He's just slow

An Oregonian columnist wrote yesterday that we should stop using "retarded" as a slur. She's right - hurtful insulting language is mean.

But I can't help but reflect on how many insults began as the kindest possible language. Retarded does simply mean slow. (Still does in Italian.) Now we use "developmentally delayed", because kids heard "retarded" and started using it with malice in their hearts.

The same is true of words like moron and idiot - once technical terms intended to be used with the greatest compassion, now raw insults with the power to burn. And very liberal, tolerant people used to use the word "Negro" out of the deepest respect. A word that in its roots really does just mean the same as the one in common use today - Black.

It's the way of things - we see our words are causing harm, and we find new words to try to fix the problem. And in a generation, the new words will have stopped working, and we have to try again. It's work we must do, but it doesn't mean we'll ever be done.

Religion and science, can't we all get along?

There's a superb article by Bruce Sheiman about science and religion in this month's UU magazine.

He excellently makes a case for how religion and science are worth having around. He does argue that science has a moral dimension, overlooking the many immoral uses of science in the world. But then, religion has been used immorally many times as well over the centuries.

It does make me wonder what the combatants in the "culture war" expect the final outcome to be. How can a creationist seriously expect the world to ignore evolution? I suppose they sincerely believe that evolution is a lie, but it's delusional to imagine that all the evidence and discoveries are going to ever go away.
I think the angry athiests who want religion to go away are slightly more connected to reality - religion is on the decline in many European countries, and science has undercut some religious explanations of the world in the last 500 years.

But the religious impulse - to find meaning in our lives and to spend time in communities that honor that meaning - that impulse is part of being a healthy human. That will never cease as long as there are humans.

The only way to end the war is with peace, not with more war. Unfortunately, peace is harder work, so this "war" isn't likely to end any time soon.

Batman: The Musical!

This is hilarious. And a real Warner Brothers Batman product. And it features Neil Patrick Harris. This is worth ignoring our crumbling democracy for. Thanks, pop culture!

Regretsy

I've been "enjoying" Regretsy for a while now, although some of the disasters on Etsy are horrifying.

But I think the wreath of clown heads is my "favorite".

Credit reporting gets serious

With all the news about credit card companies, it's of note that the credit rating agencies are engaged in struggles as well. Struggles with their enemies, to try to get more money from you. The Federal Trade Commission is not pleased with Experian, one of the big 3 credit agencies. Because after a federal law passed guaranteeing us all free access to our credit reports, Experian set up a website with a very similar sounding name, to sell us copies of our credit reports. (Not surprised the government didn't choose the best name. Although maybe it was already taken.)

But of course, on the internet, imitation is the sincerest form of spammery. Lots of people set up similar scam websites. But Experian couldn't have that, so they sued. And won. And every misspelling of their website now belongs to them.

There's big money in telling us whether we can borrow big money.

Pac-Text

In the spirit of Progress Quest, there is now also a text-based Pac Man.

I played Pac-Text for way too long before getting bored. I got a score of 1850. Dang. I need a life.

Republican Party more rigid, more negative

I know it's hard to imagine, but the Republican National Committee is working hard to make their party even less ideologically diverse than it is now. They've drafted a resolution to exclude dissenting candidates. If you don't agree with them on at least 8 of their 10 items, you won't get RNC support. (Which you only care about if you're a Republican, but does make all their candidates carbon copy talking-point machines like Ms. Palin.)

What I find most interesting is how most of the items on the list are negative. We oppose this, we oppose that. They don't stand FOR anything, just against. They have some ideals and values that have some potential merit at least worth arguing, but all they want to do about their ideas is nothing. That's weak.