Religion & Morality vis-à-vis Homosexuality
Posted on July 2, 2009 - Filed Under Politics, Religion | 1 Comment
Here’s a smattering of BBC News readers’ opinions about an Indian court’s decision to decriminalise gay sex. For every sensible “good for India” comment there seems to be a comment along the lines of “homosexuality is an abomination forbidden by God”. Defenders of religion are fond of claiming that religious values promote things like treating fellow human beings decently, but it’s clear in this instance that most of the commenters hate people they know nothing about, for reasons that are none of their business, and all because their religion tells them to think this way. It’s a pretty sad state of affairs.
Statement Of Purpose For MA Application
Posted on July 1, 2009 - Filed Under College | 7 Comments
Give me some comments, and give me them soon. I have to swiftpost this biatch sometime this morning, after I crawl back out of bed.
Statement of Purpose
I am applying to this MA program so that I can resume studying philosophy after a disastrous year of medical school. I always enjoyed philosophy as an undergrad and I would like a place on this program so that I can gain some experience in dissertation writing, perhaps in preparation for doing a philosophy PhD someday. Honestly, I do not know quite what I would like to end up doing career-wise, but I think that doing this MA would definitely help me make up my mind about whether I want to pursue a career in academia.
My academic research interests lie mainly in the areas of ethics and political philosophy. I’m interested in competing ethical frameworks, their foundations, and their comparative strengths and weaknesses. I’m particularly interested in Utilitarian theory and the dilemma that arises in situations where certain conceptions of the theory call for actions that run counter to common visceral notions of justice and morality. I’m also fascinated by Friedrich Nietzsche’s thundering denunciations of Christian morality, but I’ve yet to study his work academically.
The areas of political philosophy that interest me most are social contract theory, and ideas concerning rights. The rich history of social contract theory is something I’ve long found intriguing, and I’m especially interested in variations of Rawlsian social contract theory that expand its parameters so as to include non-human animals. This is related to my interest in theories of rights, which is centred on how such theories can be adapted and applied to interactions involving humans and other species. Other areas of philosophy that appeal to me are existentialism, Marxism and determinism.
Although I do not yet know exactly what shape my dissertation would take, given my interests I would love to write something on the matter of animal rights. The areas of philosophy that appeal to me most are usually ones with direct application to everyday life, and I have found that my time spent studying philosophy has altered not only how I think about life but how I live it. Ideas about individual autonomy and a broad conception of Utilitarian theory were significant in my decision to switch to a vegan lifestyle, and I would relish the opportunity to develop a strong philosophical argument in favour of this lifestyle.
Furthermore, I would like a place on this MA program so that I can take another module with Dr. Bufacchi, and hopefully even have him supervise my dissertation. I always found Dr. Bufacchi’s classes engrossing as an undergraduate due to their content and his lecturing style, and so I would be delighted if I could persuade him to oversee my thesis preparation and its composition. Finally, I feel that I learned an enormous amount from my first year philosophy tutorials, and I’d love the opportunity to teach some tutorial classes of my own if this is still possible next year.
The Pirate Bay Sells Out
Posted on June 30, 2009 - Filed Under Internets | 1 Comment
According to BBC News:
File-sharing site The Pirate Bay has been sold to a Swedish gaming company.
Global Gaming Factory (GGF) has paid 60m kronor (£4.7m) to take over the site from its founders.
Once it has taken control, GGF said it would start paying copyright fees for the movies, music and games linked to via the site.
…
GGF has not released details of how it will charge for the content downloaded via the site. The Pirate Bay will be handed over to GGF in August.
Despite the headline, I’m not really that upset with the owners for selling their site; they deserve to reap some reward for their creation. However, the idea that users will have to start paying for content they find through The Pirate Bay is a little worrying, to say the least. If it’s anything more than a nominal fee then I really don’t see how it will possibly work; users will just go elsewhere.
Movie News Digest In Links
Posted on June 27, 2009 - Filed Under Film | Leave a Comment
Charlie Jane Anders has an unusual take on Michael Bay’s latest blockbuster film over at io9.com.
Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawk and Sam Neil are all starring in a Vampire movie due for release in 2010 that, shock horror, looks like it might actually be good.
Duncan Jones, the director of the reportedly excellent Moon, is also sometimes known as “Zowie Bowie” because he’s the son of another famous Bowie.
Jokes About Dead People
Posted on June 27, 2009 - Filed Under Music | 7 Comments
I was going to post an old YouTube video of Chris Rock making fun of Michael Jackson, and I’d written a few paragraphs justifying the idea that it’s okay to make jokes about well-known people who’ve recently died, but in the course of writing it I changed my mind about the matter. My shift in opinion had more to do with the death of Steve Irwin and my reaction to it than anything related to Jackson. Initially, I lapped up all the dumb internet jokes about him and stingrays and so on, but then a few months later I saw him on TV again and instantly felt ashamed of myself. Irwin did a lot of great work to promote public appreciation for some of the world’s least popular animals, and he also seemed like a genuinely nice person. I had watched hours and hours of his television show, and then after he died I somehow sat my computer guffawing like an idiot as I read tasteless joke after tasteless joke.
I’d like to think that I’m a better person now, that I’ve matured somewhat, and that my sense of humour is a little more refined and wholesome. When you’re young it’s quite easy to fall into the trap of thinking that cynical and cruel jokes about helpless figures are somehow funny, and that other people only disagree with you because they lack your ‘dark’ sense of humour. I’m glad I don’t think like that anymore and I’m a little embarrassed that I ever did.
Michael Jackson was not the most sympathetic of public figures, and I’m not seeking to defend him from slurs against his character. However, I very much doubt that Michael Jackson sat around cracking jokes about other people when they died, and it would be pretty damn ungrateful of me, someone who loved his Moonwalker game on the Sega Mega Drive as a kid, to do that to him now that he’s dead.
So if you were looking for dead Michael Jackson jokes, I’m sorry, go indulge your worst instincts elsewhere.
Van Nistelrooy To Join Arsenal?
Posted on June 23, 2009 - Filed Under Football | Leave a Comment
I don’t know how football rumours generally begin, but the ones that get reported in the press usually seem to fall into one of two categories: the believable and the delicious. Believable rumours may or may not contain a kernel of truth, but they sound plausible and thus it sounds like the newspaper reporting the story is privy to reliable information, sometimes to the exclusion of its peers. Delicious rumours on the other hand seldom, if ever, contain even a smattering of fact, and they are only reported because they are exciting to read about in some way.
Given all this, I am making up the delectable news that Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy could be on his way to Arsenal for as little as £1.25 million as the Spanish giant’s new president Florentino Perez seeks to trim the ballooning wage at the Santiago Bernabeu. Van Nistelrooy is reportedly keen to return to the Premier League in order to put himself in contention for a place in the Dutch national side ahead of next year’s World Cup, and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been looking to strengthen his forward line on the cheap after yet another injury-plagued campaign. A move to Arsenal would give van Nistelrooy the chance to prove that he can still play at the highest level and would also allow him to forge a better partnership with his Dutch team-mate Robin van Persie. Such as deal would also provide Wenger’s squad with much needed cover in the event of Emanuel Adebayor engineering a transfer away from Arsenal after an unhappy season for the Togo striker.
This sounds like a pretty good rumour to me. Van Nistelrooy seemed to relish beating Arsenal as a Man Utd player, so such a move would be something of a shock, but it would also make good sense for all the parties involved, if Arsenal could persuade him to accept a reduced salary. He’s strong, he’s not a bottler on big occasions, and, most importantly, he’s an astoundingly prolific goalscorer. Granted, he’s injury prone and not likely to play over 30 games a season, but that’s about what Adebayor managed last season. I say sign him up.
Return Of The Living Deadbeat
Posted on June 22, 2009 - Filed Under Blogging | Leave a Comment
It still lacks a proper blogroll, but other than that it looks like the good folks over at The Living Deadbeat have cobbled together something entirely worthy of your attention.
The Return of the King
Posted on June 20, 2009 - Filed Under Music | Leave a Comment
Trent Reznor is tweeting again. I’m so happy right now.
Free Bulmer’s Pear Cider
Posted on June 20, 2009 - Filed Under Life-In-General | 4 Comments
Just say no.
The Post-Danzig Misfits on ECW
Posted on June 15, 2009 - Filed Under Music | 5 Comments
This makes Glenn Danzig’s solo career looks like a roaring success.
Blake Schwarzenbach Is Awesome
Posted on June 15, 2009 - Filed Under Music | 1 Comment
Blake Schwarzenbach is the singer and guitarist from the defunct bands Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil and right now I’m liking his music very much and feel like I ought to acknowledge that here.
TLDB Plug
Posted on June 9, 2009 - Filed Under Blogging, Film | Leave a Comment
Mr. Chainsaw has some sage remarks on advertisements at the cinema over at The Living Deadbeat.
[●REC]
Posted on June 8, 2009 - Filed Under Film | 2 Comments
I saw two films in the last two days. One was a multimillion dollar non-event featuring Christian Bale acting all pissed off and grumpy about having to contend an absolute mutt of a script, and the other was shot with only a basic hand-held camera, a very limited budget and a talented band of unknown actors, one of whom is the amazing/beautiful/awesome/zOMG-I-LOVE-HER Manuela Velasco.
[●REC] follows the basic formula of horror/action POV films such as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield in that the film starts out as a mundane documentary of something inconsequential and then camera crew suddenly find themselves thrust into something unexpected and unwelcome. In [●REC], Velasco and her cameramen are shooting a documentary of a disappointingly boring local fire department when a report comes in of an old woman trapped in her apartment. Starved of anything better to do, the two reporters accompany a team of firefighters to the building and wind up desperately trying to fend off…
For once I’m going to be discreet in a film review, because I really think that people ought to see this movie. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, sure, but as these films go it’s exceptionally well-made. The camera style is employed creatively and is never abused by the director, and the film feels incredibly real, especially in the middle section when Velasco and her cameraman spend their time interviewing residents and recording the disputes and the general confusion surrounding them. Then, when [●REC] finally ratchets up the anxiety for the finale, it’s pretty much no-holds-barred brutal. I usually hate films that rely on suspense, and the final 15 minutes of this are as stressful as anything I’ve seen (bar The Blair Witch Project, which is so effective it almost made me sick the first time I saw it), but the tension is mingled with a possibility (hope?) that maybe Velasco will escape her predicament.
She really is magnetic (and not just because she’s in almost every shot, since her cameramen is tracking her). I would have watched her spend 74 minutes dragging out a documentary of a sleeping fire department, in Spanish subs. The rest of the cast is good too (the bald fireman who looks like Dan Andriano from Alkaline Trio deserves particular mention), but she’s really the beating heart of this gem of a film, and you all should make an effort to see it.
Our Taoiseach
Posted on June 8, 2009 - Filed Under Ireland, Politics | 2 Comments
Damien posted this, and I think you’ll agree that it bears reposting. It reminded me of this guy’s election poster:
My New Favourite Defunct Band
Posted on June 7, 2009 - Filed Under Music | 1 Comment
Jawbreaker. Big thanks to Jesse Lacey of Brand New for covering them on his solo tour; I’d never have heard about them otherwise.
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