one of the main sources of the secularization of the world.
Kathy Khang, “Mr. Huckabee, Your Sin Is Showing”
You are a Republican. I am a Korean American. We are both created in God’s image. I’ll be honest. Your comment was racist, and last night your comment made it more difficult for me to trust other white Christians.
Racism is a sin issue because Christians like you want to ignore the Imago Dei, the skin and humanity, of people like me.
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