Why is violence entertaining?pdf_ico

March 24th, 2012

This essay shall seek to find answers to why acts of violence can be entertaining. It therefore accepts the implicit assumption that violence can be entertaining even though it would certainly be possible to circumvent the entire question semantically by defining violence normatively as acts that are by definition unenjoyable1. However, because this would be to merely avoid the question, the moral tension is kept alive by defining violence as “actions or words which are intended to hurt people”2 and entertainment as “an enjoyable activity which has no purpose other than itself”3. If ‘to hurt’ is the same as ‘causing pain’, the question therefore becomes: “Why can humans enjoy the deliberate infliction of pain for itself?”

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Notes:

  1. Irwin Goldstein makes this point in  ‘Pleasure and Pain: Unconditional, Intrinsic Values’. In: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, Dec 1989, pp. 255-276. ↩
  2. Gillard, P. et al. (eds.) Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003. Entry ‘violence’, p. 1420. ↩
  3. Author’s own definition, 2011. ↩

Hating masculinity 101pdf_ico

February 15th, 2012

Feminists are often ridiculed as men-haters: Frustrated bull dykes who despise what they couldn’t get. We feminists then react in either of two ways: There’s the reasonable reaction that points out that feminism cares about equality and doesn’t diminish men in any way. And there’s those who say exactly that, but also that there are indeed very many good reasons to hate the dominant (or ‘hegemonic’) form of masculinity. I’m one of the latter – and so should you.

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On the reification of love, sexual morality and naturepdf_ico

February 8th, 2012

Europe is strangely secular. Religion plays as marginal a role in Europe as nowhere else in the world. However, this does not mean we have entirely gotten rid of beliefs in the transcendental. Today’s popular concepts of love, sexual morality and nature often covertly allude to the transcendental. This short entry is about the ideological move called ‘reification’: An abstract concept is treated as though it really existed independent of human will.

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The ontological legitimacy of conflict researchpdf_ico

February 6th, 2012

The legitimacy of conflict research is by far not self-evident. Why should it be that a school ground fight shares any attributes with protracted social conflicts and even war? This essay attempts to clarify the ontological basis of conflict research.

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Are suicide attacks a product of religion?pdf_ico

February 5th, 2012

This entry discusses the widespread assumption that suicide bombing is a product of so-called ‘Holy Terror’.

 


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Why Homoeopathy is a load of bullocks and this is not my opinionpdf_ico

November 18th, 2011

We live in customised times. We can pick and choose the interior of our cars, we print t-shirts we designed ourselves and we work when and where we like to. Never before have we had such a wealth of options; never were we asked for our opinion so often. Unsurprisingly, this egocentric setup has confused pockets of the population who now believe they can pick and choose the laws of nature. Read the rest of this entry »

BraMUN briefing : The crisis in Syriapdf_ico

October 30th, 2011

The Bradford Model United Nations Society (BraMUN) researches issues in international politics and presents the findings in briefings every second or third week. The findings are shared here. This first one was on the violent repression of the Syrian uprising by the Asad regime. The UN estimates the death toll has now surpassed 3’000.

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Why other atheists are annoyed by religious folkspdf_ico

October 21st, 2011

Some atheists, especially those of the ‘New Atheist’ breed, tend to treat religion with severe contempt. While their scathing is unjustified in the larger picture, and while by being unwilling to accept this they do not live up to their own scientific ideals, there are indeed strands of established religions that beg to be ridiculed. The revamped form of evangelicalism and Salafism being preached around the campus of the University of Bradford are such examples.

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Wieso Homöopathie Bullshit ist, und warum dies keine Frage der Meinung ist.pdf_ico

August 28th, 2011

Wir leben in einer Zeit der Beliebigkeit. Die Innenausstattung des Autos ist selbst gewählt, der Burger wird persönlich angepasst, die T-Shirts selber gedruckt und die Arbeitszeiten und –orte flexibel gehalten. Fast die ganze Welt tanzt nach unserer Pfeife. Wohl noch nie hatten Menschen so viele Entscheidungsmöglichkeiten; noch nie wurde uns so oft gesagt, unsere Meinung sei wichtig. Einem grossen Teil der Bevölkerung ist diese Entscheidungsfreiheit etwas zu Kopf gestiegen. Nun sind plötzlich auch die Gesetze der Natur Meinungssache.

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Peace Studies – Violence in Filmspdf_ico

April 19th, 2011

A presentation for the Peace Studies class “Understanding Violence”.

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