The monotheistic religions made it normal to squash people: "I think there is something really special about the Bible [...] which is precisely this idea that the revelation of truth comes through the suffering of the weak." (Matthieu Poupart)
Then the Renaissance made it easier to blame the victim: With modernity, "it is the person who takes no initiative who is seen as responsible for the emergence of sexual promiscuity." (Matthieu Poupart)
Theists:
Happy #SacrilegeSunday!
Your faith-based #beliefs are obviously absurd nonsense to those who can think critically.
If beliefs are true, they'll stand up to scrutiny. Why are you so afraid of reality?
Disinformation isn't a supply problem it's a demand problem https://tormentnexus.substack.com/p/disinformation-isnt-a-supply-problem #disinformation #misinformation #beliefs
Disinformation isn't a supply problem it's a demand problem https://tormentnexus.substack.com/p/disinformation-isnt-a-supply-problem #disinformation #misinformation #beliefs
Poor sleep may fuel conspiracy beliefs, research suggests
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-poor-fuel-conspiracy-beliefs.html
Neon Liberalism (now with video!) #18: Samantha talks with Liberal Currents editors Caitlin Green and Trent Nelson about the crisis of #misinformation, taking responsibility for your own #beliefs in the social media age, and their new #podcast, Half the Answer. https://www.liberalcurrents.com/neonliberalism/neon-liberalism-18-knowing-the-question-is-half-the-answer/
“Many women, I think, resist feminism because it is an agony to be fully conscious of the brutal misogyny which permeates culture, society, and all personal relationships.”
― Andrea Dworkin in her book, Our Blood: Prophecies and Discourses on Sexual Politics 
Good morning. 
7 March 2025
Another day beneath the sun—though that’s not entirely accurate, is it? We are forever circling the sun on this spinning sphere, a feat of cosmic choreography. It’s a wonder we aren’t perpetually dizzy. Or perhaps we are, and we’ve simply adapted to consider it normal. The gravity of the situation, after all, keeps us grounded—quite literally. I often wonder what people thought about the universe before we discovered planets, solar systems, galaxies, and the vast expanse beyond. Back then, it was all firmament, waters, and heavens—oh my. We’ve come a long way since, though not all of us, perhaps. Speaking of progress, did you know astrology and astronomy share a historical connection? Fascinating, isn’t it? That’s something I’ll need to delve deeper into.
"I don't believe in astrology; I'm a Sagittarius and we're skeptical." - Arthur C. Clarke
The current ~~craziness~~ stupidity originating in D.C., resulting in the dumbest trade war in a century, does at least illustrate one thing that I think more people should reflect on.
Politics isn't a (meaningless...) team sport like football or hockey or whatever.
You shouldn't "pick a side" and then support everything that "side" does. You shouldn't automatically denigrate everything their opponents do.
You shouldn't assume that one side is "good", and the other(s) are "bad".
#Politics is #ideology to some extent, but it's also people, with all the messiness, squishiness, contradictions, and shades of grey that #people necessarily bring to the table.
You can generally agree with the #beliefs and actions of a political tribe, but be horrified by some of their positions or actions. Or just not be too enthusiastic about them.
The current situation shows this, to me, very clearly:
Justin #Trudeau, over the last few years, showed himself to be unprincipled in many respects, a hypocrite in others, and an aimless empty suit in yet more areas. I was disgusted with his performance, both as a political leader, and as our Prime Minister.
However... in this dumb dustup provoked by the USA's First Felon, he has obviously found something within himself that he has not shown us in a long time, if ever. He's showing resolve, #principle, the willingness to endure and suffer for the greater good, and an unwillingness to bow to evil.
It's okay to like him for this!
"Capitalism and extreme poverty: A global analysis of real wages, human height, and mortality since the long 16th century
[…]
• Data on real wages suggests that, historically, extreme poverty was uncommon and arose primarily during periods of severe social and economic dislocation, particularly under colonialism.
• The rise of capitalism from the long 16th century onward is associated with a decline in wages to below subsistence, a deterioration in human stature, and an upturn in premature mortality.
• In parts of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, wages and/or height have still not recovered."
Sullivan, Hickel, 2022 : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X22002169
(continued)
The director of the institution, Pierre Silviet-Carricart, has been charged of the case of sexual assault. François Bayrou asked the investigating judge for a meeting at his place. The discussion was around the risks for the Bayrous' son, then a student at the boarding school. François Bayrou's wife attended the director's funeral in 2000.
At Parliament, on 11th February 2025, François Bayrou was representing the government for the weekly question-and-answer session. When asked about #Bétharram, he stated before the National Assembly that he had "never been informed of any violence, and even less of sexual violence".
François #Bayrou is the current Prime Minister of #France.
In 1996, violence was denounced in the elite catholic school of his constituency. He made an official visit as both the then Minister of National Education and a member of the National Assembly for a seat in Béarn (the province of the school). He told the regional press: "The people of Béarn felt these attacks with a sense of pain and a sense of injustice. […] All the checks were favourable and positive."
“Before we can build something new, we have to understand what we’re working with. Our adopted #beliefs don’t come out of nowhere—they are shaped by the #environments we grow up in, the #narratives we are taught, and the forces that shape our understanding of the world.”
https://fosterthinking.substack.com/p/how-to-build-a-belief-system?r=5bjv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
If I had more than a few who were not ok with #celebrating #TuBishvat, we don’t do Tu Bishvat activities, we do nature activities. I have had some who have had some #religious #beliefs about celebrating Tu Bishvat and I am 100% respectful of that.
I try to get all of the kids in my class a mishloach manot basket. And one year I had a little girl who didn’t celebrate Purim, so I reached out and I asked her mom, can I give her an end-of-quarter present, which she was 1000% fine with.
5/6
“For nearly a thousand years, communities on the Indian subcontinent had coexisted in a cultural melting where religious identity was less salient than ethnic or linguistic identity. “A hybrid Indo-Islamic civilization emerged,” according to the historian of India William Dalrymple. “In the nineteenth century, India was still a place where traditions, languages, and cultures cut across religious groupings, and where people did not define themselves primarily through their religious faith.” Much as communities had negotiated means of coexistence in pre-Mandate Palestine only to see them unravel during British rule, the subcontinent’s communal arrangements corroded when the full weight of Britain’s colonial state bore down on them. The Raj’s divide and rule policies produced a chemical-like reaction, shattering long-standing traditions of coexistence and interacting with local personalities who had their own ambitions, passions, and allegiances. It was another liberal experiment in empire gone horribly wrong, and on a scale so epic that once history’s chain of contingent events combusted, no one could contain it.”
Excerpt from Caroline Elkins' #book, "Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire"
@bookstodon hat-tip @markvonwahlde
JewWhoHasItAll 