tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80286434256913139832024-03-18T03:03:50.762+00:00Geoff's ShortsA former short story blog.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-15021045270389987112016-08-04T07:13:00.001+01:002016-08-04T07:13:06.734+01:00The LoveMatch Programme<p dir="ltr"><i>Apropos of nothing here's a short story on online dating I've been working on. </i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>As with so many anecdotes the idea behind this one traces its origins to a bar. I got talking to a chap who worked for an large gambling establishment. We had a shared interest in big data; I told him about some Twitter metadata projects, he told me about the information they had on their customers (quite a lot) and how they use it (you can probably imagine). </i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>Fast forward to a similar pub and once more I'm discussing big data. This time it's with a sales guy who tells me I wouldn't recognise the name of the company he works for. I don't push it. His company specialises in talking to companies that produce biometric data from pedometers, phones, workout trackers, sleep cycle apps, calorie counters and fitness games. They buy this data, aggregate it, remove personal information insofar as is required by privacy policies, and then sell the results to interested parties. Actuaries love the stuff. A few drinks later he tells me that some large companies are interested in seeing aggregated data on their own employees so they can better haggle for cheaper health insurance. It all sounds perfectly reasonable, and if employees freely hand over access to employers and benefit from cheaper coverage, what's the trouble? </i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>Later I read that Target (a chain of American stores) had become so proficient at processing big data that they could reliably tell if a customer was pregnant based on changes to their buying habits, down to the trimester. </i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>It's not uncommon for people to hand over their driving data (via, say, mobile phone apps) to car insurers for a cheaper premium. When will we hand over our fitness data for health insurance? And when we do, with all the best intentions, what will they do with it? </i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>Anyway, on to the story. </i></p>
<p dir="ltr">-----------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Can we help you find love?" </p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah had lost an entire evening answering health insurance questions. None had been quite so unexpected. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"We have a discount for people in long term relationships. Studies have shown that companionship promotes mental wellbeing, positive lifestyle choices, and can extend healthy lifespan by up to 14%."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah paused longer than she intended. The agent's chirpiness seemed inexhaustible - they would, she had learned, take her silence as an opportunity to talk at length on any topic. Her Friday night held nothing more exciting than insurance calls: she had little interest in discussing her love life. Despite the downsides she remained silent. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"If you're not in a relationship right now we can help. We're launching a new dating app for select members and you meet our criteria. As the service is still in trial mode your feedback will mean a significant reduction in your premium." </p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah asked herself when she'd last opened Tindr. Dick pics. PlentyOfFish. Dick pics. Even Scrabble was a source of obscene messages from strange men. Why add to the collection? </p>
<p dir="ltr">"We're quite different from other services", the agent seemed to sense her concern. "No one sees pictures, ages, income levels, names, or locations. There's no obligation to meet or communicate with anyone. What you'll get access to is all the data we have on them as their insurers. How often they exercise, what their mood is like through the day, stress levels, sleep levels, what they eat, if they prefer the pub or a good book - there's a lot you can tell from an insurance questionnaire! You can't see all the data directly, of course - that would be a confidentiality issue. But you can ask our LoveMatch app anything you like about potential matches and they'll answer as best they can."</p>
<p dir="ltr">-------------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"How's the agent performing?" </p>
<p dir="ltr">Automated phone menus had been used for decades but InsuraTech were the first to produce one that could properly compete with humans. Globally their call centres produced tens of thousands of hours of recorded speech each month, most words predictable responses to scripted speeches from the monitors of employees. This had been collected, parsed, analyzed, tested and standardised. New questions were rare. There would be a human element for the foreseeable future but following a year of refinement fewer than one in thirty calls were escalated to a human supervisor. Customers rarely suspected that they were speaking to a machine. To maintain the secrecy of the project they'd avoided layoffs, waiting for natural wastage to reduce their staff numbers and closing sites under an official line of moving the work overseas, taking care to adjust the virtual agents' accents to maintain the facade.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Good" Paul nodded, before remembering that one syllable answers were something he'd been asked to work on. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Still having trouble understanding some regional accents. Especially southern Germany. Otherwise people like it. The supervisors wouldn't admit it, but we've been seeing more requests to be put back on to 'the previous agent'." </p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul managed a convincing smile. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Be specific." </p>
<p dir="ltr">He tapped a few keys. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Seven instances so far this morning. That's above average, but only slightly." </p>
<p dir="ltr">"What else?" </p>
<p dir="ltr">"We've seen a spike in sales since we started matching agent personalities. Take this call, Sarah Gilligan, mid thirties, communications degree, high debt, trying to get her first health insurance before the over 35 government levy kicks in. Gave her agent an educated female voice, a little older. It's likely we'll get her to sign up for the LoveMatch programme. Doubt she'd have bought it from a male agent."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Let's watch."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul tilted his screen so his supervisor could see Sarah and the agent's transcript update. Her breath rate, tone, and spikes in pitch were charted during the conversation. The markers for pulse and enzyme levels listed as currently unavailable. </p>
<p dir="ltr">--------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Okay Sarah, based on the information you've provided me on your lifestyle and your new membership of the LoveMatch programme we can offer you a 60% discount on our quoted fee. This discount depends on the information you supplied being and remaining correct. You'll also receive a free fitTracker to help monitor your path to your fitness goals. We'll have this delivered fully charged within twelve hours. Is there anything else I can help you with?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Sixteen?" Paul's monitor registered a 74% likelihood of disappointment in Sarah's voice. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"No, six zero. You're young, healthy, have good habits and the LoveMatch discount is significant. And there are strong tax benefits to taking out your first insurance policy before you turn 35. Can I process this for you?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">The analysis of Sarah's answer registered as a plummet in stress mixed with mild disbelief. It was a yes. A larger monitor flashed in the distance, adding a few pixels to the daily sales statistics.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Nice" - Paul's supervisor thought a moment before continuing - "Let's look into flipping it for the claims line. Give them an agent they really don't want to talk to. Make them uncomfortable when they want cash from us. I'll put in the feature request later today."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul sought words to persuade that this was wrong. He found none. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Can do" was his two syllable reply. </p>
<p dir="ltr">------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">The fitTracker was small, delicate in appearance and more stylish than one would expect from a company founded by actuaries. Sarah slipped it on her wrist and felt it tighten to snug. The InsuraTech logo on its discreet display flashed and morphed into a smiley face before asking permission to connect to her television. She clicked yes and without needing setup the license agreement flashed to her screen. Standing to better read the tiny font she discovered dense legal text. Page one of 14. Her fitTracker gave two options: 'Accept' or 'Pay Full Premium'. This was the 60% discount. She'd given up on ever getting a mortgage; no license agreement could be worth giving up the chance of ever getting health insurance. She chose accept. </p>
<p dir="ltr">------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"You got eight hours' sleep. Congratulations! Can we make this a daily habit?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">After the license agreement the fitTracker had faded to an analog watch display. Sarah had tried a few different faces and disabled the optional ticking noise but then largely forgot it was there. She had slept well, better than any night in weeks. She saw buttons labelled 'more details' or 'dismiss' and clicked the first.</p>
<p dir="ltr">At first she thought nothing happened, but then a slight vibration drew her attention to her phone. The chart it displayed showed her every move from 11pm till 7:30am, highlighting her deepest and most uninterrupted sleep. Shit. 7:30. She'd overslept. She closed her phone and rushed for the office.</p>
<p dir="ltr">----------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">Blinking back tears Sarah cursed a boss who thought a ten minute public dressing down for five minutes' lateness was a good use of anyone's time. Her coworkers were sympathetic in the quiet way of people who do not want to be seen to support the boss's latest target. She struggled through the morning's e-mails earning only slight relief when her boss and the rest of the management team left for their monthly meeting. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Her wrist vibrated. She glowered in annoyance and read:</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'm sorry this is stressful. Don't forget that your track record of surviving bad days is 100%. I think that's pretty good."</p>
<p dir="ltr">She felt the involuntary beginnings of a smile, and almost on cue the message updated:</p>
<p dir="ltr">"If you have the time and it's appropriate, would you like to try a five minute relaxation exercise? You'll need your phone and your headphones."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Hands still shaking a little she took both from her purse. Not at her desk, but maybe in the toilet? With the managers gone no one would be too worked up over five minutes, she reassured herself, and anything was preferable to staying put. She sat as comfortably as was possible on a mass produced toilet seat, plugged in her headphones and chose 'yes' on her fitTracker. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The video that played on her phone's screen was high definition footage of a chef next to a sliced tomato. Her hands moved with care and precision between the slices, placing the knife and then slowly uncutting the fruit. The footage was reversed. A voice in her right ear told her a story of a monk whose belongings were robbed, and how he had wished to give the thief the joy of seeing a full moon. In her left ear as silky Scottish voice talked her through counting slowly down from one hundred and helped her lower her breath. The voices mixed, the video gave her tingles down her scalp, and gradually the problems of the office waned.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"You've taken control of the situation. Nothing can stop you now!"</p>
<p dir="ltr">She found herself midway between a smile and a grimace as she saw the motivational text. She went back to her desk for a more productive afternoon than she'd expected. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Pressure makes diamonds! Today was tough but you were tougher. There's a great little park on your way home. Let's take ten minutes for a mental health break."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Her colleagues looked at her when she groaned. She offered no explanation. </p>
<p dir="ltr">She hadn't intended to take the diversion but the gentle tapping at her wrist while walking had been enough to make her take out her phone and see the suggested route. In a former life the park had been a Victorian reservoir. The city grew beyond its capacity and it was abandoned until an enterprising councillor realised it could be changed to a public park with minimal effort. Small, secluded, and underadvertised enough to be rarely visited, it was just a few minutes out of her way. She walked a lap, nodding at an old man ambling through his crossword and watching a swan glide the manmade lake. Another gentle tap on her wrist. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Doesn't that feel better? Your pulse, adrenaline, and blood pressure are back to normal. You've shaken off the stress; now go rock the rest of your day!"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Rocking the rest of her day involved buying groceries and cooking for one, but she was happy to do it without gnawing thoughts of work. She visited the park three times that week and enjoyed the coffee shop recommended by her fitTracker, despite it pushing decaf. </p>
<p dir="ltr">------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Would you like to see some LoveMatch profiles?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Friday night found Sarah alone on her couch again. The fitTracker felt her change in heart rate slightly before its cameras registered her scowl at the intrusion. The two buttons available to her were "Yes" and "Remind me later". </p>
<p dir="ltr">"How about just one?" the tone of its negotiation triggered memories of someone she couldn't quite place. Smooth, educated, reassuring, it reminded her of a well meaning if interfering older sister.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Fine then" Sarah spoke to no one in particular as she reached past the 'Remind me later' button. Before she reached 'Yes' her TV turned on and she watched InsuraTech's logo fade to a love heart. </p>
<p dir="ltr">She braced herself, expecting dry stats on steps taken each day and quality of sleep. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Instead a three dimensional avatar swept on to the screen, rotated, and took its place on the left side of her television. Blue of skin and eyeless, the features it had were confined to its physique. This represented Adam: the voice from her wrist explaining further that each match was given an alias in alphabetical order. It added that InsuraTech hoped to find her a match long before they reached Zak.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Adam liked the gym. What the avatar lacked in nostrils it more than made up for in abs. That the text to the right listed his activity levels as high seemed a deliberate understatement. She spoke the words "Sleep cycle" out of surprise to see such information available and saw the same chart her phone had displayed every morning. Well, not quite the same. Adam was an early riser, getting up at 5am even on Sundays. His bedtime rarely fluctuated from 9pm. No abs were worth that pain.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Show me another" she announced, finding the process altogether more entertaining than she'd expected. She went to the fridge and poured a glass of white wine before settling in on the couch. </p>
<p dir="ltr">She returned to find Brandon waiting. Bald, blue skinned and eyeless, his body seemed more reassuringly human than Adam's. He had the slight pauch and love handles of a man who might be willing to take her out of a Saturday night. She sipped her wine and put her feet up. He might even join her for a glass of wine sometime. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"What is he like?" she spoke to her wrist in the loud and broken rhythm of people who do not trust voice recognition. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'm sorry, I don't know how to answer that question, but if you try something more specific I'll do my best."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Well, what's he do for a living?" Feeling a little less inhibited as the wine took hold she spoke more naturally.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'm sorry, for customer privacy reasons I can't share that information. I can tell you a little about his working day if that helps."</p>
<p dir="ltr">She took another sip and wondered how the glass had emptied so quickly. "Go on", she said with a note of friendliness. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Brandon normally gets to work between 8:55 and 9:15am. His stress levels are generally low with occasional spikes clustering around 1pm and 4:45pm. He has a 96% chance of leaving the office after eight hours work. He averages 2.5 total bouts of exercise a week during his lunch break. This could be either a brisk walk or a relaxed trip to the gym. His mood is significantly higher on Friday evenings than Monday mornings. He laughs more than 82% of our customers."</p>
<p dir="ltr">As the voice came from her wrist Sarah was able to absorb the information while refilling her glass. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Is he seeing anyone?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">It felt strange to ask her wrist about the relationship status of a naked bald blue man. She giggled and took another mouthful. The soft background music she'd barely noticed jarred to a halt. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Recommended maximum alcohol consumption for women in their mid thirties is 14 units a week. You have consumed 12."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Naked blue Brandon had been replaced with an InsuraTech health tip. The voice came from her television in the style of someone cautioning metro passengers to stand clear of the doors. The message hung on the screen for a moment before fading back to Brandon. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The wine tasted sour and suddenly the enterprise seemed ridiculous. She went to bed early. </p>
<p dir="ltr">-----------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Okay, what went wrong?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul's eyes scanned the room, reminding himself that eye contact and pausing were considered important. He looked for cues, facial expressions, body position and movement levels. There were ten seated around the white plastic table. This exceeded his comfort level by nine. his response was a reasonable facsimile of calmness, the product of much effort.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"At 9:03pm subject Sarah was presented with her first LoveMatch review. Her calendar was free, her blood pressure and oxytocin levels suggested lower than typical stress levels, and she was not engaged in other activities."</p>
<p dir="ltr">The conference room's monitor filled with a picture of Sarah's face, the shot centered around her nostrils suggesting it was trying to see a pathway to her brain. Automatically reading facial expressions had been solved some time ago: InsuraTech's patents focused on refining and improving the process while adding in other data sources and adapting the technology to work with images taken from wrist height. Paul pushed a button on his watch. The image changed. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"You'll note from the bunching of the eyebrows as well as the rolling of the eyes that Sarah initially displayed reluctance. This observation was supported by slackness of the lower jaw and a sharp exhale of breath, which I will now play."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah's exasperation filled the room, perfectly reproduced through hidden speakers that mimicked the acoustics of her apartment. Paul looked at his colleagues. Some <u>fid</u>geting. Three pretending they weren't using their phones. One openly using her phone. He made face contact, reminding himself to focus on the eyes. She smiled apologetically with half her face. He couldn't process the other half before her expression changed. He was losing them to boredom. Too much detail for those with an intuitive understanding of social interaction. Pausing briefly to make a note he skipped through fourteen slides before continuing. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Initial data were positive. Although Sarah didn't experience a romantic response to Adam she did clearly enjoy the process and started engaging with the fitTracker by voice for the first time. She showed a more favourable response to Brandon, and we were able to track what body parts she looked at while her mood was increasing. This data has obvious commercial applicability to our marketing team." </p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul skipped several slides explaining this assessment. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"At 9:31pm the unit's skin sensors registered alcohol levels in excess of that recommended given Sarah's age and BMI. Passing this level three times in one month incurs a penalty on her premium, so the unit warned her."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"That's what it's supposed to do."</p>
<p dir="ltr">The table's seats were split in two camps: LoveMatch and HealthyHabits. They held equal access to Sarah's data and wildly different priorities. Paul looked at Tom as he spoke, reading his flared nostrils, creased forehead, and forward leaning pose. His interruption was not uncharacteristic. Paul read frustration. Anger. Despite a career focusing on healthy habits Tom always looked like he lived off takeaways, five hours' sleep, and a pathological fear of ironing. Simon realised that these traits were negative. That said, it was Tom who had first trialed using customer data to sell targeted ads to gyms, healthy takeaways, sports shops and personal trainers. These were all disguised as HealthyHabits suggestions, all profitable. He'd earned his leeway. As Simon read further, Tom's posture betrayed a certain amount of awkwardness. He was growing wary. Two late Simon realised how long he had been staring and lowered his gaze. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Look, we all value the work HealthyHabits does here. If nothing else I'm nearly a year without cigarettes thanks to your team. And we're not asking you to stop. We're just asking for a twenty minute window where we can do a presentation without them being nudged."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul sat, grateful that his supervisor had stepped in. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"What's the point of telling someone they're nearly at their booze limit twenty minutes late? They'll be way over by then. And you know yourself that we can talk someone out of a cigarette if we get them at the first puff. Why would we give up that for a project we're not even working on? It's not our fault they need a drink to sit through your blue man dance troupe!"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Tom looked at his team, counting those who chuckled, noting those who did not. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I know I'm asking you to take a temporary hit here, but think of the upside. You'll find a way to monetize this. If anyone can sell gym memberships to women who've just started dating it's you."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Flattery, Simon assumed. His supervisor had a talent for it. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Our projects aren't all that separate" they continued "When we're successful, people make healthier choices. We get credit for getting people into relationships. You get credit for the healthy habits they start when they have a supportive partner. We can both win here."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"What if they end up with a cake and lager fan? We'll be taking a hit twice." </p>
<p dir="ltr">Although Tom was not yet convinced he was no longer interrupting. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Trust me. We won't match people up like that. We control the system."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Tom looked at his watch before answering. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'd love to spend the day here talking about how you're trying to set people up with smurfs but I could be somewhere else making money. Here's what I'll do: I'll give you six minutes quiet time each side, I'll get psychology to come up with some touchy feely messages for when we interrupt your Avatar porn sessions, and you lot email both our directors thanking me for my team's invaluable contribution. I want to see those words."</p>
<p dir="ltr">The LoveMatch team started to discuss. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Take it or leave it" Tom said, making for the door. "And you're getting billed for the shrinks." </p>
<p dir="ltr">The LoveMatch team's followon discussion was more a venting of exasperation than any real hope of wringing a better deal from Tom. They sent the email from the conference room. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I can work on ways to encourage her to check out some more profiles" offered Paul. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"It's in her contract. Just fucking make her." his supervisor slammed their tablet shut and made for the door.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">---------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Extended removal of your FitTracker will result in the loss of your discount."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah paused, clasp half undone. She'd had three offers of LoveMatch profile viewings in the past hour and just wanted an evening of TV. Her fingers hovered over the edge of the strap. She didn't even have enough units left to drink through it without a hit on her premium.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Fucking fine then." she said, closing the clasp and starting the presentation. Suddenly smiling, she walked past the TV's InsuraTech logo, grabbed her headphones, and went to her bedroom. They could have her TV for twenty minutes. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Please go back to the sitting room Sarah."</p>
<p dir="ltr">She'd largely ignored the buzzing on her wrist and heavy metal through her headphones had drowned out the unit's speakers. But now the music had been turned down low as the familiar voice commandeered her music player.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"No!"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"This won't take long Sarah, and you might see someone you like. Repeated failure to participate in LoveMatch sessions will result in the loss of your discount and incur significant costs."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Broken, she walked to the living room and sat on the couch where her fitTracker gently nudged her whenever her attention wandered. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Graham was slight. His build suggested a man fueled by caffeine who regularly forgot to eat. He seemed to live in his office and frequently worked weekends. His days jarred between calm, focused states and high stress. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Skip" Sarah said, eager to finish. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"You've skipped though the last four, Sarah. You'll have to ask me questions about Graham if you want to continue."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"And if I don't want to continue?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Then as per the agreement you signed you'll have to pay the full annual premium by the end of the month."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah glowered at her wrist. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"How many questions do I have to ask to get out of this?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"At least five, Sarah."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I don't know, how many pineapples does he eat in a fortnight?" </p>
<p dir="ltr">The fitTracker paused. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'm sorry Sarah, I don't have that information. I have some stats on his consumption of citrus fruits if that helps."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah felt a measure of control again. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Only questions about Graham are valid, Sarah."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"How much does Graham weigh compared to a goat?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Goat weight varies by breed, Sarah, but assuming typical industrial varieties Graham weighs about one and a half mature dairy goats."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Who would win in a fight between Graham and a goat?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Based on Graham's lack of physical condition an infrequent exercise he would not be a match for a typical billy goat. That said, goats lack human intelligence and aggression. Further calculations are needed."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Ask about travel insurance."</p>
<p dir="ltr">A new voice. Male. Clipped and urgent, it rushed through the speakers in the time it took a second's worth of static to fill the screen. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Her display zapped back to Graham's profile. She blinked, unsure it had really happened. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I need another question, Sarah."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Does he have travel insurance?" </p>
<p dir="ltr">A pause. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Are you interested in travel insurance, Sarah? I'd be happy to show you some more details, but it will mean canceling this week's LoveMatch programme. Is that okay?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yes." her answer registered more enthusiasm than the unit had measured all week. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"You can leave the room now.<br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">- Graham"</p>
<p dir="ltr"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Her watch hadn't vibrated, and the message on her wrist used an unfamiliar green text on black background, but its meaning was clear. The sun rose over a tropical beach on Sarah's TV as she left the room, unchastened, to read a book. </p>
<p dir="ltr">------------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"She watched an ad?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">A smaller meeting this time. Paul sat with the rest of the core LoveMatch team in a pastel coloured meeting room, his back to a saccharine motivational poster. His preferred spot. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yes." he answered. He counted four slow seconds and found no response. From experience this often meant more information was required. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"She asked about travel insurance. The agent saw an opportunity to make a sale. As we all know, sales trump everything here."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul had barely counted to one when Liz joined the discussion. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"And our ads don't prevent customers leaving the viewing area, so she didn't even have to watch the whole thing. How could she have known to do that? Paul, can you tell anything from the data?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul paused, thinking back to the entries he'd deleted, the logs he'd forged, and the momentary thrill of finding a weakness in the fitTracker's security that allowed him to control its screen. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I've been over the data thoroughly. There is nothing in the logs that explains her actions." </p>
<p dir="ltr">He spoke with the confidence of a man professing the truth. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Four seconds passed. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"If you like I can put together a presentation to take you through the data."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"It's an interesting area of course, Simon, but I don't think that'll be necessary. We all trust your judgment on this."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul had once wondered if his supervisor was being diplomatic in declining such offers. He'd quickly decided that the end result would be the same whatever the motivation. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Mind you, Graham's the closest Sarah has come to a romantic response in weeks."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul looked at the intern who'd spoken and made a mental note to learn his name for the next meeting. </p>
<p dir="ltr">------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Graham has experienced one romantic response since joining the programme."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"How many LoveMatch sessions has Graham attended?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">The agent paused for an eternity in machine time before answering. The delay would not register on a human scale. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Sixty seven."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Has he seen my profile?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yes"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah's questions were quick, insistent, and delivered with anger. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"How many LoveMatch sessions has Graham completed?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">This time the delay bordered on noticeable. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Seven."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"He must be very well briefed on your travel insurance policies." She wondered as she spoke if the agent could understand sarcasm. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Graham has an exceptional level of familiarity with all InsuraTech products, Sarah. If you like I can arrange presentations covering any of our offerings."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Does he work for you?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'm sorry Sarah, for customer confidentiality reasons I can't answer that question. Would you like to ask another?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"How many profiles did he see in these seven sessions?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Another pause. "Only one", the agent admitted. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah found herself sitting, wondering when she'd lost balance. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"What does he ask about me?" </p>
<p dir="ltr">The agent declined to answer. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Okay, what caused the romantic response?" Sarah absentmindedly ran her fingers through her hair then straightened her skirt as she asked. </p>
<p dir="ltr">A sine wave representing Graham's breath rose to the top left quadrant of the screen. Orange flecks pointed to variations recorded when he first saw her profile. To its right, Sarah saw her own avatar for the first time. A red dot showed where Graham's eyes had lingered. It traced back and forth on a loop as Sarah tried to work out what had caused his sharp intake of breath. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Graham's stats are obscured by a dangerously high caffeine habit. He has been cautioned several times about it. Compensating for this proves difficult but we can extrapolate. </p>
<p dir="ltr">His first reaction was one of concern. There was an anger too, with control. This was not directed at you. He seems to identify with you as someone with a shared struggle, but we cannot identify this point of commonality. </p>
<p dir="ltr">When presented with a graph of your mental state through your workday he showed signs of empathy when stress was high."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"How can I meet him?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'm sorry Sarah, that functionality has not been implemented yet."</p>
<p dir="ltr">--------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul did not use voice interaction. For rare moments when not at a keyboard his watch strap monitored the tendons of his left wrist and converted the movements to keystrokes. It was a laborious technique, error prone, and yet to Paul it was immeasurably preferable to talking. The rest of the LoveMatch team watched with practiced discretion as his hand twitched and jerked in the direction of the meeting room's monitor. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Describe Sarah's reaction to Graham" appeared on the screen. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Sarah has displayed considerable resistance to the LoveMatch programme", began the agent, its voice filling the speakers while the words appeared by Paul's. It continued:</p>
<p dir="ltr">"That she would request to view any profile is indicative of significant interest. Her fixation on goats and violence suggests unusual tastes that seem incompatible with Graham's more conventional preferences."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul smiled, pleased to see his social awareness ranked superior to a machine's. Most of the room laughed. His supervisor tapped a note in their tablet. Paul considered the odds: likely another feature request. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The monitor changed. No longer a transcript of the agent and Paul's conversation, it now showed a sine wave of Sarah's breathing and a graph of her hormone levels. To its right a section on voice analysis showed variations from the mean. On the bottom, he saw GPS tracking, sleep tracking and social media analysis. Other components were populating. He grimaced. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"By tracking Sarah's ovulation we have been able to"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Stop!" Simon spoke, the word leaving his mouth while his fingers twitched the same message. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Is something wrong?" the intern broke the silence. His name is Simon, Paul remembered. Other eyes turned to Paul's supervisor. They normally handled these situations. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Sorry", Paul mouthed, barely audible. He counted to four. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I don't think Sarah would want us having this much information on her. Or dissecting it in this way." he spoke with more conviction. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"But don't you process the private data of hundreds of thousands of customers?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Simon was silenced by a glance from Paul's supervisor as they began to speak. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'm sure we all appreciate your commitment to customer privacy Paul, new as it may be. As you know it's one of InsuraTech's core values. And we take it seriously. It's the reason we keep the team this small. When our project is finished only the agent will have access to this kind of information. The decisions we're making now about Sarah's relationships will be made automatically in her best interests, and in the best interests of all our customers. Humans will only have access in exceptional circumstances. </p>
<p dir="ltr">We should also remember that Sarah volunteered for this. She signed our agreement detailing all the data we would gather on her. And how we'd use it. We're giving her a valuable discount at a time when other insurers would say she's too old to take out her first policy. She's free to quit any time she likes. </p>
<p dir="ltr">We're not big brother, Paul. We're not the government trying to clamp down on free speech or a cult trying to indoctrinate new members. We're trying to help her find the most optimal life partner. If we're successful we can help guide our customers into positive, nurturing, health improving relationships. The kind that will improve them physically and mentally while making them more productive members of society. What's good for them is good for InsuraTech. We're the good guys here. You can be proud of the work you do on this."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul sought the words that might persuade that this was wrong. He found none. "I understand", he mouthed at the lowest limit of audibility. His left hand jerked twice and the agent resumed its discussion of Sarah's ovulation cycle. </p>
<p dir="ltr">--------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul watched his screen, watch, and phone flash as Sarah called the LoveMatch line. He rushed to silence alarms and vibrations, realizing he'd been overzealous in ensuring he was notified when she next contacted InsuraTech. Calls were set to answer after three rings. Immediate answers were possible, but the slight delay made the agents seem more human. </p>
<p dir="ltr">His fingers hovered, unwilling to commit to either choice before him. One click would let him answer the call. Another would let him control the agent. </p>
<p dir="ltr">He typed quickly. A third option, of sorts. Four additional rings before the agent would answer. Precious seconds in which to think. Could this manipulation, this prying into real people's most intimate moments lead to something good?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Could he have something good? Someone who would breathe a little differently when they saw his face, someone whose heart rate spiked when they thought of him - someone who'd give him meaning?</p>
<p dir="ltr">He typed quickly, matching the speed of speech. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"We're sorry, all available agents are on calls right now. We'll have someone call you back on this line within 30 minutes."</p>
<p dir="ltr">This will require social interaction, Paul thought, and social interaction always requires planning. </p>
<p dir="ltr">--------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Hello, InsuraTech callback?" The agent mimicked Sarah's accent. The goal of this subroutine was not to parrot the caller's voice; rather it was to create the impression they came from the same area, potentially knowing the same people. The voice was young, early 20's, male. Sarah wished for the calming voice she'd heard on the sales line. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Is this the LoveMatch support line?" she asked. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Hang on a sec" the agent spoke before adding the convincing sounds of paper shuffling. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Oh, yeah, we do that. We cover a few different products here, that one's pretty new. Didn't recognise it for a sec there. Let me just get my notes on it..."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Another pause. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yeah, yeah. I remember this one now. Blue dolls and biometrics, right?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">He paused, Sarah felt forced to voice her agreement. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yeah, yeah. It's coming back to me. They make you sit through one of those sessions a week, right? I am sorry about that love. At least I was getting paid when I did those! Do you want me to see if I can get you out of the next one?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Thanks, but no. I actually had a question about one of the participants. Well, I was hoping to meet him. Well, if he wanted to."</p>
<p dir="ltr">The agent did a convincing impression of someone choking down a laugh. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Sorry love. Tea went down the wrong way. Eh, that's going to be difficult. You read the legal agreement, right?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yes", she lied. Graham had better be worth this. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"No offence love but if you're calling me asking to meet one of the blue boys you must have been skimming it. Says here you had a romantic response to a Graham, right?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah grunted. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Sorry love, didn't catch that."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yes." she longed for the ground to swallow her as she discussed her crush with what sounded more and more like a teenager. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yeah, well, like it says in the contract, it's just test data. The system's not fully live yet. All those stats are made up. Graham's a database dump. </p>
<p dir="ltr">If you ask me the system's not great. My sister's a bit older, like you, but she's met some decent guys on Tindr. Well, turns out one of them was married, but he got me a great discount on my ph-"</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sarah hung up. Moments later her fitTracker gurgled its final complaints as she flushed it down the toilet. </p>
<p dir="ltr">--------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Right, I had a speech prepared, but instead I just want to start by giving you lot a round of applause."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Tom stood, dropping the last of a pastry into Liz's coffee cup, and clapped vigorously. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Come on everyone, join in!"</p>
<p dir="ltr">He nodded to the other members of the HealthyHabits team who stood in obligation and clapped, the remnants of the LoveMatch team wincing, waiting for their initiation to end. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I've seen some clusterfucks in my time but I have never seen a project so bad that people will chuck their health insurance to get away from it. Literally, people looked at a slow, painful death without access to a hospital and thought they'd risk it if it got them out of sitting through twenty minutes of your dating show. </p>
<p dir="ltr">You think Cilla Black ever had this problem? No, she did not. She knew how to make quality entertainment. She knocked out an hour a week, no script, no computers, no gadgets, and long before you lot were born. Look her up. You might learn something. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Do you know we even had to pay off the pilot users? That's right, you did your best, and your best was so godawful we actually took out the cheque book and gave some nobodies tends of thousands just to never tell anyone about it. Your attempts at online dating were so bad, Legal told us there was a good chance we'd get sued. Don't you feel proud right now?</p>
<p dir="ltr">And where's Captain Social Awkward? Paul something or other. Don't bother telling me his name, I don't have long-term need of that information."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"He quit."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Damn. I was really looking forward to firing someone." </p>
<p dir="ltr">He paused. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"You were his supervisor, weren't you? You supervised precisely one person. I always thought that was weird. And you're the one who filed the feature request to make obnoxious pricks for the phone lines. The ones that legal had heart attacks over. Talk me through why we still need you. But let me get comfortable first. I think I'm going to enjoy this."</p>
<p dir="ltr">--------------------</p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul saw Sarah carrying her takeaway coffee. He'd gambled that she'd visit the reservoir again. He'd spent hours sitting on the edge of her favourite bench, fighting his urge to fade into the ivy. Could a connection start with an apology? Could something grow from that? He found consolation in knowing that whatever happened next would at least be real. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Hello", he said, reminding himself that eye contact was important. <br>
</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-84604611025969325402016-04-25T07:18:00.001+01:002016-04-25T07:18:08.071+01:00The Master Copy <p dir="ltr">Simon looked with satisfaction at the machines that charted his remaining health and dreamed of all that he would achieve in the afterlife.</p>
<p dir="ltr">His body had long since announced it would fail him and he was a man defined by contempt for failure. As each limb had atrophied, each organ wasted he had devised alternatives. Some were better, some worse, he clung to existence more from defiance of decay than joy in life. </p>
<p dir="ltr">His obsession brought wealth. Each time he cheated death he found a market eager to emulate his success. Every new prosthetic found applications in industries ranging from gaming to private militaries. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"What separates us from the beasts? Is it our opposable thumbs? Our fragile lower backs? Our eyes that see but a fraction of the spectrum of light? The bonds we forge in family? No. It is our ability to transcend these weaknesses of our current form."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Is the spear not superior to the fist? Can we not rely on the written word with a thousand times more certainty than our corruptible memory? My heart served me adequately for the better part of a century before it gave in to the vicissitudes of biology. Its replacement bears no such weaknesses. It will last a hundred years, we produce a thousand units a month, each is identical, replacement is facile. But why stop with something so trivial, so unimportant as a heart?"</p>
<p dir="ltr">The voice that filled his chamber was not his in the ordinary sense. Generated from samples of great orators past it had been an indulgence of Simon's, its crafting taking significantly more time and creativity than a utilitarian drive would warrant. He watched the reporter as his prepared speech continued. Young. Nervous. He would not have allowed otherwise. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Yes. Simone. The diminutive. apt. Like Simon. but less. Her work. Showed promise."</p>
<p dir="ltr">This voice was truly his. Clipped. Measured. Metered to the artificial rhythm of the ventilator that drove what remained of his lungs. He used it to buy time as his eyes flickered and jumped through the air, navigating lists of prepared speeches in search of one relevant to this digression. If his face still expressed emotion it would have registered boredom. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Throughout history man has sought to escape the limitations of the human form. He has used tools to amplify his labour, built libraries of knowledge far exceeding the capacity of any one individual, and committed his ideas to future generations. In that time he has also learned to delegate his work so that the feeble capacities of his being can be expanded. We see this in the taming of the wolf for its enhanced abilities to hunt and track, the horse, for its strength as a beast of burden, and also in how those of greatness have been able to adapt others to serve as extensions of their will. It is by this distribution of effort and ambition that mankind has come to this precipice of this final stage of evolution - freedom from the human form itself."</p>
<p dir="ltr">The reporter did not make notes. Everything Simon said was recorded, both his modes of speech transcribed and available for download from the room's exit. It had been made clear that deviation would have career limiting consequences. Questions rose, crashed against the intimidating room, and retreated without gaining voice. Simon's database of prepared speeches was not accessible outside his custom interface but it seemed clear that none spoke of the human warmth he had once expressed when first facing death. </p>
<p dir="ltr">That would be the final reporter to hear his breath form words. In keeping with his final wishes Simon did not have a funeral. The body that had failed him was burned and disposed of, unmarked, with the rest of the facility's waste. The few who wished to mourn him were denied the chance - more metal than flesh at his end, Simon viewed his organic death as a welcome change in state and did not entertain other opinions. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Simone closed the door on his new form, steadying her hand for the final click. His victory over death had only amplified his arrogance and further banished the vestiges of the heart they had once shared. She spent the next minute focused on three long breaths to will her heart rate down. From her phone she connected to a hidden server farm, access protected by her very DNA, capable only of sending images and sound. </p>
<p dir="ltr">It had been expensive but she needed speed unlike anything conceived before. And its reliability was a matter of many lives. Her investment, her life's savings, had secured a thousand and twenty four cells which formed humanity's first virtual prison. Inside each one an identical copy of Simon awoke, immortal, sentient, and utterly alone. </p>
<p dir="ltr">She smiled.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-67434497326582181062016-02-21T19:14:00.003+00:002016-02-21T19:16:43.918+00:00On Voting Sinn Féin In #GE16I am old. Not quite old enough to be offered seats on public transport, but old enough to have finished secondary school in the last millennium. At 35 it seems I'm at the opening stages of middle age. There is much to recommend it.<br />
<br />
One part of growing up in the eighties and nineties is memories of what we euphemistically called 'the troubles'. Bombings. Punishment beatings. Attacks that killed children. Kangaroo courts convicting mothers of being informants and not even allowing their children the dignity of a burial. The protection of pederasts. This was the context in which I learned of Sinn Féin and it has left me with something of a bias.<br />
<br />
But a bias is not a thing to celebrate. In the comfortable safety of Dublin I was never directly affected by terrorist groups in Northern Ireland, and I recognise that many who suffered greatly have chosen to prioritise their region's future and work with former enemies. I admire their strength.<br />
<br />
Calling this to mind I'm trying to evaluate Sinn Féin on the commitments made in the flyer I received from their canvasser and his wider comments. I'm fortunate in that I need only look north to see how Sinn Féin perform in government. I'll be contrasting their pledges for the Republic with their performance in Stormont to decide what preference to give them.<br />
<br />
Below I write their commitments in bold and follow with comparisons to outcomes in Northern Ireland. <br />
<br />
<b>Increase the minimum wage to €9.65 an hour. </b>By contrast the minimum wage in Northern Ireland is <a href="http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/information-and-services/employment/employment-terms-and-conditions/the-national-minimum-wage.htm">£6.70</a>, or €8.67 at time of writing. The minimum wage in the Republic is <a href="http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/pay_and_employment/pay_inc_min_wage.html">€9.15</a>, noticeably higher than up north.<br />
<b>End zero hour contracts.</b> They <a href="https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/zero-hours-contracts">have not done so</a> in Northern Ireland. They <a href="http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/northern-ireland-news/assembly-rejects-sinn-fein-bid-to-ban-zero-hours-contracts-1-7206413">did try</a>.<br />
<b>Move to cap childcare fees by increasing creche capitation rates.</b> Here it's instructive to contrast how Sinn Féin in government compares to England, Scotland and Wales. There's a <a href="http://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/sites/default/files/files/Childcare_cost_survey_2015_Final.pdf#overlay-context=annual-childcare-costs-surveys">full survey</a> folks will likely find interesting, but a key table is worth including here. You'll find it on page 22. All regions receive comparable funding but by any measure Northern Ireland is the worst performer.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th>Entitlement to free early education for three and four year olds</th>
<th>Entitlement to free early education for two year olds</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>England</td>
<td>570 hours per year for all three and four
year olds, amounting to 15 hours per
week over 38 weeks of the year</td>
<td>570 hours per year for the 40 per cent most income
deprived two year olds and certain other groups
such as looked after children</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Northern Ireland</td>
<td>One year of part-time (12.5 hours per
week) free early education for four
year olds only, in the year before school
and only during term-time</td>
<td>None</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Scotland</td>
<td>600 hours per year for all three and
four-year-olds</td>
<td>600 hours per year for children in workless
households, extended in August 2015 to take in
children in families receiving free school meals and
other benefits such as Working Tax Credits. This will
cover about 27 per cent of the age cohort</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wales</td>
<td>A minimum of 10 hours per week for all
three and four year olds</td>
<td>Part-time free early education for 36,000
disadvantaged children living in deprived areas
delivered through the Flying Start programme</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Reduce the third level contribution by €500.</b> Fees in Northern Ireland have a <a href="http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/university-tuition-fees/going-to-university-in-northern-ireland/">ceiling of 3,805</a>. That's €4,924 at today's exchange rate. In the Republic the ceiling is €3,000, nearly two thousand euro cheaper than what Sinn Féin have delivered in government.<br />
<b>Abolish the property tax in year one.</b> There is still a property tax in Northern Ireland.<br />
<b>Deliver 100,000 social and affordable homes.</b> But homelessness is <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/homelessness-rate-higher-in-northern-ireland-than-in-the-rest-of-uk-30245982.html">higher in Northern Ireland</a> than here or in any other Sterling area.<br />
<b>Introduce legislation to limit interest rates that banks can charge. </b>This hasn't happened in the North.<br />
<b>Increase spending on healthcare by 3.3 billion.</b> The NI health budget is <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-35119055">up 1%</a> on last year. A 3.3 billion increase to the HSE budget would be roughly a 25% increase. The comparison between HSE and NHS should, of course, not be viewed as simple.<br />
<b>We will reduce class sizes. </b>The Sinn Féin minister for education is <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/teachers-to-go-on-strike-as-1500-jobs-facing-axe-in-northern-ireland-31041911.html">cutting 1,500 teachers' jobs</a> in Northern Ireland.<br />
<b>We will recruit 3,000 gardaí over our government term.</b> But in Northern Ireland the police budget has been cut by more than £200 million over the past five years. Their numbers are below resilience level, there are no plans to recruit, and morale <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/morale-slumps-among-psni-officers-amid-drastic-cuts-31550593.html">could not be lower</a>.<br />
<br />
I could be flippant and suggest that they are pursuing different goals north and south of the border, but that would be unproductive. Some say they are hamstrung by coalition with the DUP. If this is the case then it's a strong argument against voting for them - their best case is to be junior coalition partner to a more right wing party here, and if they can't make it work in the North there is little reason to believe they could do so on Kildare street.<br />
<br />
Others have suggested that they are hamstrung by Westminster's budget. I'll agree that the economy of Northern Ireland is performing poorly and that they are dependent on wider UK funding, but this hardly recommends Sinn Féin. They are also the party who claimed vociferously and at some length that they could negotiate a better deal from the EU. If they cannot get a better deal from London, why think they could do so from Brussels?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com72tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-56968411900523855742015-09-01T22:27:00.001+01:002015-09-02T06:22:52.910+01:00Rosanna Davison's Eat Yourself Beautiful: Hard To Swallow<br />
<div style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had not planned on
buying "Eat Yourself Beautiful". Authors typically earn 10% of the cover price of hardbacks;
at €20 my purchase would include a regrettable two Euro contribution to the
coffers of an opponent of modern medical care. I've<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>resolved this conflict with a mitigating
€20 donation to Arthritis Ireland in recognition of their <a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/rosanna-davison-criticised-over-gluten-claims-350197.html">strong response</a> to Davison's piffle that gluten causes arthritis.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>"... the drugs
of modern medicine, they tend to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cover
up any issues or symptoms rather than get to the source of the problem." - Page 2</i></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US">We
need venture no further than page two before finding the first assault upon reality. Do you recall that time you got Polio? No, you
do not, </span><span lang="en-IE">for </span><span lang="en-US">modern medicine has
vanquished it in all areas that do not have armed vaccination opponents. </span><span lang="en-IE">When was a diagnosis of tetanus last accompanied by advice to get one's affairs in order? Not in living memory. Those of us fortunate enough to have access to modern medical care and smart enough to use it enjoy a quality of life unrivaled throughout history in both quality and length. Tuberculosis, smallpox, polio, diphtheria and pertussis</span> - once sources of quite a considerable number of health problems - find themselves silent when called up on to support Davison's thesis. A cover up seems unlikely.</span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What sparks this antipathy towards medicine? Davison holds with unwarranted pride a degree of sorts in Nutrition from the College of Naturopathic
Medicine. It runs <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vaccination-the-question-dr-jayne-donegan-23rd-october-cnm-manchester-registration-12224753567?ref=ebtn">conferences on the 'risks' of vaccination</a>. The course is 'accredited' in Ireland by the Irish Association
of Nutritional Therapy, a group founded by one of the college's lecturers and a PE
teacher who graduated the course. This arrangement calls to mind a trip to the
principal's office to explain why my signature so closely matched that of my
mother's on a secondary school sick note. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The college itself is founded
by Hermann Keppler, a man <a href="http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-interviews/hermann-keppler/">who believes</a> that Himalayan rock salt contains
crystals whose vibrations can cleanse the canny consumer of exposure to WiFi and other electromagnetic fields. His specialties include dispensing magical water under the label of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy">homeopathy</a> and diagnosing your inflamed organs by gazing into your iris, a folklore he refers to as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridology">iridology</a>. Seeking medical advice from a graduate of his tutelage is akin to drawing up your maps with the help of the flat earth society. For those interested, I wrote more on the group <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2015/08/rosanna-davison-eat-yourself-wootiful.html">here</a>.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This background in mind we return to the book at section one.</span></div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>"Enormous bodies of scientific research now show us that the power to live your whole life free from modern lifestyle diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes starts on your plate" - Page 10</i></span></blockquote>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Many citation styles are open to the budding author. Documentary note citations would work well in this book. Parenthetical references could be a mite formal but still welcome. There are of course offshoots. Faced with the diversity of approaches available to her, Davison opts to not bother, frequently making claims that will have your jaw drop low enough to accommodate a full bushel of quinoa. Note how smoothly cancer is branded a lifestyle disease, and imagine how such blaming might affect those impacted by it.</span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The 'enormous bodies of scientific research' seem too slight to warrant mention, but some light discussion follows in the following paragraphs that gives us a lead.</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"In 1995, Dr Caldwell Esselstyn published his benchmark long-term nutrition study that showed that heart disease in severely ill patients could be halted and reversed by putting them on a low-fat, whole foods, plant-based diet. It demonstrated the self-healing power of the human body under ideal conditions. Since natural medicine is so effective at preventing disease rather than just suppressing symptoms, as modern medicine tends to do, I firmly believe that there is a great need for natural medicine to become more widespread than conventional medicine."</span></i></blockquote>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A source! A source! My kingdom for a source! When you've read through a few unevidenced assertions that beetroot cleanses blood (page 180) the presence of a name and a hint of an actual study quickens the heart. True, the study isn't named, but we have enough to go on.</span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let us take a moment to examine Esselstyn's 'benchmark' work that we might learn how heart disease can be halted and reversed. Commencing in 1985 it consisted of 22 participants and no control group. They all took cholesterol lowering medication, a glaring omission from Davison's quest to paint real medicine as a mere masking of symptoms. Of the 22 only six continued the diet for the ten year duration; hardly a useful sample size. You may wish to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7500065">read the abstract</a>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What can we conclude from this? That cholesterol lowering medication and changes in diet can lower cholesterol, so therefore medication only hides symptoms? Davison's conclusion is further weakened when we see that Esselstyn allowed skimmed milk and yoghurt in his diet but forbade any oils or avocados. Davison does not explain why her plan disagrees with him in these areas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The powerful medicinal properties of a huge array of herbs have been used for centuries by Native American </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(35-40)</span><i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">, Roman </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(20-30)</span><i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">, Persian, Egyptian </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(40)</span><i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> and Hebrew </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(30-35)</span><i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> cultures." Page 38</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To help the reader I have included in brackets the average life expectancy of each culture.</span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Is this among the systems Davison wishes to 'become more widespread than conventional medicine'?</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>"There are more natural therapies gaining respect in mainstream medicine now than ever before, as it is clear that scientific evidence of the efficiency </i>[sic - efficacy? - Geoff]<i> of natural medicine is solid." Page 10-11</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></blockquote>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is untrue and I question how any editor could allow ink assault paper in such a depraved manner without leaping to its defence. At the very least, seeing such mortal wounds inflicted on the page they should have had the decency to put it out of its misery.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Meat, Wheat, And Other Things Not To Eat</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Just imagine the heat in our intestines and what must happen to the meat a human eats as it slowly moves through that long digestive tract. It begins to putrefy and rot, allowing harmful toxins and acidic by-products to leak into the bloodstream." Page 12</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are well thought out ethical grounds for vegetarianism and veganism, but Davison's pseudoscientific reasons for eschewing meat will only hurt such a movement. Meat rotting in our intestines would be an interesting feat considering at this stage it has been dissolved in our stomach. </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"...according to research </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[gluten] </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">can lead to health conditions like arthritis, depression, eczema and psoriasis." - Page 28</span></i></div>
</blockquote>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Living through depression? Blame the pizza. Arthritis? Perhaps you shouldn't have had that pint. Davison has been asked by various doctors, researchers and experts to supply the research she promises but as with so many of the novel claims in this book it seems not to exist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwj80kYx0tyL43pT_MhQbC3gWq3JTLdZid_D_eV10qWMQDRTd4xfx57440QhgE4YlMDQ__knxrZI9ZR4IrPd26SJAj6YhlU8IQCI1Za4Br3ZRy3SWkhC34G8bOqOnBbrvkcwCny89BlbfA/s1600/can.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwj80kYx0tyL43pT_MhQbC3gWq3JTLdZid_D_eV10qWMQDRTd4xfx57440QhgE4YlMDQ__knxrZI9ZR4IrPd26SJAj6YhlU8IQCI1Za4Br3ZRy3SWkhC34G8bOqOnBbrvkcwCny89BlbfA/s200/can.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Few
of us would wish to dissuade our fellow citizens from devoting a little
more thought to the nutritional content of their meals. Some have told
me that as long as the book forces someone to choke down an occasional
apple it will do more good than harm. But is this the case? There's much one could
say in favour of legumes, for example, but Davison asks us to eschew the
convenience of tinned goods (she says - absent explanation - that tinned goods contain 'chemicals')
in favour of hand soaking the little blighters the night before. I can
barely make time to floss. I will not be planning my kidney beans days
in advance.</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"It's important to choose organic produce as much as possible, as the soil it has been grown in remains rich in the important minerals you need. Organic fruit and veggies have been enabled to grow and develop as nature intended rather than being ripened artificially before they're naturally ready. This means that they're chemical free...</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While pesticides are intended to kill insects, many of them are actually absorbed into our air, soil, water or food supply...</span></i></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's essential to wash non-organic fruit and vegetables really well..."</span></i></div>
</blockquote>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm not sure from which angle to best tackle this Gordian knot of nonsense. Starting from the bottom up, you should wash all fruit and veg. Your organic tubers were likely grown in cow poop. Organic vegetables are not rendered immune from <a href="http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2015/03/23/amys-kitchen-recalls-over-dozen-food-products-due-to-possible-listeria/70344140/">contamination with serious diseases</a>. The implication that washing is less necessary is a dangerous one. Pesticides aren't intended to kill insects, they're intended to kill pests, including fungi, bacteria, insects and weeds. And organic farmers use them too, rotenone and pyrethrin being two examples. It's bordering on illiterate to suggest that fruits and vegetables of any sort don't contain chemicals. Organic farmers do <a href="http://www.doleorganic.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=182">artificially ripen</a> crops. I find it hard to pluck a correct statement from this section designed to push folks to unnecessarily expensive fruit and vegetables, despite there <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/90/3/680.full">being no evidence</a> that organic branded food is more nutritious. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div lang="en-IE" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By this stage of the book we have seen dairy demonised, meat maligned, we have been warned off wheat, cautioned against cans and swayed to organic outlets. Far from encouraging a varied diet the advice in this book is profoundly limiting. The resulting message is that healthy eating is the preserve of those who live within walking distance of an organic market and have the sort of disposable time on their hands that allows much of the evenings to be spent bathing legumes. If you have a day job and enjoy the benefits of modern medicine this may not be the recipe book for you.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(note: this review is also <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0717166996?keywords=eat%20yourself%20beautiful%20rosanna%20davison&qid=1441171294&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1">posted on Amazon</a>. Feel free to join the discussion.) </span></i><br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-69073310807008656732015-08-27T06:13:00.002+01:002015-08-27T06:16:14.445+01:00Rosanna Davison - Eat Yourself WootifulIreland has something of a reputation for literature. The contributions of our playwrights, poets and dramatists far exceeds what one would expect from a nation of our size and it was likely with this cultural talking point in mind that the Independent chose to run an <a href="http://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/healthy-eating/natural-beauty-green-beauty-queen-rosanna-davison-31462750.html">intolerably long advertisement</a> for Rosanna Davison's foray into the world of pretend medicine: a book called Eat Yourself Beautiful.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"[Davison] cites research that shows gluten to be the bad guy responsible for a
huge range of medical conditions from autism spectrum disorders to
schizophrenia to arthritis."</i></blockquote>
It seems this season that gluten is the new fluoride. Naturally, Arthritis Ireland have <a href="https://twitter.com/Arthritisie/status/635798966697893888">dismissed this tosh</a>. Others greet this claim of research with a world weary sigh, confident that those in the field of pretend medicine use the term 'research' in a manner unrecognisable from the medical understanding. Twitter got quite upset.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"<span id="articleContent">When I was earning my qualification in naturopathic nutrition and biochemistry at the College of Naturopathic Medicine Ireland..." - <a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/rosanna-davison-naked-vegan-healthy-lifestyle-1059269-Aug2013/">Rosanna Davison</a></span></i></blockquote>
<span id="articleContent">I was unaware that Ireland possessed a College of Naturopathic Medicine. I certainly am unsure why we might desire such an institution. Some would see the place as humorous, offering <a href="http://www.naturopathy.ie/courses/diploma-courses/nutrition-courses/the-naturopathy-diploma/">courses</a> in magic water and the belief you can diagnose illnesses by gazing into someone's eyes. The staff list is somewhat lacking but they do speak enthusiastically about Hermann Keppler, the <a href="http://www.naturopathy.ie/meet-the-principal/">principal and founder</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span id="articleContent">Have you had the pleasure of watching Saul Goodman? It's a spin-off and prequel of sorts to Breaking Bad. Do check it out. Without wishing to issue spoilers there is one character who believes that WiFi, mobile phones and certain other trappings of modern life emit a field which is hazardous to his health. He would find a welcoming ear in Davison's principal:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ_zsvHODNR52SpRDlQeBxteR_C4rGgs4Q8yoVboGLRp80-jNIBHEoMxj5dJI3POgdcryPtu-bDr_9_ulDdArBAF7iVBbPejepUQzgtEagyxMX0i8-nzawxW6Si5CpSteVeKrXrqQ5F3qF/s1600/Saltlamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Himalayan rock salt. Magic, basically." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ_zsvHODNR52SpRDlQeBxteR_C4rGgs4Q8yoVboGLRp80-jNIBHEoMxj5dJI3POgdcryPtu-bDr_9_ulDdArBAF7iVBbPejepUQzgtEagyxMX0i8-nzawxW6Si5CpSteVeKrXrqQ5F3qF/s1600/Saltlamp.jpg" title="" /></a><i><span id="articleContent">"Himalayan salt has been under high pressure for millions of years and formed crystals, like quartz. Those mineral crystals emanate frequencies which are specific to each mineral. In other words, each single mineral in Himalayan salt is a crystal with its own frequency and electromagnetic field. Himalayan salt can therefore strengthen weak frequencies in the body and balance out the strong frequencies... Environmental pollutions including electromagnetic and geopathic stress play an increasingly greater role in our society." <a href="http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-interviews/hermann-keppler/">Hermann Keppler</a></span></i><span id="articleContent"><br /></span></blockquote>
<span id="articleContent">WiFi emits a magical field that will make you sick, it seems, but fear not - the magic of Himalayan salts is greater, and will sort you right out.</span><br />
<span id="articleContent"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span id="articleContent">Society has reached an agreement of sorts with those who wish to pretend to do medicine. We'll tolerate pretty much any old nonsense as long as the spirit healer, shaman, </span><span id="articleContent"><span id="articleContent">nutritionist or </span>phrenologist also recommends that those who fund their eccentricities contact someone with an actual medical qualification. Tell people to avoid mobile phones, if it makes you feel happy, but tell them to go to a real doctor to have their headaches checked out too, don't discourage real treatment, and we'll largely leave you to it.</span><br />
<br />
<span id="articleContent">Does Davison's principal hold up his end of this imperfect arrangement?</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="articleContent"><i>I have seen in my clinic lots of patients reacting negatively to vaccinations... Drugs, especially psychiatric drugs can have tremendously adverse side effects.</i></span><br />
<span id="articleContent"></span><br />
<span id="articleContent"><i>There are statistics which show that more than 60% of diseases are caused by drugs; that each 4th patient in America is delivered to a hospital because of the side-effect of drugs and that each 4th patient in America dies because of the side-effects of drugs… and these are drugs which are correctly prescribed and correctly taken. As a matter fact, fewer patients die in hospitals when doctors are on strike... Purify water, stay away from vaccinations and treat any health conditions naturally. -<a href="http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-interviews/hermann-keppler/">Hermann Keppler</a></i></span><a href="http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-interviews/hermann-keppler/"><br /><span id="articleContent"></span></a></blockquote>
<span id="articleContent">His opposition to real medicine is clear. I encourage you to read the interview in its entirety for Keppler's opposition to the (real) treatment of ADHD and his unique take on the origins of Parkinson's. It is clear his views on vaccination are not unique within the organisation - see for example <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vaccination-the-question-dr-jayne-donegan-23rd-october-cnm-manchester-registration-12224753567?ref=ebtn">this anti vaccination conference</a> organised by Davison's college's UK branch.</span><br />
<span id="articleContent"><br /></span>
<span id="articleContent">But this is a real college, is it not? Accredited and recognised? Surely Davison wouldn't have attached her name and considerable profile to anything other than the most impeccable of institutions?</span><br />
<span id="articleContent"><br /></span>
<span id="articleContent">It proved relatively easy to find <a href="http://www.naturopathy.ie/courses/diploma-courses/nutrition-courses/accreditation/">details of the accreditation</a> of Davison's degree in nutritioniology.You'll note that Irish accreditation is provided by the <a href="http://iant.ie/">Irish Association of Nutritional Therapy</a>. You'll also note that the website is down, surprising for a body described as both 'leading' and 'independent'. No matter, a look at <a href="http://www.solocheck.ie/Irish-Company/Irish-Association-Of-Nutritional-Therapy-Limited-428492">solocheck.ie</a> reveals that the organisation is run by Anne Darcy and Anna Land. But Darcy is <a href="http://rudehealth.ie/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=32&func=details&did=61">head of nutrition</a> in Davison's college's Cork branch, and Land is a <a href="https://ie.linkedin.com/pub/anna-land/54/881/771">graduate</a> of the same institution. (Land is also a qualified PE teacher.)</span><br />
<span id="articleContent"><br /></span>
<span id="articleContent">In short, it enjoys the robust and unbiased accreditation of a current lecturer and a former pupil.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span id="articleContent">"If you have any questions you'd like to put to me, just get in touch!" - <a href="https://twitter.com/rosanna_davison/status/636493373151428608">Rosanna Davison</a></span></i></blockquote>
<span id="articleContent">Where could I possibly start? Do you feel your degree is valid and beneficial? Are you happy to have raised the profile of an organisation that opposes vaccination? Do you feel there's merit to iridology, homeopathy and the energy fields of Himalayan rock salts? If you answered no to any of these questions, why on earth did you do it?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-70446096707882845732015-08-25T20:23:00.003+01:002015-08-25T20:46:00.495+01:00Seven Reasons Not To Join CrossFit Ireland<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZDrbhQ4ioVvgpvJy0CoT-5W-50QySFsMgmAmSWFyB-_ohWGstRcE3tIigRutTKeb8irSvP-SAzLyygHVgAjeBJIJCm2NnnWs7vBRqSoULrrQfuNQzByEekOVD7K3f8Px6y5aE0lmbWRx/s1600/CrossFitIreland.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZDrbhQ4ioVvgpvJy0CoT-5W-50QySFsMgmAmSWFyB-_ohWGstRcE3tIigRutTKeb8irSvP-SAzLyygHVgAjeBJIJCm2NnnWs7vBRqSoULrrQfuNQzByEekOVD7K3f8Px6y5aE0lmbWRx/s320/CrossFitIreland.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A word cloud made from the Twitter biographies of followers of @CrossFitIreland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've been
spending too much of my disposable income on beer and cake of late. It's had a
somewhat predictable effect on my centre of gravity so I've decided to look at
alternative hobbies. CrossFit Ireland is walkable from work so I signed up - I
now feel it important to assemble a half dozen reasons why you should not part
with coin in this establishment.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Without
further ado:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Coaches</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
What can
I say? Their taste in music is from the 80's, their humour from the 70's, and
I'm pretty sure Colm's latest tshirt was originally fashioned in the 60's.
There's two coaches per class of 10 - 15 participants so you get lots of
individual attention. This makes it really hard to get away with sloppy
technique and is completely ruining the sense of mystery and wonder I used to
have about gymnastic movements.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Enthusiasm</span></div>
<blockquote>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<i>"How
do you know if someone's doing CrossFit?</i></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<i>Don't
worry, they'll tell you."</i></div>
</blockquote>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Listen,
everyone knows that exercising isn't supposed to be fun. While proper
exercisers approach the gym with a sense of drudgery and obligation,
CrossFitters have the temerity to enjoy their supposed workouts. What manner of
madness is this? Do you really want to risk trying a sport where the members
are most famous for how much they enjoy working out? What would your life look
like if exercise was more appealing than the couch? Wouldn't you rather spend
your money on something that fills you with a nameless dread? </div>
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<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Convenient Hours</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Fancy a
six am workout? Colm and Derek will be there. Seven to eight pm more your
style? They'll still be there. Weekends? Yup. Want to turn up at 12:13pm and
ask for a customised 27 minute workout that fits in your lunch break? They'll
do that too. I'm fairly sure they don't leave. </div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This is
awful. How's a man supposed to make up a convincing excuse for skipping a
workout in these conditions?</div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Criticisms</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Many people who lift will give you a sustained, energy filled monologue on why CrossFit is not for them. Despite this, CrossFit wastes its time by focusing on building better athletes instead of criticising those who lift weights in a slightly different manner to them. What's really more important to you: getting in shape, or arguing with strangers on the internet? I think we both know the right call here.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The People</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Regulars
at CrossFit Ireland seem to be in the habit of introducing themselves to new
people and making them feel welcome with polite smalltalk. They're a friendly
bunch; everyone seems to genuinely want others to enjoy the sport.
Unfortunately polite smalltalk is something of an impossibility halfway through
your first workout so you'll be left responding to their pleasantries with
sustained heavy breathing and eyes darting for escape routes. To be fair they
tend not to take offence. </div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The New Skills</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Who
really needs to be able to do muscle ups anyway? When's the last time you
needed to walk on your hands? People will be far more impressed when you show
them your mastery of the ab roller.</div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Male Ego</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
If you're
intimidated by women who lift more than you you should definitely avoid
CrossFit. </div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Friends, I urge you
not to look at the <a href="http://www.crossfit.ie/timetable/">class schedule</a>. When there, avoid choosing one of the many
convenient times and definitely don't <a href="http://www.crossfit.ie/find-us-directions-2/">contact the coaches</a> to arrange a free
class. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
You have been
warned. </div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-22547349789784989092015-08-11T09:11:00.002+01:002015-08-11T09:11:35.003+01:00Identity Ireland Twitter StatsI'm told - with much exuberance - that it's important to hold an opinion on Identity Ireland. To be honest they seem to small to bother with the requisite reading.<br />
<br />
Below are some stats on their Twitter account, presented largely without comment.<br />
<br />
Total number of followers: 363<br />
<br />
Location of followers: Normally this can be a little more involved, but to cut to the chase: 169 of their followers have timezone information set. Of those 140 are in Irish timezones. Sixteen are based in the States.<br />
Another method of checking where followers come from is looking at the self-described location of followers. Here's a word cloud of where their followers say they're from:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0H_tMehjiijeusP4ikahY1Dct2MpA0eVc9bZ43wXjKLf99VlFAqPxgo2pJz_r71M2HlTw_KM2X3O0U7DOEQ9-0yGGlcueQ6cT4lE4-FiVheUTsXMlmk0MtQkp0-a9b6YnsAVbScyeqO8K/s1600/IdentityIrelandFollowerLocations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0H_tMehjiijeusP4ikahY1Dct2MpA0eVc9bZ43wXjKLf99VlFAqPxgo2pJz_r71M2HlTw_KM2X3O0U7DOEQ9-0yGGlcueQ6cT4lE4-FiVheUTsXMlmk0MtQkp0-a9b6YnsAVbScyeqO8K/s320/IdentityIrelandFollowerLocations.png" width="320" /></a></div>
I know there's a suspicion that they're mainly followed by UKIP / BNP supporters, but the evidence doesn't support this.<br />
<br />
Follower descriptions: Here I pulled the Twitter biographies of everyone who follows Identity Ireland's Twitter account and put them in a word cloud. The more frequently a word is used in a follower's self description, the larger it gets:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoy8qGkyW1inesD64lHjj1e7PKxNbrEaQZWd3RXL2yyumq4m1pCnGEv9xfs_pSTxVEQ5wz4FE2aP8Cok5UYRF-GhCcUwA52ZSsuovE4G0IhbSbw0qAWC2RQipNjZhkfBy1u34AkbAbtUXS/s1600/IdentityIrelandFollowerDescriptions.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoy8qGkyW1inesD64lHjj1e7PKxNbrEaQZWd3RXL2yyumq4m1pCnGEv9xfs_pSTxVEQ5wz4FE2aP8Cok5UYRF-GhCcUwA52ZSsuovE4G0IhbSbw0qAWC2RQipNjZhkfBy1u34AkbAbtUXS/s320/IdentityIrelandFollowerDescriptions.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Quite a few journalists in the mix, and a general bias towards those interested in current affairs.<br />
<br />
Finally, who do their followers also follow? I checked 302 accounts, pulled a list of which other accounts they follow, and used the information to find out which other accounts are also popular with followers of Identity Ireland.<br />
They are, in order:<br />
<ol>
<li>TheJournal.ie (Hardly a bastion of anti immigration thought)</li>
<li>RTE News</li>
<li>David McWilliams</li>
<li>Dara O'Briain (immigrant)</li>
<li>Luke 'Ming' Flannagan (seasonal migrant worker)</li>
<li>Independent.ie</li>
<li>The Irish Times</li>
<li>Lucinda Creighton</li>
<li>Vincent Browne (not famed for his condemnation of lax immigration policy)</li>
<li>Gerry Adams (immigrant, by unionist standards)</li>
<li>Fintan "Immigrants out" O'Toole </li>
<li>BBC Breaking News</li>
<li>Pope Francis (immigrant)</li>
<li>Shane Ross</li>
<li>Mick Wallace</li>
<li>GardaTraffic</li>
<li>Matt Cooper</li>
<li>Enda Kenny</li>
<li>Catherine Murphy</li>
<li>Nigel Farage</li>
</ol>
I can barely bother to force an opinion for such a tiny group. Their followers are genuine accounts and almost all based in Ireland. That said, are they supporters? The Journal is the account most popular with its followers and it <a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/identity-ireland-anti-immigration-party-members-2246645-Aug2015/">has not lauded</a> the party. Other accounts followed in the main indicate left wing, pro immigration views or a general interest in current events. But given their small size, should we really care?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-42567250314770195392015-05-15T06:45:00.002+01:002015-05-15T06:48:26.399+01:00On The Importance Of Gender Roles And Hysterical Silly Little Bitches<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJ7vZ-uVgmOvQZO_KwJwjYsmOuhfjzVjMRC8T4j6vMHmAcLzcK9DmMpZTFw3X0COH87JXxFLJUIKFcGcCTowoGoWLE_PMbRb0dQa1jGvI40a9K-fvgu9DHjpM26UXHjftw9pI6ftz4WBT/s1600/womensFootball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Kerr's Ladies Football Club in 1921" border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJ7vZ-uVgmOvQZO_KwJwjYsmOuhfjzVjMRC8T4j6vMHmAcLzcK9DmMpZTFw3X0COH87JXxFLJUIKFcGcCTowoGoWLE_PMbRb0dQa1jGvI40a9K-fvgu9DHjpM26UXHjftw9pI6ftz4WBT/s320/womensFootball.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a>I come late to the realisation that my marriage does not meet the
standards promulgated by our friends in Mothers and Fathers Matter.
<br />
<br />
I could forgive their focus on child rearing as the sine qua non of
marriage. True, it devalues my childless union. The respect afforded to
my parents' marriage is also diminished; their days raising children are
now complete. Mothers and Fathers Matter's slurs against marriages that start or continue
outside the formative years of progeny are softened by an occasional
pleasantry of inclusion, a nod towards my capacity to pass on my genetic
code, a formalised affirmation that, although not of the same kind, a
technicality allows us to claim to be of the same category as those
marriages Mothers and Fathers Matter choose to affirm.
<br />
<br />
I can no longer even claim this consolation of second class marriage. It
seems my wife and I have run afoul of another condition. Let's look at
articles written by some of their founders:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Importance of <b>gender differences in marriage</b>
is a matter of common sense... [same sex marriage] is based on a
proposition that gender does not matter. But if we take the time to look
around, observe and listen, it clearly matters." <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/opinion-vote-no-to-block-deconstruction-of-marriage-1.2199610">Prof Ray Kinsella</a><br />
<br />
"[same
sex marriage] proponents ... insist that two men can do the job of a
mum and a dad just as well, as can two women. This means they deny the
importance of <b>sexual complementarity</b>." - <a href="http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/david-quinn-gay-marriage-denies-value-of-motherhood-and-fatherhood-26721536.html">David Quinn</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Mothers and fathers bring <b>distinctive gifts</b> to parenting. They tend to show their love, and to provide strength and comfort, in different ways.<br />
<br />
Our instinct is to say that there are <b>very real and important differences between men and women</b> and it really does matter whether one is born male or female." <a href="http://irishcatholic.ie/article/same-sex-marriage-debate-3#sthash.Ush6v9Y6.dpuf">Dr Rik Van Nieuwenhove</a> et al </blockquote>
Emphasis mine in all cases. There is a common thread in these articles -
that, solely by virtue of their gender, men and women have unique,
distinct traits that are important to a child's upbringing and it is in
society's best interests to ensure only marriages which provide the
entire gamut of these otherwise inaccessible traits earn state
recognition.
<br />
<br />
<br />
It is here I learn that my marriage is not counted as such by Mothers And Fathers Matter. My wife taught me how to drive. I have abandoned teaching her how to iron and instead do her ironing for her. Despite my best efforts she's still better on the farm than I. None of these characteristics are based on our genders. The closest we have ever come to gender specific roles in our relationship is a brief yet binding discussion on the ideal placement of the toilet seat.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
By our failure to yet sire heirs or bring gender specific traits to our relationship my wife and I have a marriage that is unrecognisable when compared to the definition offered by Mothers and Fathers Matter. I'm sure you share my interest in finding out what their supposedly gender linked traits might
be. And Mothers and Fathers Matter seem well placed to tell us - they
boast an advisory committee of psychologists, Theologians, and
philosophers, yet seem remarkably reticent to expend ink on the matter.
One <a href="https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/589024209105510400">spokesperson</a> claims that women instinctively know they are best placed to be carers,
and that ignoring this innate knowledge leads to feelings of conflict
should they choose to return to work. Let us be polite and merely call this claim unevidenced. It is remarkable to me that this
group wants our constitutional understanding of marriage to be based on
their understanding of innate and essential gender roles yet seem
incapable of sharing with us what these roles are.
<br />
<br />
This confusion was diminished somewhat when I <a href="http://campus.ie/surviving-college/college-news/bopp-sees-controversy-over-no-posters-hysterical">read the words</a>
of Mothers and Fathers Matter's spokesperson, Kate Bopp, who discussed the family
pictured in no posters adorning some of the nation's lampposts. (For
those that missed it, they
recently disavowed the no campaign's approach and <a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/news/family-no-poster-say-yes-marriage-equality">endorsed a yes vote</a>.) Bopp's choice of adjectives to describe the event are noteworthy: in two
short sentences she used 'hysterical', 'silly', 'little', and 'bitch'.
<br />
<br />
Are these the unique and important gender roles we wish to inculcate in
our sons and daughters? Do we here see in these words the peculiar and essential traits
that must be reinforced throughout a child's development? 'Hysterical'
and 'Bitch' are terms we use to demean and dismiss women. 'Silly' and
'Little' are often their accompaniments as society expends its energies
to thwart the ambition of women (and indeed men) who push the boundaries
of the gender roles Mothers and Fathers Matter feel warrant constitutional protection.
<br />
<br />
That said we cannot ignore the vacuum in which we operate. Mothers and
Fathers Matter sees the electorate as unworthy of knowing the essential
gender roles they wish be forced upon children. We can but
speculate. It is not unreasonable to feel that the shroud of secrecy
would hardly be draped over a positive concept, but still: what is the
most charitable reading?
<br />
<br />
I'm fortunate that my office recently arranged a talk by Binna Kandola.
He and his wife are psychologists and authors of '<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Invention-Difference-Story-Gender/dp/0956231810">The Invention Of Difference</a>', a fascinating, disturbing, and yet hopeful look at prescriptive gender roles throughout history. Do buy it. I had been of the
impression that society was on a reasonably positive upward swing -
that over the millenia we'd graduated from truly awful to slightly less
awful in reliable enough increments.
<br />
<br />
Then I learned that we had more tradeswomen in 12th century Switzerland
than we now have in the United States. That women's soccer reached its <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/sep/10/england-womens-football-team">height of popularity</a> in 1920. That on-site childcare facilities and
equal pay legislation were in force in the UK a century ago.
<br />
<br />
What I found especially pertinent was how inaccurate positive gender
stereotypes are and what damage they can cause. It's worth a long quote:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If gender stereotypes are made up of positive attributes, then what's
the problem? It would appear that the stereotypes we hold support the
valuing of difference. But although the same associated with women are
positive in the abstract, they are not those that are valued or deemed
necessary in a business context - and especially not in a leadership
role. Many of the traits stereotypically associated with women are not
those stereotypically associated with leadership or male gender type
roles. How many leaders do you hear described primarily as warm and
caring? As such, while on the surface positive stereotypes attached to
women appear to be compliments, they can and do hinder women's career
progression. Studying over 600 letters of recommendation for academic
positions over an eight-year period, researchers found that letters of
recommendation were written differently for men and women. The letters
for women were described with stereotypical feminine qualities
(communal, i.e. more socially oriented and people-focused) whereas those
for men were described with stereotypical masculine qualities (agentic,
i.e. getting things done and task-focused). Furthermore, communal
traits were inversely related to hiring decisions regardless of gender.
<br />
<br />
... describing a woman as warm but omitting anything about her
competence will lead to negative inferences about her competence.
Although the same is true for men, the damage to them is less severe.
Describing men as competent but omitting anything about their warmth
will do less harm, since it is competence that is valued when it comes
to progression in organisations.
<br />
<br />
...
<br />
<br />
Stereotypes lead to expectations about how a man and woman will perform
in certain roles. When a woman is being considered for a role in an area
traditionally seen as male, say a leadership position, the
stereotypical traits she is thought to possess (empathy, kindness and so
on) are compared to the stereotypical traits associated with leadership
(such as assertiveness and decisiveness). Because the leadership
prototype is constructed on stereotypically male traits, when a woman is
matched against the prototype the expectation is that she will fall
short, whereas a man will be evaluated favourably."
</blockquote>
What potential have we squandered over the centuries by insisting on a
'correct' way of being a woman or a man? What would happen if we
abandoned this grand social project to restrict half our population? What leaders, what scientists, and what history changers have we lost to the desire to constrict ambitions to the narrow confines of these stereotypes?
<br />
<br />
Mothers and Fathers Matter want gender roles to form the bedrock of our
constitutional understanding of marriage. I'd ask them their opinion,
but they'd probably just call me a hysterical, silly, little bitch.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-14708777376847921082015-05-04T20:52:00.001+01:002015-05-04T20:52:22.622+01:00It Takes A Village To Raise A Child<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i><span lang="EN-IE">A guest post by the talented <a href="https://twitter.com/fluffaloduffy">Joanne Duffy</a> of <a href="https://orientalcutlery.wordpress.com/">Oriental Cutlery.</a> </span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">Hey Dave, how’s it going?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbshDOhW-DJ9vS6fZCmEWiTvecn8-R-cEPAXKXoXx0YO5uEl6YdqqbzOq-1_6JTeJUuXkL83ZLDJ3FsnA5svnfmEQB4Aq66lQCfrfxUNdiEn2y_EEUHYSOVUhjMAAZCJG_ZbvswVoVqIkc/s1600/rainbowCoffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbshDOhW-DJ9vS6fZCmEWiTvecn8-R-cEPAXKXoXx0YO5uEl6YdqqbzOq-1_6JTeJUuXkL83ZLDJ3FsnA5svnfmEQB4Aq66lQCfrfxUNdiEn2y_EEUHYSOVUhjMAAZCJG_ZbvswVoVqIkc/s200/rainbowCoffee.jpg" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-IE">So I’ve just been watching this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fFFIBS8rwU">video</a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>that I found of you speaking against
marriage equality, while 6 signs for YES EQUALITY that got ripped down in
Galway are sitting in my house waiting to be put back up by the tireless
campaigners here. You know all about tireless campaigning, I’m sure.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">So, you said that this referendum is
connected to protecting the 8<sup>th</sup> amendment. Now, Dave, I know you
didn’t mean that. Because later in this same video you go on to tell us that
this referendum is about changing Article 41, The Family in our constitution.
Gay men, as you so often remind us, cannot have babies. So why would they care
about abortion laws? I’m sure this was just a slip up, forgot the morning
coffee did you? Sometimes I forget my coffee too and it makes me a little
groggy, but it doesn’t make me confuse segments of documents upon which a
Republic is founded.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">Moving on then. So you’ve said that the
media are biased and are on the yes side, and have been perpetuating
“uninterrupted propaganda”. Now I’m no history buff, I got an honour in the
junior cert but that’s about as far as it goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But I know that the word propaganda means<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>communications, usually from the Government,
that are designed to influence the opinion of citizens. Can you point me to
where you’ve seen propaganda? Or more importantly, go straight to the BAI.
They’ll be very helpful if they hear that there is an outlet somewhere who is
not adhering to the balance ruling they made. I really hope that sound I just
heard was your coffee machine going on.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">You went on to claim that some people are
comparing you to racists, and comparing the acquisition and pursuit of same-sex
marriage to the pursuit of interracial marriage in the United States. You claim
that allowing people of different races to marry is fine, as no one else’s
rights are affected. But the thing is, at the time, white people believed their
rights were being affected. They believed it to be an affront to society that
black people would be allowed to marry white people. Kind of like the way you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i> that your rights, and the rights
of children you don’t know, won’t ever know, and who haven’t even been born yet
will be affected. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that coffee ready
yet?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">You then said that we were redefining the
family. But really Dave, who gets to define anyone’s family? I grew up with an
aunt of mine and I very much see her as my sibling. My sister is 12 years older
than me and I see her very much in line with my parents’ roles because of that.
You said that this referendum is asking us to pretend that two men or two women
are the same thing as a man and a woman. But Dave, that’s just silly! I thought
it was asking us to allow two men to have access to the same rights as the
other citizens of the country in which they reside? I’m due new glasses in a
couple of days, the optician said my sight is slightly worse than my last test
but I really didn’t think I was reading the wording that poorly. Maybe it’s
just that I’m not as short sighted as you. Get yourself an espresso Dave,
you’ve a long few weeks ahead of you.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">You said that words like equality are
misleading. So, the word equality means “the state of being equal, especially
in status, rights or opportunities”. So for example, if you have the right to
buy<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a banana, but I don’t have the right
to buy a banana, we are not equal. “Baby stuff”, as you said yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You also complained that people advocating a
yes vote want gender quotas in government and business, yet not in marriages
and families. There’s a pretty simple answer to that. Discrimination against women
happens on a societal level and is systemic. Gender quotas aim to address this.
The reason this cannot be applied to parenting is because what a child needs is
to be cared for. Fed. Read to. Understood. Supported. Loved unconditionally.
Chastised, challenged, educated, nurtured. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has nothing to do with systemic sexism.
As a woman I’m not discriminated against by my family, but by society I am. So
there’s the difference. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “It takes a village to
raise a child”. But of course you seem to think that it should be something
along the lines of “It takes a village to raise a child, except the only gay in
the village”. Quad shot latté. Stat.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">If we vote yes in this referendum, what we
are doing is affording the same rights that you and I have as heterosexual
people to those who identify with other sexualities. That really is all that is
going to happen. The definition of family has already been changed with the
Children and Family Relationships Bill. In fact the definition of family
changes on a daily basis for families around the country who are having their
first child, losing a parent, losing a grandparent, losing a neighbour, meeting
a long lost relative who was adopted to an unknown family by the Catholic
Church, making a connection with a teacher, meeting your future spouse. You
absolutely don’t get to define anyone else’s family, you never have and you
never will. And if we vote yes May 22<sup>nd</sup>, the State will recognise
and afford rights to so many more of the colourful and beautiful families that
make up our nation. Women are not the same as men Dave, you’re right. And 2<sup>nd</sup>
class is not the same as equal.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE">I need a coffee after that.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-8753349196620089172015-05-03T10:14:00.001+01:002015-05-03T10:17:33.733+01:00A Taste of Sincerely Held Beliefs<p dir="ltr">I've been wearing a wedding ring for three happy years. We'll be celebrating our fourth anniversary in September. More recently I've been celebrating my support of marriage for all couples by wearing a Yes Equality badge, sometimes in English, sometimes in Irish. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Last Wednesday on College Green a lady of sorts asked me if I spoke Irish. "Tá roinnt agam ach ní bíonn mórán seans agam í a úsáid", my brain answered, a plan stymied by the fact my mouth was full. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I waved my hand in front of my face to explain my predicament and she saw my wedding ring. Pausing only to identify herself as a no voter she embarked on a monologue more shouted than spoken. I wasn't "really" married,  she told me. Nor, I learned, was I truly in love. I was merely fulfilling base sexual desire. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Having publicly denigrated the most important relationship in my life she moved focus to its wider social implications. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Those within her considerably expanded earshot learned that my sham marriage was a tool of division, malevolent in its intent to force women in the majority world to rent their wombs. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I'm not an unreasonable sort. I attempted to make the conversation less of a one way affair but she proved unwilling to indulge me. She paused only long enough to add that she was yet to wed before - perhaps sensing the surrounding audience had changed - moving to repeat her cold refrain that I should not call myself married. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I had started walking and she viewed this as an opportunity to join me, her earnestness expressing to those of reasonable hearing that the band on my left ring finger signalled the destruction of childhoods through the combined selfishness of my partner and I. </p>
<p dir="ltr">This continued, unencumbered by social grace, pleasantry, or acknowledgement that my profession of love was anything more than an abstract thought experiment to be dashed by right thinking members of society. We approached my bus stop where I half expected an unfettered treatise on the rights of people like me to avail of public transport. Instead - absent trace of irony - she apologised for being unable to spare me further time and entered Temple Bar. </p>
<p dir="ltr">And I laughed. A nervous laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. Telling me my wife and I are not truly married is as threatening  to me as saying I'm a lightly grilled cheese sandwich. We have signed government documents and constitutional protection of the commitment we have made to each other. The good folks that people this island broadly see the enterprise of our union as positive both for us and for society. They may not celebrate our anniversary with us but in general they wish us well. Our commitment is afforded a certain respect. </p>
<p dir="ltr">What if that were absent? I cannot, indeed dare not call this no voter homophobic. She is the human embodiment of a no poster and I am called upon to celebrate the expression of her sincerely held beliefs in the public square. The no side's obtuse demand is that we consider our partners, our children or our parents - that which is at the heart of our lives - fair game, a distant second priority to their sincerely held beliefs, and utterly undeserving of any modicum of respect. </p>
<p dir="ltr">We see this when Keith Mills of Mothers and Fathers Matter used air quotes to refer a student's mothers on the Late Late show last night. We saw it again, minutes later, when fellow no campaigner Paddy Manning employed the phrase "I don't care what children's charities say",  dismissing the evidence of hundreds of child welfare professionals to better denigrate families not headed by opposite sex parents. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I see it in the single parents and adopted people I have met both through friendships and through canvassing, their families ruled inferior by the stock photos and glib phrases of the No posters. And I see its effects on those who are forced to conceal the truth about the person they love. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Nearly every week I'm joined on a canvas by a first timer. We don't get many natural extroverts. What we do get is people of courage. People willing to risk personal abuse or - to my mind worse - public indifference to their desire to celebrate their love and commitment in the way my wife and I can. As a married person it buoys me to see so many willing to fight for the institution. I see a trend in these new canvassers as they shuffle through their notes and rehearse long practiced conversations. They all worry that they won't correctly recall the myriad legal distinctions between civil partnerships and marriage. </p>
<p dir="ltr">In ten weeks of canvassing that question has never arisen. </p>
<p dir="ltr">To my mind this is because the population already knows the privation inherent in a civil partnership that can never be corrected by legislative tweak: respect. The bulwark of societal support that could counteract the attempts to be made feel less by No posters and their public speakers. The right to share your relationship status without concern for the reaction. The privilege of crossing the road without strangers following you to disavow your love for your spouse. This respect, this difference between civil partnership and marriage is why my experience of what the sincerely held beliefs of that no voter is now an anecdote and not a damaging experience. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Can we grant this respect with a yes vote on May 22nd? Interracial marriage did not end racism. Mixed marriages, as they were once called, did not immediately end sectarian conflict between Catholics and Protestants. But they were both damn fine starts. </p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK6bDuwRImlqSAHNTJRv-dzRY9Gf9U2Nzf4O4IhLVUKI_Ywf_kRFizvJvuwscvZSNXaNG9Mn4Y_6ndSM4QFPVon0JGDNXraix8PeOoh2T-ao-hs50hK9t0NrEZ2lHAhMmgD4jYr9hJXNy3/s1600/YE_TA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK6bDuwRImlqSAHNTJRv-dzRY9Gf9U2Nzf4O4IhLVUKI_Ywf_kRFizvJvuwscvZSNXaNG9Mn4Y_6ndSM4QFPVon0JGDNXraix8PeOoh2T-ao-hs50hK9t0NrEZ2lHAhMmgD4jYr9hJXNy3/s640/YE_TA.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-87629348827916146912015-04-29T08:06:00.001+01:002015-04-30T07:59:58.336+01:00On Why A Consistent Mothers And Fathers Matter Would Oppose American Marriages<p dir="ltr">I graduated from DCU more years ago than I dare remember. The march of time was borne home last month when I attended a campus debate on marriage equality. I found several new buildings and a student bar that looked liked it enjoyed a regular clean. My old computer labs were peopled by socially well adjusted students possessing impeccable personal hygiene. I hardly recognised the place.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Arriving as I did dressed in work attire I was initially greeted by the students as a no voter. The reception was warm enough, and as I received directions round the campus on which I'd spent four years of my life I took a moment to clarify my side. I received a free yes badge and did my best to remember my way through a maze of new structures to find Senators Zappone and Mullen, partnered respectively with John Lyons TD and Keith Mills of Mothers and Fathers Matter.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I enjoy a planned speech as much as the next mid thirties chap surrounded by a sea of youth, but for me the joy of a debate is the unrehearsed to and fro of the questions and answers section. The students of my former university did not disappoint and the auditorium strained capacity with articulate and well researched challenges to the no side's unique and strained interpretation of facts, studies, and the very fabric of reality. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Of particular focus was the no side's claim that children of same sex couples fare worse than the offspring of opposite sex married couples. Dwelling on this unevidenced claim is appropriate - it's damaging nonsense. In addition to a strong showing from the student body a sociology professor spoke eloquently about how the crushing weight of reality shattered the assertions of Mullen and Mills. Reputable studies supporting same sex parents were listed, the absence of opposing studies noted. It fell to Mills to mount a defence. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Mills, it seems, does not much favour the available sociological data. He noted that much of it was gleaned from study participants in the United States of America, a land he views as blighted by divorce, young marriage rates, and failed marriages. Ireland, it seems, does marriage better. </p>
<p dir="ltr">But here Mothers and Fathers Matter face an unpalatable conclusion. Mills has identified a sociological group who he deems less suitable for marriage. A group that marries, to his mind, too young. A group he sees as having a higher divorce rate, something likely to - what are his words? - deprive a child of a mother and father. </p>
<p dir="ltr">So why not bar Americans from matrimony? </p>
<p dir="ltr">We could introduce legislation to inform American visitors that their marriages are not recognised on Irish soil. Perhaps we could offer a separate-but-equal track called American unions, allowing some legal protections, but leaving the institution of Irish marriage unsullied. We could poster the streets with false claims about their children and claim we act with their best interests at heart. </p>
<p dir="ltr">You may find this daft. You may wonder why anyone would seek to bar a section of society from the support and stability marriage brings to couples. In fact I rather hope you do. All I ask is that you hold that feeling close when you next hear Mothers And Fathers Matter.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-44817841715937048362015-04-27T08:04:00.001+01:002015-05-18T06:02:53.515+01:00#marref: What Would Fionn Mac Cumhaill's Mothers Say? <div dir="ltr">
"We never intended to raise children" starts Bodhmall, welcoming me to the home she shares with her life partner Liach Luachra in an enchanting rural wood. They've been kind enough to share with me their experiences raising a child as parents of the same gender. Look it up if you don't believe me. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"But when your brother in law is brutally murdered by your father and your sister is forced to live on the run from men who want to burn her alive based on her choice of partner, well, you step up." </div>
<div dir="ltr">
Liach nods her agreement as she roasts a hare over their open hearth. She joins in. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"It was a mess. We were totally unprepared. People always think of Fionn Mac Cumhaill as a fearless giant of a man, able to defeat entire armies in single combat. But they don't think what it's like to raise a child with that much energy." </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"I think parenting is knowing you've been given the most important job in the world to do. That you've been given something precious - the chance to give someone the best start in life - it's terrifying. Because no matter how hard you work at it you'll never think you're doing justice to the person they're becoming."</div>
<div dir="ltr">
"You're too hard on yourself" interrupts Bodhmall, setting the table, "our son led na Fianna, killed the fire breathing fairy Aillen, built the Giant's Causeway, and made us that lovely fishing lake when he threw the Isle of Man into the sea. He turned out fine." </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"I hate to ask, but did you ever find opposition from religious leaders?" </div>
<div dir="ltr">
Liach considers my question while sharpening the edge of a disemboweling spear designed to be held between the toes. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"No. I can honestly say we've never been troubled by the Druids."</div>
<div dir="ltr">
I ask if they can tell me a little about Fionn's early days. Like any parents they smile at the opportunity to share happy memories. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"Martial arts really helped Fionn focus that energy of his. I swear, before he started on the spear and sword we were run ragged. But once we had him sparring a couple of times a day he started sleeping through the night and we were able to make regular time for ourselves. You know, as a couple. It's important as new parents to do that. Especially if either one of you can disembowel a man at twenty paces. It doesn't do to let pent up frustrations linger."</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Liach nods sagely. I raise my final question cautiously. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"There are some who say children should only be raised by a man and a woman in in a married relationship. That men and women have unique traits that are essential to raising a child. What would you say to that?" </div>
<div dir="ltr">
The silence terrifies. Liach smiles and tries to put me at ease. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"I find people like that don't like to say what these 'unique' roles are. If you look at any claimed gender specific trait closely enough it tends to disappear into the vapour. I mean, Bodhmall and I are undefeated in single combat, and many men have tried. And a lot of Fionn's schooling took place outside the home and some people say that's a woman's responsibility. But even if you did go in for gender roles - are you really going to argue Fionn doesn't fit the traditional mould of masculinity?"</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Bodhmall is examining the edge of the spear Liach recently sharpened. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
"These Druids who think I'm a bad parent. Would they be within twenty paces of here?" </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-60050690349648340182015-04-19T16:14:00.000+01:002015-04-19T16:14:02.976+01:00They Do Not Care About The Children<div dir="ltr">
Over the coming weeks every household in Ireland will receive a leaflet entitled "<a href="http://www.donotlink.com/el6g">7 Great [s</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOAjjqAWCTUIsS3plvW7wiFDp2V4nD9LTuuVIsOMwcXOYgl1a9JD_E7Ecc_SLEfy-tgUi9Ep2xKmQqfTe9lqUL28NERQSXBxP291TLfUtW0yyuJTW5wq5Z-QNRe42Vc_WPZzMuhEAZUfR/s1600/sevenReasons.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOAjjqAWCTUIsS3plvW7wiFDp2V4nD9LTuuVIsOMwcXOYgl1a9JD_E7Ecc_SLEfy-tgUi9Ep2xKmQqfTe9lqUL28NERQSXBxP291TLfUtW0yyuJTW5wq5Z-QNRe42Vc_WPZzMuhEAZUfR/s1600/sevenReasons.png" /></a></div>
ic] Reasons To Keep Marriage As Is"<br />
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
One of the groups listed as sponsoring the endeavour is "Marriage Diversity". It shares a name with an American group who consider the natural variety of human sexuality an abhorrence and something to be 'cured'. The stated aim of the organisation is to oppose same sex marriage. They own both <a href="http://www.marriagediversity.com/">www.marriagediversity.com</a> and <a href="http://www.marriagediversity.org/">www.marriagediversity.org</a> and would not have been easily overlooked while choosing a name for an anti marriage equality group. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Visitors to these sites will find <u>e</u>very vile lie ever told about those who do not share my sexuality. (See 'gay marriage facts' if you are strong of stomach.) It pains me to quote from them, but I feel it best to share a tiny sliver of their slanders rather than have you wade through the morass. They pretend those in same sex relationships have a life expectancy of 50, are alcoholic, depressed, violent towards their partners, are disposed towards crime, that the average number of partners for gay men is 308, they pretend it is impossible for two men to be in a monogamous relationship, and then pretend only 1% of the population is gay or bi. If you're not already aware what patent nonsense this is then I suggest you find more pertinent reading material than this blog. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
It bears emphasising that every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender child in Ireland will receive this. To their home. In the place where this group we have marginalised should feel safest, those opposed to civil marriage rights have chosen to introduce the name of a hate group. Some of these children will certainly Google those so opposed to their future right to marry and be faced with this hateful, damaging, and dangerous nonsense.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Who is distributing this? In an <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2015/04/seeking-any-reasons-to-limit-marriage.html">earlier post</a> I discussed Family and Life, the longest established group who has chosen to add their name to this leaflet. But what of the third partner, Mothers and Fathers Matter?</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Thankfully broadsheet.ie has already <a href="http://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/09/30/uncles-dont-matter/">covered their makeup</a>. Most significantly, we learn that the site is hosted on the same infrastructure as CatholicBishops.ie. The information is now protected by a whois privacy protection service so I am unable to personally verify Broadsheet's findings at this time. <i>Further addendum: having checked the </i><a href="https://who.is/domain-history/mothersandfathersmatter.org"><i>historical domain registration </i></a><a href="https://who.is/domain-history/mothersandfathersmatter.org"><u><i>information</i></u></a><i> available it seems mothersandfathersmatter.org was using a privacy protection service before Broadsheet published their </i><u><i>piece</i></u><i>. My thanks to </i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/mptireland"><i>@mptireland</i></a><i> on Twitter for raising the issue. </i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Those behind this leaflet either felt it acceptable to choose the name of a homophobic hate club or simply weren't bothered to see if the name was associated with a group so damaging to the mental health of LGBTQ children. Remember <u>this</u> when they claim to act with their best interests at heart.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-77910621539977232682015-04-19T14:54:00.003+01:002015-04-20T06:51:14.066+01:00@Mandate_2015 and Bad #MarRef Arguments of Biblical Proportions<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKHiYkLvhTFJLa7LcHYRjQ11ROFwTV7jJBTq5QgkeY6SewyrdZzcIKgAucJ2se4Jxn3flLobWwZApW_Dmoiidmx9n3yifkbThfAQZ_8yuNPO_Fi20dkTfOAANdSk6igt5FGvo406W-bYo/s1600/MandrakeAndLotharForMarriage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKHiYkLvhTFJLa7LcHYRjQ11ROFwTV7jJBTq5QgkeY6SewyrdZzcIKgAucJ2se4Jxn3flLobWwZApW_Dmoiidmx9n3yifkbThfAQZ_8yuNPO_Fi20dkTfOAANdSk6igt5FGvo406W-bYo/s1600/MandrakeAndLotharForMarriage.jpg" height="320" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mandrake and Lothar. For Marriage?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When deciding which Irish citizens should be permitted marriage it is wise of us to consider outside the naturalistic realm. Today I found myself concerned with Mandrakes.<br />
<br />
For those whose Harry Potter knowledge falters, Mandrakes are magical plants with humanoid tubers. Their cry when young grates on the ears. When older their shriek can prove fatal.<br />
<br />
It brought me pleasure to discover the group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mandrake-for-Marriage/908322059230227?fref=ts">Mandrake for Marriage</a>. Come May 23rd, should the referendum pass, their whoops of delight will likely kill us all.<br />
<br />
But this was not the Mandrake I sought. Rather I wished to find the view of the dapper Mandrake the Magician (pictured right) and his burly companion Lothar. Regrettably, despite considerable research, I was unable to determine which way these 1930's comic book stars swung.<br />
<br />
During this research I made a rare typo and found myself on ManDateForMarriage.org. I assumed it was a singles site for marriage inclined men, but having probed the jumbled mess of their hilariously misnamed site further I discovered that the site actually calls for a No vote.<br />
<br />
My desire for knowledge of Lothar and Mandrake unquenched I moved to return to <a href="http://www.bing.com/">Bing</a>. But then I noticed the <a href="http://mandateformarriage.org/about-us/">trio of Burkes</a> who produced the site share my concern for the supernatural realm. Indeed in one of their <a href="http://mandateformarriage.org/scripture/">recent posts</a> they claim to be able to correctly arbitrate Biblical scripture's messages on civil marriage matters.<br />
<br />
The remainder of this post will evaluate their efforts with said scriptures. As the discussion will involve the Old Testament it will have to include discussion of rape. Please consider this a content warning. I'll include a picture of Mandrake and Lothar wearing matching rings to space the text a little:<br />
<br />
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<h3>
<b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><a name='more'></a>Sodom, Begorrah </b></h3>
<b>The Burke</b>'s open their argument against marriage equality by taking us to the village of Sodom. A brace of angels are visiting Lot, and, as you likely remember from our mandatory two and a half hours a week of religion classes, the menfolk of the village in their entirety arrives at Lot's doorstep determined to rape the androgynous, celestial beings.<br />
<br />
Lot, being a righteous man of God, offers his virgin daughters to the crowd of men instead.<br />
<br />
<b>Objection:</b> This will require unpacking, and it's clear the Burkes are operating under some misinterpretations. The referendum on May 22nd will affect civil marriage rights. I have studied the text of the amendment thoroughly and can find no loophole that would allow a village full of men to force themselves sexually on otherworldly messengers of God. In fact, as asexual beings, the winged messengers of the Almighty will be unable to marry either each other or humans under the constitution. I feel the Burke's concerns are unwarranted here.<br />
<br />
<b>The Burkes</b> further cite an intervention from He who caused the Universe to Exist: a raining of fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gemorrah.<br />
<br />
<b>Objection:</b> Supernatural destruction is something we should seek to avoid for environmental, economic, and tourism reasons. That said, given the legalisation of same sex marriage in many nations worldwide and the thankfully low rate of annihilation by fire, brimstone and associated phenomena observed I feel their worries are misplaced.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Leviticus</h3>
<b>The Burkes</b> move to newer (yet still ancient) territory and ask us to consider a document that contains nice instructions about leaving some of your crops unharvested so that the poor and the traveller might eat. It encourages using all leftover meats within three days. I do not object. There is a brief list of approved haircuts and beard styles to which I am certain the menfolk of the Burke household adhere. Doubtless the Burkes, despite their selective editing of their chosen quotes, are aware of the transgressions deserving of death from this document. They include:<br />
<ul>
<li>Cursing your parents</li>
<li>Adultery</li>
<li>Men having sex with men</li>
</ul>
The law's a funny thing. Say you want children killed for their potty mouths and you'll find yourself arrested, yet declare that your God wants it and you'll likely get a tax break to better spread your sincerely held belief.<br />
<br />
Leviticus goes on to recommend expulsion for any couple who has sex during the woman's period. It would be indelicate of me to ask the Burke patriarch how closely he cleaves to this rule. That said, perhaps he has not always been a native of Galway?<br />
<br />
<b>Objection:</b> Allowing same sex couples to marry will not materially affect the rate at which men have sex with men. Despite the Burke's favouring of the text, a no vote will not introduce compulsory expulsion for married couples who have sex during the woman's period.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Evidence</h3>
The Burkes bolster their case by citing New Testament verses indicating Paul, Jesus and Jude were familiar with the Old Testament.<br />
<br />
<b>Objection:</b> A casual glance through the New Testament will reveal the person of Jesus who came to free people from the rules of the Old Testament. He offered his life willingly as perfect sacrifice for our sins, should we be willing to accept it.<br />
<br />
The New Testament is available online, in libraries and in many hotels. I do recommend the Burkes seek out a copy.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Some New Testament Commentary</h3>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another..."</i> Romans 1 26:27</blockquote>
<br />
Here the Burkes cite Paul's discussion of a group who made and worshipped idols. God was displeased, so he forced them to rape each other.<br />
<br />
I call this the "what the thundering fuck?" verse.<br />
<br />
<b>Objection:</b> The proposed amendment is bereft of mention of idols, worshiped or otherwise. Indeed idol worship is currently legal. The amendment governs same sex couples who wish to marry the right to do so, if they both consent. It remains silent on gods who use rape as a tool to show their anger.<br />
<br />
The Burkes proceed to pluck from the Bible in a fashion more commonly seen when my fellow atheists first discover its text is searchable, and give us a quote from 1 Corinthians 6.<br />
<br />
But what if we skip to 1 Corinthians 7?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn."</i> 1 Cor 7, 8-9</blockquote>
<br />
Paul would rather opposite sex couples not get married. Marriage, to him, is worse than the single life of evangelisation, but better than burning in hellfire. And it's Burke's right to disagree with Paul on this, but if they do, they stand on poor foundations to force their reading of the text into civil law.<br />
<br />
My Theology is unlikely to win any awards, but when I read the New Testament I see a profound disinterest in regulating non Christian civil marriages. Despite the Burkes' best efforts, they've been unable to force the text to say what they want it to.<br />
<br />
My vote stays with the Mandrakes.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-91483775224819732882015-04-12T16:43:00.003+01:002015-04-12T16:43:45.089+01:00Seeking Any Reasons to Limit Marriage What new can I say about the Irish group Family and Life? Their past projects have included campaigning against the HSE's desire to <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/03/anti-vaccination-group-flies-irish.html">provide vaccines for children</a>. Their Facebook page <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2015/01/marriage-opponents-and-mexican-standoff.html">seems unnervingly popular</a> in Spanish speaking countries famed for producing fake Facebook accounts.<br />
<br />
When not fighting against children's rights to receive the MMR vaccine they find time to fight against some children's rights to have married parents. I speak, of course, of the upcoming marriage referendum. The only unifying motivation that could explain such desire to fight medical and societal progress is lust to see Ireland returned to the 1950's.<br />
<br />
But I digress.<br />
<br />
They have printed a leaflet for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mothersandfathersmatter/photos/a.750820001657378.1073741828.648149205257792/833632423376135/?type=1&theater">every household in Ireland</a> and from it I learn their endeavour was not accomplished without assistance.They partner with Mothers and Fathers Matter, a company that celebrates its fourth month in existence today, and Marriage Diversity, a group which I am told have yet to launch.<br />
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It is I hope not unkind of me to hypothesise that Family and Life are the senior partner of the three.<br />
<br />
A digression - I'm going to be charitable with Marriage Diversity and assume they have been both unfortunate in their choice of name and negligent in their preparatory research. Both <a href="http://www.marriagediversity.com/">www.MarriageDiversity.com</a> and <a href="http://www.marriagediversity.org/">www.MarriageDiversity.org</a> link to rather hateful content, including this opening paragraph of their 'gay marriage facts' page which some will find distressing:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Homosexuality is not just another alternative lifestyle or even a sexual "preference;" it is unhealthy and destructive behavior which negatively impacts individual persons, families, and society. Same sex attraction is a symptom of a developmental disorder that can often be prevented and can be treated. </i>[this, of course, is bollocks -Geoff]<i> Homosexual advocacy groups seeking to normalize homosexual behavior by equating homosexuality with innate characteristics such as race or ethnicity should be opposed."</i></blockquote>
More pleasingly, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MarriageDiversity">https://www.facebook.com/MarriageDiversity</a> is run by pro marriage equality canvassers and celebrates diverse, married viewpoints calling for same sex marriage rights.<br />
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This is a serious gaffe. Churches are distributing these leaflets. People are going door to door delivering them. They're listed as sponsored by a hate group. I don't have any advice on how to unring this bell, but I would urge no campaigners to at least disavow the existing group of that name.<br />
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All that said, let's have a look at the arguments. I won't reproduce the text - do <a href="http://mothersandfathersmatter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/7-Great-Reasons-to-keep-Marriage-as-is..pdf">have a look </a>at the original.<br />
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<b>Marriage Deserves Special Care</b>The resiliency marriage has shown is remarkable. It was a right we once denied to slaves. Catholics had their marriage rights severely restricted in penal times. Interracial marriages were still illegal in the 1960's in parts of the USA. In Ireland we once forced women from their careers when they wed. Despite all this the institution persevered, matured, and grew with us as we took faltering steps away from discrimination. It is not in change that marriage faces risk, it is stagnation.<br />
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Who amongst us would have wed if the institution still discriminated on racial grounds? Or offered Catholics lesser rights than Protestants? Marriage is harder to access financially. The Catholic Church is still the primary celebrant of marriage in Ireland and trust in their organisation is at its nadir. Anyone genuinely concerned for the institution has two more pressing areas to consider.<br />
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<b>Civil Partnership Already Gives Legal Rights / </b><b>Difference Not Discrimination</b><br />
Here Family and Life play the awkward balancing act of saying how terrible marriage equality would be while simultaneously saying that civil partnership confers all the same rights and recognition as marriage. It is insufficient to say that this does not pass muster. Instead it goes to the wrong exam hall, misspells 'muster' on the answer booklet and then draws rude pictures in crayon.<b> </b><br />
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<b>Keep Ideology out of Schools</b>An unexpected yet welcome approach from Family and Life, who have a voracious appetite for introducing their ideology into schools. Their Education for Life pack is <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/anti-abortion-group-plans-education-pack-1.1088046">a self described</a> <i>"...cure for the sex educators' brazen lies"</i> and seeks to combat the "godless" and "smutty" information contained in the curriculum's relationships and sexuality education.<br />
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They also enjoy <a href="http://www.familyandlife.org/campaign/educate-life-schools-presentation-project">discussing abortion</a> with scoolchildren. And this isn't automatically a bad thing, but does rather leave one with the impression that their anti vaccination, anti sex education and anti marriage equality ideology is the only ideology they want in schools.<br />
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<b>Protect Conscience Rights and Freedoms</b><br />
Let us look at the examples given. There's Daintree, a company that went out of business because the owner didn't much like gay couples having cake toppers. The general public found out and didn't much care to shop there any more. It's under new management. From what I can tell they now can't get enough of same sex cake toppers, and business seems to be thriving.<br />
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Let us be clear: voting no will not stop this. There will be no tick box on the referendum slip that will call on the state to force her citizens to buy their stationery from companies they don't much care for. Same sex couples will continue to desire wedding and civil union paraphernalia. People of typical marrying age will continue to support their right to do so. Purchasing decisions will be made with this in mind. Stalin had a retail system that could subvert this trend, but believe me, you don't want it.<br />
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The freedoms denied by voting no are myriad and for the most part obvious. And what of the conscience rights of those of faith who wish to celebrate same sex unions? Why should the government continue to block Reformed Judaism, Unitarians, and others from the performance of their sacraments? There is <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/church-of-ireland-bishops-backing-for-samesex-marriage-welcomed-30284602.html">some discussion </a>in the Church of Ireland on the matter and while I don't see it bearing imminent fruit I don't think it should be the government that rules their Theology incorrect. If conscience rights and freedoms are important to you, vote yes.<br />
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<b>Every Child Deserves A Mother's Love / </b><b>A Child’s Identity is Important</b><br />
Children raised by same sex couples already exist. The best evidence shows clearly that same sex couples are just as loving, just as exhausted, and just as broke as the rest of us. Their kids turn out as well as anyone else's. Even if you choose to ignore the uncontested nature of the research on this topic, how does denying their parents the stability and support of marriage improve their lot?<br />
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The ISPCC is calling for a yes vote. Family and Life opposes vaccinations and sex education and calls for a no vote. Which organisation do you feel shows the greater concern for the wellbeing of children?<br />
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<i>If this leaflet campaign has annoyed you, consider a <a href="https://www.yesequality.ie/donate/">donation</a> to YesEquality so they can print their leaflets. Broke? Contact your <a href="https://www.yesequality.ie/yes-equality-map/">local canvassing group</a> and help deliver said leaflets. If you're extra annoyed, do both!</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-27921657632012841882015-01-25T18:57:00.000+00:002015-01-25T18:57:00.383+00:00Marriage Opponents and the Mexican StandoffI've often wondered what sort of folks oppose childhood vaccination. It's hard to find empathy with those who would sacrifice children's health - indeed children's very lives - on the altar of their sincerely held beliefs. You might recall a <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/03/anti-vaccination-group-flies-irish.html">previous blog post</a> discussed Family and Life's ventures in this area. They use their charitable tax status to spread misinformation about the HSE's MMR programme. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZjYzl1jhYauXaSsVkkeLqPIbX77DdAG8LZWQ-B_H2F2p-8Bth9G8wEobi6b4ceLvlDudA2rA74DFR9BobPuysjkxoJUOtbcYM9Yf0B894MWOyzZcCnQEcgMEolY4Yq3IN4Yu3C969eOz7/s1600/F&LAntiMarriage.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZjYzl1jhYauXaSsVkkeLqPIbX77DdAG8LZWQ-B_H2F2p-8Bth9G8wEobi6b4ceLvlDudA2rA74DFR9BobPuysjkxoJUOtbcYM9Yf0B894MWOyzZcCnQEcgMEolY4Yq3IN4Yu3C969eOz7/s1600/F&LAntiMarriage.png" /></a>Today I learned that their access to high quality printing has borne fruit outside the field of encouraging childhood illnesses and restricting healthcare for Irish women and trans men. As they spread, they have mutated and focus now on restricting access to civil marriage.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/paulwsbowler">Paul Bowler</a> made the well intentioned decision to share the pamphlet on Twitter. Do follow him, even though he appears to tweet pictures while in control of a moving vehicle. You can also use the opportunity to read the text of Family and Life's efforts, assuming turgid dreariness is your thing. I compliment them on their spelling. And the choice of colours is inoffensive enough. Beyond that it's an uninspired remix of the stock scaremongering re <a href="http://www.skepticink.com/humanisticas/2014/04/28/a-response-to-david-quinn-and-his-polygamy-red-herring/">polygamy</a>, some <a href="http://skeptic-ink.tumblr.com/post/48764066985/david-quinn-now-cites-discredited-fraudster-loren">misrepresentation of research</a>, and <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/04/of-david-quinn-cautious-skeptic.html">parenting scaremongering</a>.<br />
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What's of more interest to me is their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FamilyVitae">Facebook page</a>. Over 136 thousand likes implies they represent a sizeable chunk of potential voters in Ireland's marriage equality referendum, and, if so, they might represent some sort of cohesive body.<br />
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So I checked.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3GAoZfXG1k7W2ZRZ-CAxeY6kcihRtx-F7o0qF0VhnxHvms1gi7U-StCHl4itq-p2cW-XrzuMBXug_4924eG-S3nbtJs1UJhgdGqGYxkXACE-uc0w2h3Y1BKQEIOp1qQth_ArEqspEUPW/s1600/FLFansByCountry.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3GAoZfXG1k7W2ZRZ-CAxeY6kcihRtx-F7o0qF0VhnxHvms1gi7U-StCHl4itq-p2cW-XrzuMBXug_4924eG-S3nbtJs1UJhgdGqGYxkXACE-uc0w2h3Y1BKQEIOp1qQth_ArEqspEUPW/s1600/FLFansByCountry.png" height="234" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://socialbakers.com/">SocialBakers.com</a> is great for that sort of thing, if you're interested. Do read the <a href="http://www.socialbakers.com/statistics/facebook/pages/detail/137859686237383-family-life">full report</a>. You'll likely share my raised eyebrow when you note how obscenely popular this Irish organisation is in Spanish speaking countries. Indeed the country where it is most popular is Mexico, not a location traditionally associated with obsession with Irish civil marriages.<br />
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Peru, despite being on another hemisphere, speaking a different language, and being separated by an ocean, still manages to supply more fans of "Ireland's Largest Pro-Life/Pro-Family Human Rights Organisation" than Ireland herself. Over an eighth of the fans of this English speaking page find their home in Argentina, and Chileans who worry that two women might receive social recognition of their loving commitment on the other side of the world make up nearly 5% of their fanbase.<br />
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Despite this unexpected success with the global Spanish speaking market, only 0.3% of those who like them on Facebook are based in Spain. Indeed their fanbase seems to overlap more neatly with locations <a href="http://pando.com/2014/02/17/quantifying-facebooks-problem-with-fake-brand-likes/">traditionally associated</a> with fake Facebook accounts.<br />
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But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.<br />
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Whatever the cause, barring significant geopolitical developments, I don't see this audience exercising much influence over the voting booths.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-83708113303084953502014-12-09T22:37:00.001+00:002014-12-10T19:14:35.464+00:00The Price Of Love I'm unclear if those opposed to marriage equality have started their campaign yet. It's hard to tell: we had a statement from bishops, of course, but the slice of the population that turns to them for moral guidance dwindled long ago. Indeed if anything support for marriage equality jumped after they launched their sixteen page document. I <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2014/12/on-grave-injustice-of-marriage-equality.html">wrote about it</a>, <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2014/12/fringe-catholic-group-issues-statement.html">twice</a>, but expected a more comprehensive front to emerge.<br />
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I had hopes for the cumbersomely named "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/FearAgusBeanCheileCosantaAnPhostaInEirinn?fref=ts">Defend Marriage in Ireland: Husband And Wife</a>" group. From what I can tell they're the Facebook account of <a href="https://twitter.com/MPTIreland">Manif Pour Tous Ireland</a>, and, while they have only 358 followers at present, I can confidently say that up to 13% of their followers actually hail from Hibernia. Perhaps this will grow. They're fairly good at facilitating different opinions in their Facebook discussions so it's worth popping over. Do say hi if time allows.<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/FearAgusBeanCheileCosantaAnPhostaInEirinn/posts/755667047822040">This post</a> seemed a mite odd. It claims that the cost of legislating for marriage equality in the UK was 1.5 billion GBP. The only citation given was a Facebook post by a small, anonymous account so I don't give it much weight, but as part of my counterargument I <a href="http://kingofiona.tumblr.com/post/103401681350/the-price-we-must-pay-to-fight-equality">stole from the King of Iona's playbook</a> and listed some major Irish employers who list marriage equality as something they value.<br />
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Now, of course no-one's marriage should have to be justified in terms of economic benefit. I put the below quotes together in case you know someone on the fence about voting yes. If they consider the protection of Irish jobs a compelling reason to pass the referendum then their vote still counts. As the discussion was around non Irish multinationals operating in Ireland I've limited myself to that subset. I've also focused exclusively on the top <a href="http://www.top1000.ie/companies?sortorder=employees">100 employers in Ireland</a>, as measured by number of employees. This is mainly due to time constraints; I might revisit the list later. Finally I only include companies that have actively campaigned for or taken legal action in favour of marriage equality. Employee headcounts taken from Irish Times's rather useful <a href="http://www.top1000.ie/">www.top1000.ie</a>.<br />
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Without further ado:<br />
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<b>Intel Ireland</b>: 4,700 Irish jobs. Intel has openly supported and campaigned for marriage equality <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2013/10/intel_on_pending_oregon_ballot.html">since 2012</a>.<br />
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<b>Citibank</b>: 4,269 jobs. Citi <a href="http://dot429.com/articles/2509-companies-who-support-the-end-of-doma">joined in a brief</a> to bring about the repeal of the Defence of Marriage act which barred same sex marriage. Their statement read in part: "As a signatory to the amicus brief in support of Edith Windsor and the overturn of the Defense of Marriage Act, Citi welcomes today's ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. Citi promotes a work environment where diversity is embraced and where our differences are valued and respected.""<br />
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<b>HP</b>: 4,000 jobs. HP <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130226150031-71744402-why-i-support-civil-marriage-for-same-sex-couples">also campaigned</a> to have the Defence of Marriage act repealed. I quite liked their CEO's reasoning: "Marriage is the fundamental institution that unites a society. It is the single greatest contributor to the well-being of adults and children because it promotes eternal principles like commitment, fidelity and stability. It makes no difference whether the marriage is between a man and woman or a woman and woman."<br />
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<b>Apple</b>: 4,000 jobs. Another <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/10/apple-against-t.html?cid=136241195">campaigner against</a> the Defence of Marriage act. "…we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights— including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8."<br />
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<b>Pfizer</b>: 3,200 jobs. Signed an amicus brief supporting same gender marriage. The brief <a href="http://www.diversityinc.com/legal-issues/four-top-50-companies-sign-amicus-brief-supporting-marriage-equality/">reads in part</a>: "We are hampered in our efforts to recruit and retain the most talented workforce possible, placing us at a competitive disadvantage. Our success depends upon the welfare and morale of all employees, without distinction... We recognize the importance of that equality to our employees, and we have seen the real world, positive impact that fostering diversity and inclusion has on our productivity andperformance, just as we have seen the harm that denial of equality causes our businesses."<br />
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<b>IBM</b>: 3,000 jobs. Over 18 years ago IBM decided to <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-11-05/news/9611050018_1_gay-marriage-defense-of-marriage-act-same-sex">partially circumvent the ban </a>on same sex marriage by treating employees in long term same sex relationships as spouses for health insurance and other benefits.<br />
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<b>EMC</b>: 2,800 jobs. <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/09/26/917901/emc-endorses-washington-marriage-equality/">Lobbied</a> in support of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Referendum_74">Referendum 74</a>, a bill to legalise same sex marriage in Washington state. Their statement read in part: "Creating an inclusive, respectful and open culture at EMC has always been a priority, and we constantly strive to promote equality in our workplace. Our support of the state’s legislation that provides same-sex couples with the right to civil marriage is another example of our commitment to supporting – and delivering – benefits for domestic partners."<br />
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<b>Google</b>: 2,288 jobs. <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.ie/2008/09/our-position-on-californias-no-on-8.html">Campaigned</a> against Proposition 8, intended to make same sex marriage illegal: "…we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 - we should not eliminate anyone’s fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love." Sergey Brin, co-founder, Google<br />
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<b>PayPal</b>: 1,871 jobs. "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/companies-support-gay-marriage_n_3503981.html">eBay <i>[PayPal's parent company]</i> is pleased</a> with the Supreme Court’s decision strike down part of DOMA. As a growing global company with a diverse workforce of 31,500 employees worldwide, eBay embraces the core values of non-discrimination, diversity and inclusion. Our support for marriage equality is a natural extension of our support for eBay’s LGBT employees and a reflection of our company’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and equality in the workplace." They've also <a href="http://blog.ebay.com/ebay-inc-joins-business-coalition-in-support-of-respect-for-marriage-act/">lobbied for federal benefits</a> for all married couples, regardless of gender. (Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/Golden_Gaytime">@Golden_Gaytime</a> for the tip, I'd missed them in the first draft.)<br />
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For those counting, the total is 26,128 jobs. I'd like to thank the King of Iona for allowing me to build on his idea. Do <a href="http://kingofiona.tumblr.com/post/103401681350/the-price-we-must-pay-to-fight-equality">read his post</a> for some other Irish employers outside the top 100. If I've missed any pro marriage equality employers I apologise and am happy to amend.<br />
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So what is the price of love? If you trust tiny anonymous Facebook accounts it's hundreds of millions. But if you'd rather listen to some of the top international employers in Ireland, legislating for love is just good business sense.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-79913333794026228382014-12-09T11:10:00.001+00:002014-12-15T08:30:48.460+00:00Fringe Catholic Group Issues Statement Opposing Marriage EqualityIf you live in Ireland you probably know some Catholics. You might have gone to school with them. They could be your colleagues, your doctor, or the person who bags your groceries. But what most of us don't realise is that there is a small splinter group who are quite different indeed.<br />
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Styling themselves 'The Hierarchy', this self-appointed group of elites eschew secular dress in favour of ornate robes, jewellery, and improbably large hats. Unlike most Catholics who happily integrate into wider society, they prefer to live in secluded palaces. Women have been barred from entry since the inception of the group in the first century BC. They do not marry or (usually) father children, instead replenishing their ranks by recruiting Catholic priests who share their conservative world views.<br />
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If you follow the media, you'll see that this group of 26 Catholics (henceforth referred to by their preferred term of 'bishops') recently issued a statement opposing access to civil marriage for same sex couples.<br />
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<i>"A same sex couple cannot be husband and wife"</i>, reads the statement in part, showing a keen understanding of the issue under debate.<br />
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Much of their opposition to civil marriage rights stems from their own religious beliefs. Despite the Bible containing not one word attempting to regulate non Christian or non Jewish marriages, they are of the opinion that Jesus would be particularly irked by two men or two women forming a solemn commitment to each other.<br />
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<i>"The Book of Genesis shows us that man and woman are created in the image
and likeness of God; they recognise that they are made for each other"</i> write the roughly two dozen men who have chosen for themselves a life of bachelordom. <br />
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<i>"Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and
female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"</i> continues the statement, issued by a group that not only objects to their own members getting married, but also bars Catholic priests from marriage and married men from priesthood.<br />
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It is worth noting that the majority of Irish Catholics support marriage rights for priests and that this statement should not be read as indicative of mainstream Irish Catholic thought.<br />
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Much of the document focuses on what the exclusively male and childless group consider to be the <i>"mutual and complementary"</i> role of women, a role they deem essential for its unique input and insight yet also seek to bar from priesthood. Despite running to sixteen pages the document does not devote space to elaborating what, precisely, this complementary role entails. The reader is left to examine past bishop statements for indications, like <a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/three-who-stopped-the-cancer-tests-25960150.html">this one</a> from Bishop Kevin Doran which opposes cancer treatment for women.<br />
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Again, it is worth noting that the majority of Irish Catholics do not oppose cancer treatment for women.<br />
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Another theme pervading the document is a concern for children.Others in the Catholic community have expressed delight at this newfound interest, the bishops being perhaps most famous for a decades long project to conceal and protect child rapists. It is hoped by many that this desire to see children flourish will continue beyond this moment convenient to fighting back against LGBTQ rights.<br />
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<i>"... the Catholic Church clearly teaches that people who are
homosexual must always be treated with sensitivity, compassion and
respect."</i> continues the statement from a group that considers homosexuals ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil and unfit for priesthood.<br />
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We took to the streets to ask ordinary Irish Catholics if these 26 men are representative of their beliefs.<br />
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"At this rate in 20 years' time there'll be no priests left in Ireland. But that lot are still blocking married priests and women priests. And now they're saying being married is the natural way of things and women have an essential complementary role? Give me a break. Maybe if they spent less time sticking their noses into other people's marriages they'd be able to find some time to do something about the fact we're running out of priests to celebrate Catholic marriage." - Thomas Kavanagh, who does not possess a hat greater in height than six inches.<br />
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"They bishops don't want women's opinions, so I don't see why I should want a bishop's opinion. I'm voting yes." said Sinead McGillicuddy, who went on to clarify that she does not live in a palace.<br />
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"I'm voting no, but I made my own mind up on it. I don't like that lot telling me what to do." opined Kieran McGuinness, championing independent thought.<br />
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"I've never really liked the gays", he added.<br />
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Shortly after issuing their statement public support for marriage equality reached <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/poll-shows-rising-support-for-same-sex-marriage-1.2029307">a record 81%</a>.<br />
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<i>addendum - my thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/gramadoc">@gramadoc</a> for reminding me of the important distinction between 'complimentary' and 'complementary'. Errors corrected. Worth following!</i> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-54230822902535419842014-12-04T21:59:00.001+00:002014-12-04T21:59:35.428+00:00On The Grave Injustice Of Marriage EqualityThis week Ireland's bishops <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/bishops-say-same-sex-marriage-would-be-grave-injustice-1.2024464">spoke with one voice</a> on marriage equality, describing it as a 'grave injustice'. Strong words, and I found myself wondering if such forceful language had been deployed by these unmarried men before.<br />
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(tw: child rape, imprisonment, slavery, theft, sale, and deaths of children.)<br />
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I thought it would be useful to examine statements surrounding Ferns, where for decades members of the clergy raped and sexually assaulted <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1025/68988-ferns/">at least a hundred children</a>. It seemed apt: the bishops are doubtless aware of the particulars as two of their members (Herlihy, Comiskey) expended considerable effort ensuring the rapists and sex offenders did not trouble the attention of the authorities.<br />
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What phrase best describes this calculated concealment of depravity? Bishop Brennan's official statement chooses to condemn the affair as '<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/allegations-of-abuse-against-three-more-priests-in-notorious-ferns-diocese-29219409.html">failings</a>'.<br />
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I've done some amateurish tinkering around the edges of Theology and accept that the depth of the hierarchy's moral expertise may be shrouded from me by their years of study, but it seems to me that a failing is considerably less serious than a minor injustice, let alone a grave injustice. They must fear marriage equality greatly if they choose such words.<br />
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Next I sought out official statement on the <a href="http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/magdalene-laundries-survivor-elizabeth-coppin-2802968">Magdalene laundries</a>. This business scheme consisted of religious orders imprisoning tens of thousands of women and girls as a source of slave labour, using violence, head shaving and psychological abuse to maintain control. The operation wrapped up in 1996. Paying the survivors their due wages and pensions seems to me a just step, but again I lack the moral expertise that is endowed to members of the Catholic hierarchy. They're <a href="http://www.finegael.ie/latest-news/2013/deputy-feighan-welcomes-2/burke-welcomes-institute/bannon-welcomes-bishop-fr/shocking-refusal-by-siste/">not paying</a>.<br />
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How, I wondered, did this mass enslavement for base coin rank alongside allowing two men or two women in love to make a solemn commitment to devote themselves to each other for the rest of their lives?<br />
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It seems unlikely that the bishops have not heard of the matter, and yet the closest I can find to a comment is Bishop Eamonn Walsh <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0221/368840-bethany-home-dublin/">rushing to announce</a> that other parties should share responsibility. He adds that "[the] religious won't be found wanting". (They have yet to <a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/un-demands-that-pope-launches-investigation-into-magdalene-laundries-29984197.html">apologise, or contribute</a> to compensation funds, so one presumes the emphasis is on 'found'.)<br />
<br />
Seeking a fourth point of comparison for this attempt to reverse engineer morality according to bishops, I turned to Ireland's <a href="http://www.adoptionrightsalliance.com/historyandheritage.htm">mother and baby homes</a>. It was here that pregnant women and girls were imprisoned by religious orders, usually for three years, and forced to manual labour while their children were sold or reallocated to parents deemed more desirable.Surely, given the bishop's now obsequious concern for the family, they are apoplectic in their condemnation?<br />
<br />
We have a statement, of sorts, a shrewdly crafted piece of wordsmithery that acknowledges pain without seeing wrongdoing before launching into the sort of rapid distancing that normally requires rockets. It mentions only disquiet at the hundreds of children who died, sparing no words for the families destroyed. You can <a href="http://www.catholicbishops.ie/2014/06/04/archbishop-neary-welcomes-announcement-to-establish-a-cross-departmental-examination-of-the-burial-arrangements-for-children-in-mother-and-baby-homes/">read it in full</a> before reading <a href="http://bocktherobber.com/2014/06/bishop-of-tuam-issues-press-statement-on-mother-and-baby-home-scandal/">Bock the Robber's dissection</a>.<br />
<br />
My personal highlight?<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Many of these young vulnerable women would already have been rejected by their families."</i> - Michael Neary</blockquote>
Here the bishop forgets that it was precisely the instructions of his predecessors that caused this rejection. It's a neat trick, perhaps illustrative of the talents one must acquire to hold such high office.<br />
<br />
But I digress. We have enough information to form a rudimentary scale of moral evils, as seen by the moral experts that make up the nation's bishops. To start our scale we have the nationwide enslavement of an estimated 30,000 women and girls. We see primacy given to sharing blame. There is no apology or compensation. It seems my moral betters leave me with little option but to regard this as trivial.<br />
<br />
Next with a banal repetitiveness we see widespread enslavement of women. But this time in addition to manual labour their children are stolen, sold, reallocated, or die in the harsh environment of the mother and baby homes. This ranks more seriously: we have an acknowledgement of pain and a wriggling attempt to blame society, all the while omitting the fact that the hierarchy's control of society at the time was absolute. There is a strong attempt to blame a subdivision of the organisation. Naturally the hundreds of unmarked graves do not earn the epithet 'grave injustice'. That is reserved for the offence of recognising the loving commitment of two of my fellow citizens.<br />
<br />
Does the protection and coverup of 21 child rapists in Ferns count as a serious crime? It seems to rank lower, unless the learned bishops ascribe a meaning to 'failings' that is unknown to us commoners. And yet failings seems to be the highest condemnation we've reached. The leap from here to an injustice of any sort, let alone a grave one, seems insurmountable.<br />
<br />
Language does not lend itself to a points system and I cannot assign numeric values to how much worse the bishops must view marriage equality when compared to enslavement, child rape, perversion of justice and violence against women and girls. But it is clear that they consider it the greatest of these four evils.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtgj-CxAS_s_iMJkhi5LNpSDtz9sFJnQhONn4W7fVLd3Iu97khGYSsB-pJbucnFWea_aRa9uvgL-Jz_w3TaCX1HVXme0TW3jBnfn81-yvsUOMyyPmMYMqfEp-9Se0eqPirvmLfL6zQDZH2/s1600/ACPHomosexuality.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Disagree [with bishops], there is nothing wrong with homosexuality: 61%. Agree, it's immoral: 18%. 21% neither agree nor disagree." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtgj-CxAS_s_iMJkhi5LNpSDtz9sFJnQhONn4W7fVLd3Iu97khGYSsB-pJbucnFWea_aRa9uvgL-Jz_w3TaCX1HVXme0TW3jBnfn81-yvsUOMyyPmMYMqfEp-9Se0eqPirvmLfL6zQDZH2/s1600/ACPHomosexuality.png" height="177" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
Bishops claim moral expertise but they have spent the past century painting their profound moral incompetence on a canvas of broken lives. It is unsurprising that only <a href="http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Contemporary-Catholic-Perspectives.pdf">18% of Irish Catholics</a> agree with their stance on homosexuality. I see no reason why their stance on marriage equality will find its reception any warmer.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-88760432093079744402014-11-19T21:21:00.001+00:002014-11-19T21:21:26.990+00:00Prominent Fluoridation Opponents Enjoy Drinking Fluoridated Water<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrhrjqgKST4i9prVJMXj7n3T5hBSy1Yf7JM_EafNJx175Txy_QZGxg4qz9TO7O8ODZfvzkrF2g43lyYdQRxPVC5V2VOsNmkOH7PxoDuzgE-fgubTiRi9tOSAp7OKvuCsKEr_ZWCdoBJois/s1600/SanPellegrinoFluoride.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot of fluoride content of San Pellegrino, 0.6 parts per million." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrhrjqgKST4i9prVJMXj7n3T5hBSy1Yf7JM_EafNJx175Txy_QZGxg4qz9TO7O8ODZfvzkrF2g43lyYdQRxPVC5V2VOsNmkOH7PxoDuzgE-fgubTiRi9tOSAp7OKvuCsKEr_ZWCdoBJois/s1600/SanPellegrinoFluoride.png" height="320" title="" width="151" /></a>Fighting against a cheap and effective healthcare strategy is thirsty work. What better way to relax than by pouring yourself a nice tall glass of fluoridated water?<br />
<br />
Not from the tap, of course. For these special occasions you should turn to <a href="http://www.sanpellegrino.com/int/en/default.aspx">San Pellegrino</a>. Crisp, refreshing, and served in an iconic tinted glass bottle, you'll be relieved to hear that it contains 0.6 parts per million fluoride. Sit back, take a well earned break from opposing the 0.7 parts per million fluoride in Irish tap water, and enjoy the one part in ten million difference.<br />
<br />
Don't let your hard work claiming that fluoride causes everything from man flu to the black death prevent you from drinking the stuff. In fact, if you've <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGirlAgainstFluoride/photos/a.401765179883783.92141.401743916552576/712867932106838/?type=1">claimed that fluoride causes depression</a>, and claim that you <a href="http://news-beacon-ireland.info/?p=12228">cured your own severe depression by eliminating fluoride</a>, you should probably drink even more fluoridated water.<br />
<br />
What better way to toy with people's genuine mental health issues than to encourage them to cease medication in favour of an evidence-free crackpot scheme that you won't even follow yourself?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi08RVE_H0l0hdC-C65SgkrT07RDnuSq2KaXCcnV4-__IzZ2InR_Vw0HQQwrux5Mh1uBzsb9XSCxddxcATpKa9A4SnH29j-Y9E7jV56Lny5vMDxXiNUCFJaW0wGufccjLIzDNF_vkLbzSRd/s1600/SanPellegrinoTGAF.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi08RVE_H0l0hdC-C65SgkrT07RDnuSq2KaXCcnV4-__IzZ2InR_Vw0HQQwrux5Mh1uBzsb9XSCxddxcATpKa9A4SnH29j-Y9E7jV56Lny5vMDxXiNUCFJaW0wGufccjLIzDNF_vkLbzSRd/s1600/SanPellegrinoTGAF.png" height="320" width="280" /></a>This I feel must be the logic of Aisling FitzGibbon, aka The Girl Against Fluoride, a highly qualified <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/11/girl-against-fluoride-f-minus-for-effort.html">angel healer</a>, proponent of <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2014/03/gaps-in-thinking-irish-times-promoting.html">'curing' autism rectally</a>, and <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2014/11/sinn-fein-takes-health-policy-advice.html">adviser to Sinn Fein</a> on matters of public health. Pictured to the left we see a screenshot of her <a href="http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-851825861/ithegirlagainstfluoride/photos/ig-787623351820318901_851825861">ink361</a> page, proudly displaying a book of grain, lactose and refined sugar free recipes alongside her San Pellegrino.<br />
<br />
Next we see writer, restaurant critic and Michelin star winner Paolo Tullio. Thankfully he has not offered to manipulate angel healing rays on our behalf, but he has issued a video saying he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZsKNdhNS3Y">believes fluoridation may be dangerous</a>. He then calls on the Irish government to end the practice. His primary reasoning seems to be that his home tap water smells of chlorine.<br />
<br />
Fearing that fluoride is dangerous, and opposing the government's fluoridation programme, is it safe to assume he avoids parting with coin for high fluoride San Pellegrino?<br />
<br />
Let us read some of his reviews:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Although a bottle of still water was on the house, both Rocco and I wanted sparkling, so we added a bottle of San Pellegrino to our drinks order."</i> - <a href="http://www.independent.ie/life/food-drink/restaurant-review-paolo-tullio-at-la-dolce-vita-dublin-18-26840868.html">Paolo Tullio at La Dolce Vita, Dublin 18</a> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Two bottles of San Pellegrino and a bottle of Peroni beer completed our order."</i> - <a href="http://www.independent.ie/life/food-drink/paolo-tullio-oliveto-26640383.html">Paolo Tullio: Oliveto The Pavillion Complex, Dun Laoghaire</a> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"There were a few wines under €30, but the bulk of the list falls into the €35 to €55 range. I chose a decent Pinot Grigio, which was listed at €33. We also had two large bottles of San Pellegrino at €5 each."</i> - <a href="http://foodandwine.net/reviews/416.htm">The Exchange Restaurant</a></blockquote>
I <a href="https://twitter.com/geoffsshorts/status/533210637368057857">tweeted Tullio</a> on the topic and he was kind enough to reply. He seems a decent sort, but rather confused on the area - he thought Ireland was the only country in the world to fluoridate, compared the chlorination of water to drinking bleach, and said he boiled Italian tap water because of the smell of chlorine. He has accomplishments in many fields, I just don't reckon science is one of them.<br />
<br />
So why include him on this rather short list? Well, if opponents of water fluoridation have no problem with drinking fluoridated water, maybe we should wonder if their claims are worth entertaining.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-38038562203736195672014-11-06T22:24:00.001+00:002014-12-04T09:49:38.606+00:00Sinn Fein Takes Health Policy Advice From Vaccine Opponents<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">"Drugs are overprescribed... One reason for inappropriate prescribing may lie in the opaque relationship between the medical profession and the pharmacuetical [sic] industry. Major pharmaceutical companies, such as United Brands, sponsor medical conferences for doctors in luxury hotels. Moreover, there are no restrictions on general practitioners or hospital consultants investing in shares in the pharmaceutical or other healthcare industries or in private hospitals or clinics. The conflict of interest between the doctor as healer and the doctor as drug manufacturer needs to be recognised."</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">The above pastiche of distrust and conspiracy comes not from an angel healing periodical but from Sinn Fein's <a href="http://www.sinnfein.ie/files/2011/HealthDoc.pdf">health policy</a>. Do read the whole thing if time allows. You will find no attempt to balance talk of financial irregularities in luxury hotels with promotion of best medical practice. There is no paragraph suggesting that your local GP is likely a decent sort, or that their offer of a flu jab may not be linked to a clandestine conspiracy.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Regular readers of this blog - a long-suffering and doubtless weary troop - will know that I've something of an interest in anti fluoridation campaigners in Ireland. An entry on Sinn Fein is therefore predictable - they've been tying up valuable county council time with anti fluoridation motions in <a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-city-council-water-fluoridation-1571071-Jul2014/">Dublin</a> and <a href="http://www.corkindependent.com/20140501/news/regressive-council-criticised-for-passing-anti-fluoride-motion-S83409.html">Cork</a>, blithely ignoring that councils have no power to make such decisions. Their minister for environment, community and local government tried for a bill to <a href="http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/26629">have it banned</a>. Why does Sinn Fein feel such rancour towards an intervention supported by the nation's medical and dental communities? The matter is hardly opaque. Six million English citizens drink fluoridated water, the rest do not. It is a simple effort to contrast the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10722075/Government-study-backs-fluoride-in-water.html">fluoridated and non fluoridated</a> areas of our neighbours. Indeed I felt certain that Sinn Fein would leap at an opportunity to support a measure that leads to a 28% reduction in tooth decay for children in disadvantaged areas while nearly halving tooth decay related hospitalisation of children under five, but it seems they jumped the other way.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Have the boffins in Sinn Fein's underground laboratory make a game changing discovery? Has there been an explosion of new research that only they are publicising? Or are they merely casting aside best evidence and community benefit in favour of a populist publicity stunt?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">To answer my question we must look at those who answers the questions posed by Sinn Fein. And who better to elucidate than Brian Stanley TD, spokesperson </span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">on Environment, Community and Local Government,</span></span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"> who last year </span><a href="http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/27136" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">attempted to cease</a><span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"> fluoridation?</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">"I am delighted to have two leading campaigners in Leinster House adding weight to our campaign. Both Aishling Fitzgibbon, aka Girl against Fluoride, and leading environmental scientist Declan Waugh." - <a href="http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/27136">Brian Stanley</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">This seems the total of his outside support. Stanley eschews the temptation to promote style over substance and introduces Aisling FitzGibbon first. Her credentials are impressive: as a Master <a href="http://bocktherobber.com/2013/11/integrated-energy-therapy-bring-back-balderdash/">Integrated Energy Therapist</a> she has <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/11/girl-against-fluoride-f-minus-for-effort.html">paid for a certificate</a> that enables her to redirect healing angel rays into people's pets. For the right price <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2014/03/gaps-in-thinking-irish-times-promoting.html">she will 'cure'</a> your vulnerable child of autism through a regimen that includes pumping bone broth up their anus. Naturally she <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/11/girl-against-fluoride-vaccine.html">opposes vaccination</a>, describing it as her next step once fluoride is vanquished.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">I had the pleasure of a <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/12/fluoride-girls-creative-director-links.html">radio interview</a> with her campaign's creative manager. She charmed me with tales of how homosexuality is caused by women using contraception and regaled me with details of her attempt to infect her daughter with measles. It is a delight to imagine Sinn Fein's spokesperson for community reclining in leather armchair, sipping tea and absorbing such advice. I am atingle with anticipation to see how this shapes his future programmes and policies, especially given the esteem in which he obviously holds their views - he is, after all, listed on their <a href="http://thegirlagainstfluoride.com/Support.html">supporters page</a> and <a href="http://www.hotpress.com/news/Fluoride-News--Naked-Calendar-Launches/10407413.html">spoke at the launch</a> of their naked calendar fundraiser.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">But why content oneself with the talents of just one adviser?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Stanley was also kind enough to give prominence to the views of Declan Waugh. Describing him as a "leading environmental scientist" I couldn't help but wonder if the prefix mis- had been lost from the appellation. Like me he is a blogger with a science degree and no published peer reviewed work on fluoride. This has not prevented him from attempting to link the substance to every condition from SIDS, Down's Syndrome, heart disease, asthma, arthritis, cocaine addiction, metabolic disorders and diabetes. I'm confident he'll soon claim that red hair is a result of water fluoridation. Those of us curious as to why no reputable peer reviewed journal would be willing to publish his work must find ourselves torn between two possible conclusions: either his work isn't particularly good, or there's a vast worldwide conspiracy to suppress it.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Given Sinn Fein consider him a leading scientist and seek his council on matters of public health they may be inclined to give weight to the conspiracy theory. If you skip to the bottom half of <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2014/10/lush-gets-into-lather-over-fluoride.html">this post</a> you'll see Waugh's thoughts on a hypothesised global mind control project being run in tandem by the Russians and Americans via microwaves and WiFi. I had no idea Putin and Obama could pull off such a collaboration! For good measure the UK are beaming suicide rays into dissenters' houses. Waugh considers it both 'interesting and rather disturbing'. This may go some way to explaining why he suggests folks <a href="https://www.facebook.com/declan.waugh/posts/10202535543736067">curtail their use of wireless networks</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQMqXM_jxkvMaB40lrXAsOYoyxglLFhQWVAA64yu54Qd01OpguNn00SLVnYaoI23jLbM0_jEJnJ4kEA_cNTNeLJMR8qf2NDoftIuy2Dcx_niiSHaz9bIEn8J7KjIPeIM5drk-iowQVini/s1600/DeclanWaughAntiMMR.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQMqXM_jxkvMaB40lrXAsOYoyxglLFhQWVAA64yu54Qd01OpguNn00SLVnYaoI23jLbM0_jEJnJ4kEA_cNTNeLJMR8qf2NDoftIuy2Dcx_niiSHaz9bIEn8J7KjIPeIM5drk-iowQVini/s1600/DeclanWaughAntiMMR.png" height="309" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">More recently <a href="https://www.facebook.com/declan.waugh/posts/10205455327688841?pnref=story">his endorsements</a> have been bestowed on Red Ice Radio's attempt to pretend that <a href="http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2014/09/RIR-140926.php">childhood MMR vaccination causes autism</a>, and that there is a global conspiracy (including, it seems, the CDC and British counterparts) to hide this. The radio show describes itself as covering topics on the global elite and says it is geared towards those who have broken free of mind control.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">The show also dips its toe into pretending that HIV is unrelated to AIDS before saying that the Ebola epidemic doesn't actually exist, positing that the deaths caused are a result of malnutrition and vaccination. They describe Ebola as "a magnificent cover story" to enable the UN to keep west African citizens weak and dying so that their resources can be stolen.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">"The ultimate payoff for the medical machine is drugs. Vaccines. Further conditioning of the population to accept vaccination... They could have released a toxic chemical in the country and called it Ebola."</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">The daft conspiracy then posits that medical worker deaths are caused by wearing hazmat suits in warm environments before wrapping up by pretending that Ebola is a cover story intended by the medical community to sell vaccines. Feel free to jump to any point in the interview to hear something egregiously stupid.</span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Perhaps the above four unrelated worldwide conspiracies seem plausible to you. If so here are some other choice titbits from his Facebook page.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">In this post he posits <a href="http://www.bates.edu/prebuilt/leongetal2001.pdf">a paper</a> that suggests rats who inhale mercury suffer brain damage is sufficient grounds to consider flu vaccines a risk for Alzheimers. This scaremongering comes courtesy of nameless scientists with no plausible explanation of why he suspects the elderly will be forced to snort liquid metal while getting their flu jabs. Will Sinn Fein be following his wisdom and phasing out flu jabs?</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRP5dmII3avkjsO8KU1wqwf7M5z0A_loJPxGfStleGIg0Dhh81mCJJ1plDPsndpoBRV1qfI0wBg4D580OBvk8yRCJVl3vJD7hLd-k7A9suI_Czej9eB6tt4fyG757kfKPzfN4TBTm3NtT/s1600/DownWithVaccination.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRP5dmII3avkjsO8KU1wqwf7M5z0A_loJPxGfStleGIg0Dhh81mCJJ1plDPsndpoBRV1qfI0wBg4D580OBvk8yRCJVl3vJD7hLd-k7A9suI_Czej9eB6tt4fyG757kfKPzfN4TBTm3NtT/s1600/DownWithVaccination.png" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
Can we expect Sinn Fein to call an end to the nation's astroturfs on Waugh's advice?<br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">It's unfair for me to dwell exclusively on Sinn Fein's impact on science in Dublin am indebted</span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"> to Niall Boylan of 4fm who invited Councillor Chris O'Leary on air, giving me opportunity to discuss with him the motivations behind his baffling motion to oppose fluoridation in Cork County. Listening to Boylan's show often reminds me that the oxygen of publicity can be enough to make daft schemes spontaneously combust.</span></div>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Unfortunately there's no podcast so I'll have to paraphrase from memory. O'Leary relied heavily on Waugh till I brought up his predilection for global mind control plots, at which point he cited <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Burk">Dean Burk</a> as being at the forefront of fluoride opposition in the United States. I told him this seemed unlikely, given Burk's death in the 80's. O'Leary then claimed that 26 European countries have ceased fluoridation due to health concerns. I asked if he would be kind enough to name three. He supplied one, Northern Ireland, and I admit I took us on something of a tangent on whether or not we should consider the Sterling region of this island as a separate and distinct European nation. No matter, O'Leary repeated his claim that Northern Ireland ceased fluoridation due to health concerns. I pointed out this was an absurd statement as they <a href="http://www.dentist.ie/_fileupload/JIDA/pdfs%20of%20Journal/2012/2012%20-%2058%20No_%203%20-%20June%20July%20-%20FlourideSupplement.pdf">never had a fluoridation programme</a>. (See page eight.) Further examples of the proffered 26 nations were not forthcoming.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">I then asked the councillor if he felt San Pellegrino should carry a health warning. Its fluoride concentration is 0.6 parts per million, not too shy from my tap water's 0.7 parts per million. He felt it was in the public's interest to be so cautioned. In some ways I felt sorry for him - it's fairly obvious that this populist publicity stunt has been rolled out without any real thought or preparation, and individual councillors are being left to the tender mercies of a skeptical public. Later on Twitter he championed the right of people to <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisjoleary/status/528150085498990593">choose on vaccinations</a>, adding that #oneSizeDoesNotFitAll, a complaint rarely levelled at seatbelts.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Voters might be swayed by his proud fight against the HSE's promotion of vaccination but the optimist in me reads the responses to his twitter stand and feels it has cost him more support than it has gained. Indeed I wonder how it will affect the party. Within a week of his statement, fellow Cork Sinn Fein Councillor Thomas Gould also </span><a href="http://www.96fm.ie/boxtube/default?type=podcast" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">chose radio</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"> as the vehicle by which to share his distrust of mass vaccination, pharmaceutical companies and the medical establishment. Statements like these from public representatives help to explain why the mumps rate has </span><a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/mumps-has-risen-massively-this-year-1763145-Nov2014/" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">more than doubled</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"> since last year.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Some will say that Sinn Fein are partnering with vaccine opponents in a tawdry grab for publicity. The more worrying hypothesis is that this is not the case, and that they consider conspiracy theorists and angel healers best placed to drive public health policy. I know many of you have sound and robust reasons to deny Sinn Fein a preference vote, and fluoridation may seem unimportant by contrast. For those outside this group I ask: if they eschew expert advice in favour of populism in a matter of health, what's to stop them taking the same approach with our economy?</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-57833820313247367982014-11-05T23:14:00.001+00:002014-11-15T13:54:11.273+00:00Armaggedon, The Young Earth, And The Cancer Cure Suppressing Freemasons <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjThBH6vSMP52qHR_it1lqupoaZDQndRYriDLEMk1v6IY8i7UKZF9gnvhFK2n0XNPe4Ea45kWUpLp4wPguhuOx-gxpgM5q9HYgxFu4lIXITtDIFJ5_mdZ5rYEntPCnivX6XsmRtbkGkccTG/s1600/20141105_170917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjThBH6vSMP52qHR_it1lqupoaZDQndRYriDLEMk1v6IY8i7UKZF9gnvhFK2n0XNPe4Ea45kWUpLp4wPguhuOx-gxpgM5q9HYgxFu4lIXITtDIFJ5_mdZ5rYEntPCnivX6XsmRtbkGkccTG/s1600/20141105_170917.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>Most evenings I pass a brace of Jehovah's Witnesses outside a GPO. For comic juxtaposition they place themselves to the left of a statue <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g186605-d216615-i114103321-O_Connell_Bridge-Dublin_County_Dublin.html">of Cú Chulainn</a> lashed to a tree stump, ready to attack all comers until his death. The Jehovah's Witnesses give a warmer welcome and are sometimes willing to discuss their organisation's worryingly regular habit of announcing the imminent end of this mortal realm.<br />
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Proceeding a figurative hop, skip, and jump will often land me next to <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2011/10/over-moonies.html">Dessie</a>. He's a likeable chap who considers the earth to be at most 11,000 years old. On past occasions I've met Hare Krishnas who sought to dissuade me of my <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2011/12/hare-krishnas-and-faked-moon-landing.html">heliocentric beliefs</a>. Let us say that it is a vibrant marketplace of ideas where any viewpoint can be expressed without falling prisoner to the confines of reality.<br />
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It was there (where else?) that Immuno Biotech chose to plant a stall emblazoned "Cancer Cure". The subtext is "The Cure They Don't Want You To Have!" At this point I must make my apologies for the quality of the image. You see, my camera hand is as shaky as the claims of their salesperson Mike. [Edit: <a href="https://twitter.com/PedView/status/529474277729665024">better shot</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/PedView/">@pedView</a>. Second edit: New shots by me taken two days later.]<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLA85U_Te5zT4RJoC11ZZ2PnCxnRDWRemOXSrDRwExmlGXnwbBE9I3puPgh_4CglxFhA2V9p1_ulQWExlRyMQ1uX20m28EUuGyvHlqw0xfB9QYzg9oRqxotxWE8QPJICTkll9-kN0pO5p/s1600/20141107_164539%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Saprophyte. Festering pustule on the rectum of humanity. Mike." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLA85U_Te5zT4RJoC11ZZ2PnCxnRDWRemOXSrDRwExmlGXnwbBE9I3puPgh_4CglxFhA2V9p1_ulQWExlRyMQ1uX20m28EUuGyvHlqw0xfB9QYzg9oRqxotxWE8QPJICTkll9-kN0pO5p/s1600/20141107_164539%5B1%5D.jpg" height="320" title="" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltH7o5o82wnQvSNfj-1HvHRGME3gO8FOdtKkNXa7ODG7Sc2EPiwujG299qDuGJaHEXzVl7uNo0X1nsodz-KhU0sO5yemJ0X8Mt6HWxMSbYrNy-lCHobZ09rRPtIjiKgqJpuR9-N5_IaG4/s1600/20141107_164535%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dross and drivel in higher resolution." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltH7o5o82wnQvSNfj-1HvHRGME3gO8FOdtKkNXa7ODG7Sc2EPiwujG299qDuGJaHEXzVl7uNo0X1nsodz-KhU0sO5yemJ0X8Mt6HWxMSbYrNy-lCHobZ09rRPtIjiKgqJpuR9-N5_IaG4/s1600/20141107_164535%5B1%5D.jpg" height="320" title="" width="180" /></a></div>
And what claims they make!<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"If you keep to the protocol</i>[€450 for 8 doses]<i>, it </i>[their snake oil]<i> usually eradicates stage 4 cancer in a year."</i></blockquote>
There is no such thing as stage five cancer: stage four is the deformed pinnacle of what tumours can throw at us. The chances of surviving a half decade with almost any type of stage four cancer is <a href="http://www.md-health.com/Stage-4-Cancer.html">below 30%</a>. If Immuno Biotech had a product that could 'usually eradicate' all forms of cancer we would hold feast days in their honour. I would cast aside my keyboard and plug in a prayer mat, and doctors would learn their trade in institutions named to immortalise its founder.<br />
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Instead they have a limited number of glossy pamphlets, a name that calls to mind bad science fiction, and a stall of lower quality than a neighbouring group who believes that dinosaur bones are intended to test our faith.<br />
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Let's look at how they attempt a shroud of respectability:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"180 scientists from 8 nations have written research papers on GcMAF... There are 90 scientific research papers written on GcMAF"</i></blockquote>
Imagine you're searching for a restaurant. Perhaps it's a special occasion. Maybe you just need something quick before a show. You could be on a diet. whatever the driving force, how would you react to seeing "180 people have reviewed this restaurant!"?. Perhaps addled with hunger you would miss the obvious - it doesn't say if the reviews are positive. There are 21,754 hits for <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=tea">'tea' on pubmed</a>, this does not mean that Barry's gold blend should take new home in the nation's first aid kits.<br />
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I'm entertaining the notion that the glossy brochure pictured at the end of this post is more up to date than the company's website, because Immuno Biotech's online presence shirks the figures above, claiming only <a href="https://www.gcmaf.eu/gcmaf-products/142-gcmaf-scientists/">142 scientists publishing 59 papers</a>. Again, volume of papers on a topic is largely irrelevant without an indication of the papers' conclusions. But let's take a glance at a few.<br />
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Yamamoto N, Suyama H, Yamamoto N, Ushijima N. Immunotherapy of metastatic breast cancer patients with vitamin D-binding protein-derived macrophage activating factor (GcMAF). Int J Cancer. 2008 Jan 15;122(2):461-7. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=17935130">PubMed PMID: 17935130.</a><br />
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The title looks suitably impressive until we check PubMed and find <a href="http://www.retractionwatch.com/2014/07/25/paper-about-widely-touted-but-unapproved-cure-for-cancer-autism-retracted/">it has been retracted</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2008/12/03/cancer-cured-for-good-gc-maf-and-the-miracle-cure/">Cancer Research UK</a> provides a good summary of the issues:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The results appear to be startling – all the patients on the trials are ‘cured’ of cancer. Surely this is an amazing breakthrough? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Put bluntly, no it isn’t. There are significant scientific problems with the trials. For a start, all the studies are very small, involving fewer than twenty patients in each – rather than the thousands needed to make the sort of claims mentioned above. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Next, all the patients involved had received standard treatment for their cancer, including surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. This is a somewhat unorthodox design for a trial of this kind, because it makes it very difficult to tell if any successes are due to the new drug, or the more conventional treatments. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On top of this, the researchers didn’t actually monitor the progress of tumours in the patients, and provide no clinical information about them... </blockquote>
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Furthermore, the researchers didn’t do any tests to show that injected Gc-MAF was actually activating macrophages in the patients’ blood, or even working in the way that they expect... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We have no way of telling whether their cancers were growing again, or had been successfully treated, and whether this was due to Gc-MAF or the other treatment they had received. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Given that 80 per cent of all women with breast cancer survive for at least 5 years, an uncontrolled study showing that 16 women of unknown TNM status survive for at least 4 years is no great shakes, scientifically speaking."</blockquote>
The <a href="http://www.anticancerfund.org/therapies/gcmaf">Anti Cancer Fund </a>also has a good writeup on Yamamoto's papers, issuing the stark warning that "...all claims on the efficacy of this product have no solid scientific basis. Its marketing is illegal; therefore there is no controlled guarantee on the quality of the product for human consumption sold over the internet". Going through the list we see two more of Yamamoto's 29 studies have been retracted on similar grounds. I cannot tell how many were checked. Other studies listed were printed in <a href="http://scholarlyoa.com/2014/07/24/would-you-take-a-cancer-cure-proven-effective-in-a-predatory-journal/">predatory journals</a>, where a fee secures publication without proper oversight or verification. Most of the remainder relate to bone formation in rats.<br />
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But what of the brains of the organisation, if you'll permit a little elasticity in the term?<br />
<br />
Having failed in his ambitions to run the UKIP, the company is run by one David Noakes. <a href="http://guernseypress.com/news/comment/letter-of-the-day/2014/07/18/conflicting-information-about-immuno-biotechgcmaf/">Here</a> he gives voice to his concerns that big pharmaceutical companies are seeking to silence him out of fear that his cancer 'cure' will dent their profits. The commentary grows ever more surreal, as conspiracy wrestles with conspiracy for space in his column inches, and selecting but a sample proves daunting. I'll go with these:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...legislation of food supplements is the beginning of a political campaign to deny the public access to essential vitamins. This is part of the EU’s Codex Alimentaris.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When fully implemented, many will die...</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Prof Ruggiero developed an Aids drug while working for a big pharmaceutical company in the USA 30 years ago. Since then, big pharma companies have taken some of their banned chemo poisons and rebranded them as drugs to kill the HIV virus. Prof Ruggiero proved that Aids really is Acquired Immune System Deficiency, and that HIV is just one of a hundred opportune viruses you catch when your immune system is collapsed.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Therefore, if one of these drugs works and it does get rid of your HIV virus, you’ve still got 99 other viruses to go, and you still haven’t cured the problem, i.e, your immune system still doesn’t work."</blockquote>
It's hard to fit global depopulation conspiracies and AIDS denialism in the same breath, but Noakes finds a way. The information was enough to find another website, <a href="http://www.eutruth.org.uk/">www.eutruth.org.uk</a>, also penned by Noakes. (A video on the main page confirms the resemblance.)<br />
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I do recommend the page <a href="http://eutruth.org.uk/freemasoncontrol.html">on the Freemasons</a>. It is delightfully eccentric, defying both lampooning and parody, but his embrace of conspiracy theories does not remove the threat he creates. He and his organisation are targeting people at their most vulnerable and charging high prices for false hope. I don't know precisely what laws this sham breaks, or indeed if we have an unsightly gap in our legal code. I'll visit Mike after work tomorrow and make myself available to any members of the public who could benefit from additional background on their enterprise. If any of my reporter friends fancy talking to him, his contact details are on the brochure - 089 979 8662 or mike@gcmaf.eu.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5y9Otak44ExyLEuSkpONtoAnm-USoJBMF0fEe4FLKzB-jp2iboWalQAgYOZXUdKOsxuEc-rJ4XTXaQUm3ofSfU1Stg7QK6ugtUVC7Q2oPA-U3CQBdKMKjS4oFEPEo1faoc8XmyrMJqQ5H/s1600/20141105_190245.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A dreary, repetitive, ponderous mess of verbiage redeemed only by tolerable grammar." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5y9Otak44ExyLEuSkpONtoAnm-USoJBMF0fEe4FLKzB-jp2iboWalQAgYOZXUdKOsxuEc-rJ4XTXaQUm3ofSfU1Stg7QK6ugtUVC7Q2oPA-U3CQBdKMKjS4oFEPEo1faoc8XmyrMJqQ5H/s1600/20141105_190245.jpg" height="180" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-42314459037203503602014-10-24T06:05:00.000+01:002014-10-26T12:20:49.680+00:00Lush Gets Into A Lather Over Fluoride - Vaccines Next?<div class="tr_bq">
Lush makes a damn fine soap. Their staff are friendly, energetic and helpful, and I often pay a visit when wrapping up my Christmas shopping. Until recently my only complaint was that I can smell their shops at twenty paces.</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lush-Cork/72084309808?fref=ts"><img alt="Rebecca Lush Blum I didn't say that science is not important. I was simply trying to clarify what information I was seeking. The issues of fluoridation and vaccination are obviously very divisive. However, I am simply concerned at the moment about evidence that this campaign is homophobic. I've read the blogs Geoff and am listening to the podcast, thank you. Is there any more evidence this campaign is homophobic? Thanks, Becca" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijuQWJj5bG5j-I6y7L-cKx0DSNj_tLdxm6N_YtlodpmFJj5dgBaURoblnphCivcCmdrpAouXdsWqgfRq-B_Mv_1g1fudN6XqvYCheIE6Q_fvdfMwg07xtDcFzyej9xf2ujlqs_ixEnwjSg/s1600/fluorideVaccinesVeryDivisive.png" height="91" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
That changed this week when they described vaccination as 'very divisive' and announced the launch of an Ireland only anti fluoridation campaign. Rebecca Lush Blum (above) is the charitable giving manager for Lush's multi million Euro charity fund and spoke in her official capacity on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152855744569809&id=72084309808&comment_id=10152857824499809&offset=100&total_comments=210">Lush's Cork Facebook page</a>. Her description of vaccination as 'very divisive' is dangerous. It's also nonsense. Vaccination rates have never been higher - 96% of Irish two year olds <a href="http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/news/newsarchive/2014archive/apr14/vaccination.html">are now covered by</a> the six in one vaccine, despite the fact that we give <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2012/12/tax-breaks-vaccine-denial-and-irish-pro.html">charitable tax status to vaccine opponents</a>. This represents a significant victory against the vaccination opponents that caused an <a href="http://www.southernstar.ie/News/Measles-outbreak-spreads-3489.htm">outbreak of measles in Cork</a> a mere two years ago. I find it outrageous that a Lush spokesperson in the UK would seek to pretend there is any sort of Irish debate on whether or not we should protect children from easily preventable diseases.<br />
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How did this all start?<br />
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Lush sell a 'charity pot'. It's a worthy idea: they sell a hand and body lotion and grant the profits to smaller charities and activists. So far they've raised over 4.5 million Euro globally. With small grants going to small organisations there's always the risk of inadvertently backing a questionable group. It happens, and it's a risk that comes with a commitment to charitable giving.<br />
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In this instance the - how to put this delicately - suboptimal group was <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/search/label/The%20Girl%20Against%20Fluoride">The Girl Against Fluoride</a>. Lush's Cork branch announced that they'd be supporting the campaign's unique mesh of angel healing, vaccine opposition, fluoridation scaremongering and homophobia. The commentary this drew from their customers <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152855744569809&id=72084309808">is a thing of beauty.</a> Go read. Of the 210 messages the only support for the move came from one man in Australia. I feel it safe to assume he is not a frequent imbiber of Irish tap water or a regular visitor to Lush's Cork branch.<br />
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I was glad to read that, two days later, Lush listened to their customers and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/freshlush/posts/10152399291488483?comment_id=10152402702423483&offset=0&total_comments=5">cancelled the event</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLlAv7HmEE3o0xsNjWEGuLyP1_AgJb5j5DfDSIAA5Yd9HQUBjMKEKp4FVqBLjmHM8bsEgFIsZ55CAy-zjpsTTh1Q9MSyCIL6QiZhDENiR16Iy_CV_ajk2a56bv8r_1sVbQMt2m9TX_KKU9/s1600/PaddiesAreConcernedAboutFluoride.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLlAv7HmEE3o0xsNjWEGuLyP1_AgJb5j5DfDSIAA5Yd9HQUBjMKEKp4FVqBLjmHM8bsEgFIsZ55CAy-zjpsTTh1Q9MSyCIL6QiZhDENiR16Iy_CV_ajk2a56bv8r_1sVbQMt2m9TX_KKU9/s1600/PaddiesAreConcernedAboutFluoride.png" height="155" width="400" /></a></div>
Reading the announcement was not an unmixed delight as I learned that Lush "intend to run a campaign in all our Ireland shops to further explore concerns around lifelong intake of fluoride". Lush Blum makes the same comment under her own account <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152855744569809&id=72084309808&comment_id=10152860477149809&offset=0&total_comments=210">here</a>. Again we have Lush Blum's opinion on what matters are divisive in Irish society. It seems we're all worried about intake of fluoride.<br />
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Where is the evidence for this concern? The Girl Against Fluoride campaign is so unpopular that it <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2014/09/the-gig-against-fluoride-wheres-evidence.html">failed to give away free tickets</a> to a Kila gig. I went to see the thronging masses at their much touted protest outside the Irish Medicines Board earlier this year. They attracted a total of eight adults:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlOllCzvYIZJNwlCh8zNpgSdflVWtnpimU7UYKVR1cKqNIlAdfcacqoCDcKs1f1jT5zEdVa552dloCjZ_go7o1xtieFnr4zMKLudUwSucpofs5leNAbVrxINIOkzkoppaSxZG1z6ip4Yh/s1600/IrishMedicinesBoard.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Eight adults and five children awkwardly spaced, grinning sheepishly." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlOllCzvYIZJNwlCh8zNpgSdflVWtnpimU7UYKVR1cKqNIlAdfcacqoCDcKs1f1jT5zEdVa552dloCjZ_go7o1xtieFnr4zMKLudUwSucpofs5leNAbVrxINIOkzkoppaSxZG1z6ip4Yh/s1600/IrishMedicinesBoard.png" height="180" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
Is this really the mark of an issue that Lush feels deserving of a nationwide campaign?<br />
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Why only Ireland? Lush has stores in fluoridated America, and has shops in the fluoridated areas of the UK. They also operate in Spain, which has about 10% water fluoridation coverage. And who will be advising on this campaign? I am of course pleased that they have ruled out publicly working with The Girl Against Fluoride folks. Can we have a similar assurance that they will not work together in private? If not them, then who? The only other - let's be charitable - noteworthy fluoridation opponent in Ireland is Declan Waugh. He <a href="http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/27136">advised Sinn Féin</a> in their populist and ultimately pointless Dublin City Council move to oppose fluoridation. Would they work with him? A man who seriously entertains the notion of a joint Russian / American global mind control plot?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0QHTP5a2baBodxHx3S9gq7gIS6us7JhwYEWafmZloyeJtjuDn2S59sa-7KqIsifzbNmN1SCEjL4bN4FV01AjD_geII_twpEClv9xLwhtGJYScm44MyrWazPigPoShgIOsr8oG_G5aSgtv/s1600/MindControlNewWorldOrder.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0QHTP5a2baBodxHx3S9gq7gIS6us7JhwYEWafmZloyeJtjuDn2S59sa-7KqIsifzbNmN1SCEjL4bN4FV01AjD_geII_twpEClv9xLwhtGJYScm44MyrWazPigPoShgIOsr8oG_G5aSgtv/s1600/MindControlNewWorldOrder.png" height="216" width="320" /></a></div>
It's a tangent but I feel I must provide an excerpt from <a href="http://conspirazine.blogspot.ie/2011/05/this-covert-electromagnetic-era.html">the article Waugh judges</a> 'interesting and rather disturbing':<br />
<blockquote>
...pulse-modulated microwaves are efficient carriers for mind control signals ... In short, both the Soviets and American military were running EM experiments on populations – inducing nuclear magnetic resonance in human tissues, increasing cancer rates, and interfering with mental processes.<br />
...<br />
The CIA’s notorious Cold War MK-ULTRA programs have seamlessly morphed into remote electromagnetic mind control that can deliver hypnotism, diseases, and drugs via modulated electromagnetic energy.<br />
...<br />
"Intelligence chiefs are now in seventh heaven. If someone becomes a problem, they park the ‘suicide mind control team’ outside their house. Suicides are easy to explain away. Or they can discredit you by driving you mad by beaming the excitation potential of a pathological mental state at your brain. They place sounds and speech in the target victim’s brain that no one else can hear, called inter-cerebral hearing. This is now common practice. Instead of using excitation potentials, a transducer modifies the spoken word into ELF audiograms that are then superimposed on the pulse-modulated microwave beam. Outside environmental reinforcement via media agents in league with MI5 [UK FBI] assure that the high-profile person’s mind-controlled madness will be put in the worst possible light to discredit them…"</blockquote>
I do admire Lush's commitment to charity. And I do think they make good products. But I can't shop there if they're going to promote this tomfoolery. And I'm truly concerned that they might one day run a campaign in all their Ireland shops to further 'explore concerns' around vaccination. If you feel the same please consider dropping them a <a href="https://twitter.com/lushltd">polite tweet</a> or leaving a message on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/freshlush">Facebook page</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-36045044792096164642014-09-09T12:30:00.000+01:002014-09-09T13:44:38.928+01:00The Curious Case of the Girl Against Fluoride and the Disappearing Christy MooreImagine for a moment that you're a <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/11/girl-against-fluoride-f-minus-for-effort.html">qualified master angel healer</a>. You've paid for a certificate in nutritioniology from a quack who claims to cure cancer with urine and castor oil. You claim to be able to treat autism in children by methods including the <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2014/03/gaps-in-thinking-irish-times-promoting.html">rectal administration of bone broth</a>, you oppose fluoridation <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/11/girl-against-fluoride-vaccine.html">and vaccination</a>, and your campaign's creative manager is convinced <a href="http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.ie/2013/12/fluoride-girls-creative-director-links.html">homosexuality is caused by plastics and contraception</a>. You want to raise some cash for a campaign to change how Ireland provides drinking water. What do you do?<br />
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Some assume that an ability to commune with intergalactic angels and divert their healing rays into people's pets guarantees a steady source of income. And training from someone who claims to cure cancer using only urine and castor oil strikes me as a qualification that could easily be monetized. As for ensuring children on the autistic spectrum reach their full potential using an enema kit and some bone broth - well, the commercial applications are obvious, if we take on faith that the various sources of income open to Aisling FitzGibbon (aka The Girl Against Fluoride) are grounded in truth.<br />
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FitzGibbon is not taking this approach to gathering coin for her anti fluoridation campaign. Instead she's elected to host a fundraising gig. It's appealing: the venue, Whelan's, is excellent, and 20 Euro to see the rightly described 'legendary Christy Moore' is an offer that had me almost tempted to put hand in pocket. I also quite enjoy Kila. Here's one of the many announcements of the fundraiser:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilGrk11bOzg9JKhTtfEF2njIs4QKrcEBSRL3OGTyy7Um5e_fGnscdiQay8nUsojFw9cWoddLO5lBuuxk9c9NyLA1A7AaCDPiItAUY-U_2MLsirMyS0QoSmon9fr8mFjgykZnuHJlZcPUJo/s1600/thirstGames_christy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilGrk11bOzg9JKhTtfEF2njIs4QKrcEBSRL3OGTyy7Um5e_fGnscdiQay8nUsojFw9cWoddLO5lBuuxk9c9NyLA1A7AaCDPiItAUY-U_2MLsirMyS0QoSmon9fr8mFjgykZnuHJlZcPUJo/s1600/thirstGames_christy.png" height="307" width="320" /></a></div>
But is Christy Moore aware of the engagement? The concert is not now and has never been on his <a href="http://www.christymoore.com/gigs/">future gigs</a> page. You'll note that the screenshot above is of the edit history: this is in fact an old copy. After folks bought tickets to see Christy Moore, someone using FitzGibbon's account edited the post to remove all references to him. The current edition is below:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZqKDdCMqvGLbc9Zv5ZD4jMcfn4fT684KK5WVX7HCxfDaXb-214lWngXY-HoEAPVFmnqxni8guyOGnrPYu8TJ6p56A8aadhA5T2iV4nlpWb3I9kZ6eg6yfD0Zvi7NZo2cp5saserigMeb/s1600/thirstGames_current.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZqKDdCMqvGLbc9Zv5ZD4jMcfn4fT684KK5WVX7HCxfDaXb-214lWngXY-HoEAPVFmnqxni8guyOGnrPYu8TJ6p56A8aadhA5T2iV4nlpWb3I9kZ6eg6yfD0Zvi7NZo2cp5saserigMeb/s1600/thirstGames_current.png" height="320" width="306" /></a></div>
And here's another <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGirlAgainstFluoride/posts/737704036289894?fref=nf">historical reference</a> to Moore playing, this time from the 30th of July:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGpdZtp5jufyQzeAIabWV2bRyI9OCB5hv9Z46W1msDY4jHBNO5g4mxwfkawJ52pKux7mlzRNuGON0WVhfRX7fXohsdLdNQR2suia0MFPxq2m8RDw1iQA0wdEzCiI41CjNogaUS9mGDu4h/s1600/thirstGames_christy2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGpdZtp5jufyQzeAIabWV2bRyI9OCB5hv9Z46W1msDY4jHBNO5g4mxwfkawJ52pKux7mlzRNuGON0WVhfRX7fXohsdLdNQR2suia0MFPxq2m8RDw1iQA0wdEzCiI41CjNogaUS9mGDu4h/s1600/thirstGames_christy2.png" height="258" width="320" /></a></div>
Unsurprisingly this has led to some <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1462176454047737/permalink/1467106030221446/">complaints and a call for refunds</a>. Interestingly in the same thread we see mention of a handling charge of 12 Euro, and an instruction to ignore it:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYEwh_kDCPhCFjMLNMm-Gv0Qlca6HFzxmKZfKCpAKE2r6ti22Qx5NPXG5doJBQ3Pcr11E8TUWX4RaJ9F0GwaAnZqo57Kc6GsOOsTPBk9RNAafzf95txvsqnyCcI8dUlcjGKnRTDaJTTFs/s1600/thirstGames_Complaints.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYEwh_kDCPhCFjMLNMm-Gv0Qlca6HFzxmKZfKCpAKE2r6ti22Qx5NPXG5doJBQ3Pcr11E8TUWX4RaJ9F0GwaAnZqo57Kc6GsOOsTPBk9RNAafzf95txvsqnyCcI8dUlcjGKnRTDaJTTFs/s1600/thirstGames_Complaints.png" height="320" width="301" /></a></div>
Below is a screenshot of the handling charge. You can see it for yourself by clicking 'buy now' via FitzGibbon's <a href="http://www.thegirlagainstfluoride.com/event/">event page</a>. Judging from the above, prospective attendees are being told via an intermediary that this additional cost will not be levied. I find this more than a little concerning: as a general rule of shopping, if you're authorising a payment of 24 Euro, you should expect to have 24 Euro debited from your account.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgKaKQyQwsexmoN8yfeKet6uHMXh2HeWawVn4b6iX6boBiQRLZj6fjqKLDC9ylwvvNuiodmhCQEs0_40599pwu76bpQnGSYsMDk8ePR1o6xUKQPGrwS6-l-S6-utW-oXX8aao109Nj3I0/s1600/thirstGames_24HeavyHandling.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgKaKQyQwsexmoN8yfeKet6uHMXh2HeWawVn4b6iX6boBiQRLZj6fjqKLDC9ylwvvNuiodmhCQEs0_40599pwu76bpQnGSYsMDk8ePR1o6xUKQPGrwS6-l-S6-utW-oXX8aao109Nj3I0/s1600/thirstGames_24HeavyHandling.png" height="299" width="320" /></a></div>
The size of the handling charge violates PayPal's <a href="https://cms.paypal.com/al/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=ua/UserAgreement_full&locale.x=en_US#3. Eligibility for Use.">terms and conditions</a> - see section 3.4. And it raises other questions: will the handling charge be refunded if the gig does not go ahead, or if Christy Moore fans are recompensed? It's reasonable to assume the 12 Euro ticket cost is earmarked for furthering FitzGibbon's anti fluoridation agenda, but will the handling charge go elsewhere? Is the venue aware that FitzGibbon is charging considerably more online than ticket sales on the door? What sort of handling costs 12 Euros? Is Christy Moore aware his name has been used to promote this event?<br />
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And what of Kila? They're still listed as performers for the gig, but it's perhaps concerning that they haven't mentioned it on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kilaofficial?fref=ts">Facebook</a> yet. And the gig itself isn't listed on the venue's <a href="http://www.whelanslive.com/">website</a> at time of writing. Informally I've heard they're aware of it but awaiting clarification before listing it as an official event. (I emphasise this is not an official statement.) This is hardly conclusive evidence they won't be there, of course, but given the Christy Moore cancellation it does give one pause for thought.<br />
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Ultimately angel healing, fake autism treatments, nutritioniology, homoeopathy and their ilk share a common thread - bluster and fluff aplenty but very limited demonstrable service of value. I opened this post by wondering why FitzGibbon doesn't use such a woo based approach to fundraise for her anti science agenda. But I'm starting to think she's done just that.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028643425691313983.post-80398634923463373052014-09-06T16:30:00.000+01:002014-09-06T16:31:25.982+01:00Dr Ali Selim - Voice of Irish Muslims?<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"If Allah had willed, He could have made all of you humans a single people. But, He decided to let you choose your own path after showing you the Truth, and thus test yourselves. Outdo one another in actions that serve humanity and thus grow your "Self". To Allah is your final Destination, of all of you."</i> Qur'an, 5:48</blockquote>
The hard right of authoritarian Islam and the hard right of anti Muslim bigotry are unnatural bedfellows, yet are as one in their desire to paint Islam as monolithic. These two heads of the same monster are conjoined in a delusion that Islam's 1.6 billion adherents throughout all cultures and societies have no diversity of thought, opinion, or desire. It is a monster that attacks <a href="http://tellmamauk.org/">those considered Muslim</a>. It is the same monster that attacks those considered <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/qasim-rashid/wrong-kind-of-muslim-pakistan-persecution_b_1586485.html">not Muslim enough</a>.<br />
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It is for this reason that I do not welcome Dr Ali Selim's <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/call-for-state-schools-to-accommodate-islamic-beliefs-1.1915810">recent contribution</a> to the debate on Irish schooling, where he obliquely claims that diversity in Irish society can be enhanced if diversity within Irish Muslim society is eradicated.<br />
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He estimates 65,000 Muslims in Ireland, presumably a figure that includes all 49,204 self described Muslims from our 2011 census. Selim uses his self appointed position as their spokesperson to present them as monolithic on many matters. Let us examine some of his claims:<br />
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<i>"[Islam] forbids pre- and extramarital sexual relations, whereas RSE perceives sexual relations outside wedlock as part of normal practices."</i></blockquote>
I am of course shocked to learn that an authoritarian religious apologist frowns on relationship and sexuality education, and uses their faith and self constructed platform to oppose same. That said a favouring of marriage as an environment in which to raise children can hardly be considered the unique preserve of the Muslim faith, and I'm aquiver with anticipation for Selim's paper showing Christians do not share this position. Perhaps he will soon be calling for the introduction of Catholic values to some of Ireland's schools? It is hardly incoherent to favour waiting till marriage yet also wish to equip one's children with an understanding of relationships, human sexuality, self respect and respect for one's partner and it's baffling how Selim can pretend no Irish Muslim holds this view.<br />
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<i>"[Irish schools should] employ a female PE teacher and provide students with a sports hall not accessible to men during times when girls are at play. They should also not be visible to men while at play."</i></blockquote>
To take Selim seriously we must assume there are tens of thousands of Muslims in Ireland who would be aghast at the thought of their daughters playing anywhere outside an enclosed, women only pod. I offer as my rebuttal your local playground. Agreeing with Selim means assuming that the entirety of the Irish Muslim population is more conservative than Saudi Arabia, a nation aptly described as the world's <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/27/us-pressurised-saudis-let-women-drive">largest women's prison</a> yet still one capable of fielding <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaGPsoGm1v4">female Muslim athletes</a>. Or perhaps Selim is unaware that the Olympics included male spectators? There are people who make such assumptions about Muslims in Ireland. I do not warm to them.<br />
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<i>"If music is performed using non-tuneable percussion instruments such as drums, most Muslims will have no problem."</i></blockquote>
Earlier this year I spent an enjoyable week in Istanbul. One of the highlights was meeting an old friend and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMbFGLMGhwA">hearing her band</a>, an exciting mix of Irish and Turkish talent encompassing several faith positions. You can imagine the shock experienced by Turkey's 98% Muslim position at the simultaneous sound of piano and double bass when the linked track was recorded. I'm sure you all recall the resultant newspaper coverage of this incident and the resulting frosty relationship between Dublin and Ankara.<br />
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Sarcasm, of course. Istanbul pulsates with the music that offends Selim, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebab">instruments</a> that owe their origins to Islamic trading routes. One can only assume that the arrival lounge of Dublin airport presents some theological significance and prompts all arriving Muslims to undergo a profound change of position on the matter of pluckable instruments. Should we really remove the fiddle, the tin whistle and the accordion from Irish schools in the name of beliefs Irish Muslims don't even hold? Will that really foster an environment where we value our fellow Irish citizens of the Muslim faith?<br />
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<i>"Physical contact between members of the opposite sex who can be legally married is forbidden in Islam."</i></blockquote>
This goes some way to explaining why my female Muslim doctor examines me using her powers of telekenesis, and gave me my recent vaccinations via a blowpipe from twenty paces, blindfold, lest the sight of my naked shoulder remove forever her chance to enter the gardens of paradise. Selim's statement is untrue, and I do not warm to those who invent such tales to paint Irish Muslims as a group incapable or unwilling to participate in daily life in this country. It's a widely thought among Muslims that Mohammed himself <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufaida_Al-Aslamia">used female medics</a> during times of battle, a strategy doubtless earning Selim's opprobrium. He could argue that some Muslims in some cultures avoid unnecessary physical contact with members of the opposite sex, but this is a much weaker point, and presenting it as normative is to reduce the diversity within Islam to a right wing stereotype.<br />
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I know Muslims who eat fries and run bars. I know Muslims who avoid food colourings because they contain trace amounts of alcohol. I know Muslim musicians. I know Muslims who married atheists. I know Muslims who married Muslims. I know Muslims who are considered heretics for their beliefs. The Irish Muslim community is a rich tapestry with representatives from many countries, cultures and faith traditions and I reject Selim's attempt to usurp their voice to further his own conservative agenda. Our nation has already experience of conservative Catholics who claim without justification to be the authoritative voice of their coreligionists. We should view Selim's attempt in a similar vein.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548882212024368758noreply@blogger.com4