- Great visualisation of a Bach piece
- What is a representative sex worker?
- Study suggests that imposing harsh discipline on children simply teaches them to be better at lying as they do their absolute best to avoid punishment.
- An oldie but a goodie. Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said his four daughters would be affected if same sex marriage was allowed. ‘We know that the best protection for those girls is that they get themselves into a secure relationship with a loving husband and I want that to happen for them. I don’t want any legislator to take that right away from me.’
- Another oldie: in the ultimate meshing of pseudosciences, the Association of Catholic Doctors in Germany was recommending homeopathy as a cure to homosexuality (and pedophilia and child abuse by priests).
- Greta Christina on why she cannot do porn again — another good comment on attitudes to sexuality.
Friday Links (23-Dec-11)
December 23rd, 2011
3 comments ↓
(1) Discipline
Ouch, that is something I always watch but am probably not great at. I am a very strict parent but our kids are very well behaved compared to many other families. But as they grow (and get more clever) I see the need to give more and more freedom.
Unlike the African study, I have never been severe, just consistent. I guess that difference is critically important. Plus, I am extremely affectionate with my kids.
(2) Homeopathy
I agree with a comment on that site, that the group treating homosexuality is a very weird small group. We can criticize homeopathy (I am an ex homeopath) or Christianity (I am an ex Christian), but we should try to separate out our charges with a bit more sophistication. It is as if an Atheist does something really stupid and the title reads, “Atheist feels Space Invaders live inside the Sun”.
But I did enjoy the article
1. By strict discipline it meant heavy corporal punishment, I’ll edit the post to make this clear. As in it’s the threat of physical punishment that conditions kids to lie to avoid it (although it might make sense that other forms of punishment might have a similar effect if the kids dread it, even if it’s not physical).
2. What I found interesting was the juxtaposition of Catholocism and homeopathy (which I don’t normally see going hand in hand) as well as the two specific pseudosciences of homeopathy and “curing” homosexuality. I don’t know if that’s what you considered unsophisticated? It is because these 3 things don’t normally go hand in hand that I thought made it the perfect storm.
Plus to me the very nature of it is hilarious — it’s essentially using a pseudoscientific, ineffective and discredited treatment to conduct another ineffective discredited treatment to “cure” something that’s not a problem in the first place!
(I know from your posts you have a different opinion of homeopathy even though you probably don’t consider it effective in the same way that standard medicine is, but that’s what I see when I read the story.)
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