Je Suis Charlie


Five years since the massacre at Charlie Hebdo. The fight for free speech goes on.

Harry Wiren
David Wolcott
Kate Flinders

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Making the Most Out of Other People’s Misery This is Sam McGlennon. Lets’ face it, he looks like a nice guy: honest, decent, well educated, undoubtedly with good intentions. Maybe that’s how he managed to land the ideal job. He describes himself as a “ climate risk and resilience advisor, as well as a sustainable supply chain expert, for NZ businesses and governments”. Sounds very cool, very now. I mean, advising governments , plural. Wow. Of course this might not be a real job. I mean, I write stuff, and it’s just possible that people from businesses and governments read it, so I guess I could say I advise businesses and governments. But cynicism aside, the best part of Sam’s job, what makes it ideal, is that he gets to take smug satisfaction out of the misery of millions of people who have lost their jobs and whose businesses have gone bust. How cool is that! You see Sam is a New Zealand greenie, but he represents the views of many environmentalists around the wo...
Read more

How to Shut Down the World

Image
On 17 May 2013, then-President Barack Obama  tweeted  “Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree:  #climate   change is real, man-made and dangerous.” This is the moment the climate debate changed. With one tweet Obama cast climate change sceptics as looney outsiders, akin to flat-earthers and believers in ancient aliens. They became  deniers . Let’s face it: there comes a point when it is simply unreasonable to be sceptical. If tough policy decisions on economic development, the environment and public safety need to be made, it is simply irresponsible to pay attention to fringe beliefs, no matter how poignant references to Galileo battling the world view of the seventeenth century might be.  Steven Novella, a  clinical neurologist  at Yale, discusses the distinction between  deniers  and sceptics in detail. He argues that in situations where “ you yourself lack appropriate expertise” then “deference should be t...
Read more
Image
  Are You a Garbled Environmentalist? God the Father. Attributed to  Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano , c. 1515,   The Courtauld Institute of Art. Meet Jason. Jason is a thoroughly modern, well-educated young man. He dabbled with agnosticism at school but is now a confirmed atheist and will only (reluctantly) enter a church for weddings and funerals. He cares about the environment, especially biodiversity, and sometimes lies awake at night worrying about the ever-expanding Red List of Threatened Species. He is involved with a local volunteer group that tackles invasive species, and he strives to save indigenous species, planting only endemic trees in his well-kept town garden. Living in New Zealand he is proud of his clean, green country, and, like any decent person, he welcomes new immigrants. Jason is so convinced of the moral rectitude of his position that he believes he could hold his own in any argument. Is he correct? An important part of Jason’s atheism is his ...
Read more