Image: usatoday.com
This Entire Fucking Country is Mentally Ill!
So there was yet another school shooting. The eighteenth this year, I believe, and the year is only 45 days old.
Again we hear the nightmare stories of children hearing and watching and feeling their friends get murdered in the next classroom, in front of them, on top of them… Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Gun Violence, National Rifle Association (NRA), Opinion, School Shootings, Second Amendment, US Politics
Tagged AR 15s, background checks, Campaign donations from the NRA, gun control, gun restrictions, Gun Violence, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Mass Shootings, NRA, School Shootings, Second Amendment, semi-automatic weapons, thoughts and prayers
Okay, it’s the end of November and that means that Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) is arriving in the Netherlands, with his helpers, who have traditionally been all called Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). The Zwarte Pieten are traditionally white people with blackface. People of color in the Netherlands have gradually become vocal about not liking that and the Dutch reaction is incredibly embarrassing to me. Continue reading
Posted in American flag, black pete, Books, Cultural Differences, Education, Emigration / Immigration, Employment, Holland, Language, Montessori Schools, National Anthem, Nationalism, Pledge of Allegiance, Racism, School Libraries, Sinterklaas, Slavery, University, Violence
Tagged culture, cultuur, immigratie, immigration, Nederland, Netherlands, politics, politiek, Racism, racisme, Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, tolerance, toleratie, Zwarte Piet
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Toxic Masculinity: Male Aggression, Anti-intellectualism, Dictators, War”
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Government Violence, Militias and Intimidation in American History”
Posted in Fascism, intimidation, militias, Police Violence, Second Amendment
Tagged Fascism, fascism in America, Hitler, intimidation, militias, Nazi Party, Police Violence, Second Amendment, Trump, Violence, Weimar Republic
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Authoritarianism: Respect for Authority — the President, Teachers, Police”
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“American Exceptionalism Is a Dangerously Naive Form of Nationalism”
Posted in American exceptionalism, Fascism, Government, Government US, History US, Migrate, Proportional Representation, Racist Groups, Society, Trump supporters, US Politics, Violence
Tagged American exceptionalism, constitution, Democracy, Fascism, fascism in America, Government, Indoctrination, kneeling NFL players, National Anthem, Nationalism, Opinion, politics, Trump
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Patriotism: NFL Players Kneeling for National Anthem Have American Values”.
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“The Blurry Lines Between White Responsibility, White Privilege and Racism”
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Recognizing Fascism: Introducing History Education in Post-Trump America”
Posted in Education, Emigration / Immigration, Government, History, Language, Media, Psychology, Religion, Slavery, Society, US Politics, Violence, World War Two
Tagged Charlottesville, Civil War, Confederate statues, critical thinking, education, Fascism, history, KKK, Nationalism, neo-nazis, Opinion, Patriotism, Trump, white supremacists, World War Two
Image: amazon.com
Sometimes I think that I should take a break from the news, just turn the car radio to music and not read my Flipboard or Facebook feed for a few days, because it gets too stressful. But right after that I think, what a luxury to be able to contemplate turning it all off for a while because it’s too hard to hear, too much to read about. Continue reading
Posted in Government, Psychology, Society, US Politics, Violence
Tagged anxiety, centering, escapism, meditation, Opinion, politics, Racism, society, Trump, Violence, Xenophobia
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Trump’s Muslim Ban and Hate Crimes Against Muslims by Trump Supporters”
image: nairaland.com
On July 14, a man ran his truck into crowds of people enjoying the Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, France, killing eighty-some and wounding so many others.
Bastille Day celebrates the birth of the French Republic, with its motto, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Fraternity means, among other things, communal support, friendship, brotherhood. Continue reading
Posted in Austin, Government, Police, Religion, Society, Travel, US Politics, Violence
Tagged Bastille Day attack, Baton Rouge, human connections, opinie, Opinion, peace, police shootings, Police Violence, politics, religion, six degrees of separation, society, terrorism
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my new blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“American Islamophobia: Sixteen States Plan to Refuse Syrian Refugees”
image: abc7chicago.com
Terrorists have shot and blown up 132 people (at last count) in Paris. ISIS has claimed responsibility and says this is just the beginning of the wave. Continue reading
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Fans of SRO Ben Fields and Lawsuits for Excessive Force and Racial Profiling”
Posted in Education, High School, Violence
Tagged authority, Ben Fields, Police Violence, Racism, school discipline, School Resource Officers, Spring Valley High School, SRO
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“What’s the Purpose of American Public Schools, Education or Discipline?”
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Spring Valley High School Student Violently Arrested by SRO Ben Fields”
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Lies, Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories in the Information Age”
Posted in Media, Society, Violence
Tagged conspiracy theories, false claims, Internet, journalism, media, news, society, television, truth, Violence
image from offclouds.com
The writing prompt of the week asks what evil means to me.
Well, I don’t believe it’s a thing, something that exists on it’s own. As an atheist/humanist I obviously don’t believe that the devil makes people do things. That would be very convenient, but no, people do bad things because we’re human. We are responsible for our own values and rules and behavior. Continue reading
Posted in History, Psychology, Religion, Society, Violence, Writing Prompt Responses
Tagged atheism, Christian values, crime, humanism, information, morality, Racism, society, tolerance, universal values, writing prompts
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“Kim Davis, ISIS and the Syrian Refugees: Theocracy and Religious Freedom”
I’m glad someone is doing this. The statistics, if accurate, are disturbing.
Analysis of The Guardian’s “The Counted” project at the midpoint of the year reveals a number of horrifying statistics.
“The Counted is a project by the Guardian – and you – working to count the number of people killed by police and other law enforcement agencies in the United States throughout 2015, to monitor their demographics and to tell the stories of how they died.”
The running total currently stands at 547 people who have lost their lives at the hands of the police, although this total usually lags behind by a couple of days as it takes time to gather facts and validate them.
However, based on the current terrifying average of 3 people killed per day, I estimate that the total will be around 553, with the final total for the year likely to reach a staggering 1106.
To put that into perspective, this is nearly as many…
View original post 662 more words
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“The Confederate Flag Will No Longer Fly at the South Carolina State Capitol”
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It migrated to my other blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism, where it resides under the title:
“White Man Kills Nine Black People in Church Shooting in Charleston S.C.”
Posted in Violence
Tagged America, Charleston, church shooting, church shooting charleston S.C., confederate flag, Gun Rights, Opinion, Racism, shootings, white supremacists
In the late 60s Richard Proenneke built his own cabin in the Alaskan wilderness with only a few simple tools. He spent most of the rest of his life there. Sam Keith fleshed out Proenneke's diary of his first 16 months, when he was making his home by a lake. I love these kinds of books!
An old Oji-Cree healer and her nephew canoe down a river in Canada, away from the world of white people. They both have to come to terms with their past. The woman has lost most of her tribe and the young man is traumatized from his recent experience in the Belgian trenches of World War One. My second book by Boyden. Can't say enough about him.
An incredibly comprehensive history of everything related to slavery in the Southern United States, from the beginning of the colonies to the end of the Civil War. Over 700 pages and I took over 30 pages of notes. I will be sharing over many posts to come!
Hamid's debut novel. I love this author. A young man in Lahore, Pakistan, is the victim of love, drugs, obsession, the class system and his complete lack of self-awareness.
A golem, created in Poland and brought to life on a ship to America, and a jinni who was trapped in a flask a thousand years ago and released in New York -- the most unusual immigrants you'll ever meet.
The only part of her life a Korean woman can control is her body, so she withdraws into it. Harrowing.
Autobiography lightly disguised as a novel about the son of Southern migrants growing up on the streets of Harlem, New York City, in the 1940s and 50s. Written like you're hearing the whole story in a bar. Quite a feat.
The story of a man struggling to make a living in Morocco. No plot, no clearly defined characters, but fascinating in its authenticity.
Pakistani man tells an American about his experience as a college student and employee of an assessment firm in America years ago. Smart, nuanced and pretty darn honest considering the unreliable narrator.
Wow! The answer to the inane platitudes about how all parents love their children and how children should always respect their parents. The protagonist must come to terms with his deeply flawed immigrant parents in order to change himself.
Seven short stories about life during the Kim Il-sung regime, by a writer who still lives and works in North Korea, were smuggled out of the country and translated. Mind-boggling stuff.
A 15-year-old autistic narrator wants to know who killed a neighbor's dog, and ends up much further out of his comfort zone than he planned. Wonderful read!
In politics, education, religion, agriculture, business--it turns out that dumbing down has been here from the start.
Fifty years of Istanbul seen through the eyes of a street vendor who migrates to the city as a young boy. It's also a window into the complicated dance between men and women in Turkey.
Hey, don't laugh, at least I'm trying.
A Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with six other people on a tiny island off the coast of Maine all winter in 1873. A woman in the present researching the Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with three other people on a tiny sailboat. What could possibly go wrong?
A man stuck between two worlds in more ways than one. Fascinating!
Historical novel about early contacts between first nations and the French in Canada. Beautifully written story that doesn't pull any punches. I bought his other two novels right away.
Beautifully written. By my children's favorite English and Creative Writing teacher! It's got rave reviews and we're all very proud of her.
Suki Kim is a Korean-American journalist. She poses as an evangelical Christian posing as an English teacher at a school for the sons of North Korea's elite. Her experience and the information she manages to get via writing assignments are incredible. Definitely a lot more eye-opening that any CNN special.
This. Explains. Everything!!!
Why has Islam not undergone a reformation like Christianity? Why is it so easy for Islamic extremist groups like IS to recruit young muslims? What would it take for Islam in fundamentalist Islamic countries to enter modernity? Does the West have a role to play?
Amazing! A man wanders endlessly through a dreamscape, becoming other people, himself in the past, everything is fluid. Kafkaesque disconnect between people and their different needs.
A multi-layered novel about the history of Libya. A fast read, but one you can repeat and find something new each time.
Twelve Americans go missing in Burma/Myanmar during a tour. Touching and hilarious, but mostly hilarious.
The most unusual murder mystery I've ever read. Incredible writing. It haunted me for days.
The quote on the front mentions that these stories are exhilerating. I couldn't disagree more. They are almost unbearably painful to read, and yet I couldn't put them down. Very well done, apart from the third story, which is written in the second tense. Please let me know if you know of ONE story that works in second tense.
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