A parent in Gwinnett, Georgia, is trying to get the popular Harry Potter children's books banned from all Gwinnett County school libraries. Why?
"It's just not fair to promote one religion over another. The Wicca religion is a recognized tax exempt religion. The books promote witchcraft and they expose children at a very early age to the symbols and the paraphernalia of witchcraft and the practices of it like casting spells."
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So it's a "separation of church and State" issue, apparently.
"Merchant" = "slaver"?
In Bristol, England, there is a big redevelopment planned for part of the city: "The massive development due to be completed in 2008 is set to transform the centre of Bristol, providing the city with a revamped shopping centre, bars and housing."
They were going to call the new development "Merchant's Quarter" -- for good historical reasons. It was of course the traders -- generally called "merchants" -- of the 18th and 19th century who through their activities caused Bristol to become one of England's great ports. But one of the things they traded in until the British government abolished the trade in 1807 was: slaves.
So the name "merchant" was held to be "insensitive" and has now been dropped. No word yet on what the new name will be. More here
Satirical Language Risky at Yale
Yale has a satirical student magazine called "Rumpus" and, being young, the editors of it were incautious enough to satirize racism. Given that they must all of their lives have heard racism vigorously condemned, it may never have occurred to them that racist language was anything but ridiculous.
They recently published an issue (PDF) that featured prominently on its front page the term "motherf***ers". That drew no criticism, of course. And the many other uses of the f-word and an article ridiculing strictly observant Jews seem to have been OK too.
What got them into hot water was an article headed: "Me love you long time: Yale's case of yellow fever" -- which said that Asian female students were particularly attractive to white male students. Nothing wrong with that, one would think, but the satirical term "yellow fever" in the heading seems to have been a BIG problem.
There was also a second article along similar lines headed: "Miscegenation station: Interracial dating at Yale". "Miscegenation" is of course an old term of condemnation much favoured by white racists but the article in fact was ridiculing such condemnation by saying it has been defeated at Yale -- in that interracial dating is very common at Yale -- though the article did rather write off Asian male students as "nerds", perhaps with some reason.
Apparently the Yale administration refused to condemn the newspaper (on free speech grounds) but there was a big ruckus nonetheless. Somewhere around the time this post goes up there is to be a "day of silence" put on by the Asian Students Association to protest the articles:
"Throughout the day, participants will dress in black, wear black cloth gags and maintain silence in protest of recent articles in Rumpus and the Yale Herald that they say reflect "racial insensitivity toward Asian Americans and other minority groups," according to the group's statement, which participants will hand out as a substitute for speaking."
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The student editors have defended what they published here
