Hot
Threads
"The
International Scene" debated Americans' knowledge of world affairs. :
Americans don't care and don't need to know about the rest of the world. The
other: They should care. Other hot stuff this week: the role of Hinduism
in India, relations between India and Pakistan, democracy in the Philippines,
and more reports from our fraygrant in Indonesia.
Godzilla held center stage in the "Movies and
Television" thread until talk moved to science fiction and Star
Trek , Babylon Five , Deep Space Nine , and Dune . One
fraygrant's lament, "Why hasn't there been a good movie out in the first five
months of 1998?" led to a discussion of which year was the best for film. No
consensus.
New
Threads
Do people really have
an innate ability to generate language? Do or simply recognize patterns? Check
out the "Reading" thread, which focused last week on Steven Pinker's seminal
The Language Instinct . To judge from the brouhaha over the early
chapters, Pinker's theories are--well--far from popular. Join in to find out
more.
Pakistan's
tests last week the "Nuclear
Arms" thread. Some fraygrants believe there's nothing to fear--this is
geopolitics as usual; others find the subcontinental tests a frightening
development. Examining the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions, fraygrants agreed
that sanctions, if they have any effect at all, will hit Pakistan harder than
they will India.
Fray
Feuds
The "Clinton and
the Media" thread saw much of the interpersonal squabbling it has become
noted for--especially as Kenneth Starr's investigation of the president drags
on interminably. The forum's conservatives agreed to pity its leading liberal
and her "hatred," but returned to rancorous form when talk turned to Clinton's
accomplishments and his administration's sale of missile technology to
China.
Christians were thrown to
the lions this week in the "Religion" thread. A prominent gay fraygrant denounced Christians'
"hypocrisy," their (large) role in denying gays equal civil and legal rights,
and their "hate the sin but love the sinner" stance. This fraygrant compared
the fight against homophobia to the fights against racism and sexism: "Like
those fights, opposition is rooted in bigotry and prejudice and ignorance.
'Religious doctrines' were also invoked to deny women the right to vote and to
defend slavery. It's the same old thing this time around." He that anti-gay
political activities, such as Colorado's Measure 2 and Oregon's Measure 9, are
almost always organized by conservative Christians. It is a fight for "social
justice," after all.
