The Great Debate

[Edward theurj Berge]

I'm not sure if we've linked or discussed this  before but I found it this evening perusing Sam Harris' site. It's a debate on the science of morality with the following participants: Sam Harris, Patricia  Churchland, Peter Singer, Lawrence Krauss, Simon Blackburn and Steven Pinker.

[Balder]

Yes, it's a good discussion.  I appreciated Churchland's contributions more than I thought I would.  I linked it for my students in my "Ethics and Compassion" class last quarter.

[Balder]

 

A new debate is swirling around Sam Harris and his anti-Islamic rhetoric.

 

Glenn Greenwald takes on Sam Harris.

[Edward theurj Berge]

See this for Harris' exchange with Greenwald, with his extended reply at the end.

[Edward theurj Berge]

Maher interviews Asra Nomani. Just maybe the rabidly politically correct liberals that cry racist Islamophobia on Maher will listen to a progressive Muslim woman? Nah, doubt it.

[andrew]

Good interview ! I'm going to post this here as there are similar themes therein. I think this is a pretty passionate plea and an authentic one also . Most of you may know that i am somewhat neutral politically and try to look for truth throughout the political spectrum . Molyneux is a bit too rightwing  for my tastes,  but his plea to get out of Muslim lands is right on the money . Get the corporatocracy out of Muslim lands! If those people in those countries want our secular way of living then it is up to them to fight for it . It's not for the hypocrites in the west to interfere with those people and their development as humans . I get that that development may take centuries, but we need to allow that to happen organically . Enforcing our values on them while we steal their resources is morally repugnant . Now I don't agree that islam is incompatible with secularism, but it is they that have to fight for it if that is what they want . Also, keep religion out of secular politics! Keep Christianity out of the White House ! Keep Judaism out of the White House! Keep Islam out of the Whitehouse! Religion is a personal matter ! Create the conditions whereby all people can come to their own conclusions about the nature of reality !

[DavidM58]

In regards to the Paris attack, Kurt Cobb made the interesting connection: 

" I'm not sure that any so far has considered whether one can draw a straight line from a severe drought in Syria to these mass killings. My own answer is that the if the line is there--and I think it is--then it has taken many twists and turns before arriving in Paris.

Even so, it might be worthwhile for those who will soon be gathering in this bereaved city in order to negotiate a new worldwide climate treaty to understand any such connection. For in the background behind these events, there is a Syria starved of water almost surely because of climate change."

See Syria, Climate Change, and the horror in Paris. 

30 minutes after Cobb posted the above blog post, The Hill posted about Bernie Sanders taking much the same position:

“The reason is pretty obvious: If we are going to see an increase in drought and flood and extreme weather disturbances as a result of climate change, what that means is that peoples all over the world are going to be fighting over limited natural resources,” Sanders said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“If there is not enough water, if there is not enough land to grow your crops, then you’re going to see migrants of people fighting over land that will sustain them, and that will lead to international conflict,” he added.

 

[Edward theurj Berge]

The sick thing is that regressives are saying Sanders is nuts for saying such things when it is they who are the sick bastards who are not only in denial but causing climate change in the first place. No, not "everyone is right," even partially, on this issue in some effete and complicit integral ideological edifice.

PS: the link to the Cobb article above is wrong; it is here.

[Edward theurj Berge]

Time for a reset?

[DavidM58]

Thanks for the corrected link.  Yes, the dysfunction is in full swing, and everyone has to fall in line and say something that shows they have a stronger response than the other guy in regards to the Paris attack. 

BTW, there was a similar attack in Beruit, but those people don't look as much like us. 

[andrew]

Here is Tom on our inverted totalitarianism : 

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176069/tomgram%3A_laura_gottesdiene...