Friday, August 20, 2004
Winning by a nose
"Hey, you with the nose job! You look good enough to be Miss Plastic Surgery!" This is the message being sent to Chinese women who have had cosmetic surgery.
A beauty contest is to be held in October open to any woman who can prove that her beauty is man-made. The initiative was launched after a woman was banned from a traditional beauty contest after spending US$13,000 on 11 cosmetic operations. China recently lifted a 54-year-ban on beauty pageants.
"Hey, you with the nose job! You look good enough to be Miss Plastic Surgery!" This is the message being sent to Chinese women who have had cosmetic surgery.
A beauty contest is to be held in October open to any woman who can prove that her beauty is man-made. The initiative was launched after a woman was banned from a traditional beauty contest after spending US$13,000 on 11 cosmetic operations. China recently lifted a 54-year-ban on beauty pageants.
But they're not intolerant...
Bioethical controversies often generate heated language -- often more heated than enlightened. This extract from a press release issued by the Libertarian Alliance, which describes itself as "Britain's most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute" is a particularly splendid instance of fustian diathermancy (hot air):
"Human embryos and tissue are the property of human beings, not resources to be controlled by arrogant moralisers and the alleged "great and the good" in state socialist bureaucracies... The opponents of cloning, an unholy alliance of religious fundamentalist lunatics and the green slime of environmentalists and anti-scientific and anti-capitalist primitivists, are an axis of evil, whose predictable reactionary moaning and groaning should be dismissed as the ranting nonsense it is... Life, liberty, property, scientific and industrial progress, and the abolition of illness, death and taxes are the axis of human values. The reactionary opponents of cloning, and the despotic and arrogant Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority who would seek to control or restrict it, are the voice of anti-life values and the culture of death.
Bioethical controversies often generate heated language -- often more heated than enlightened. This extract from a press release issued by the Libertarian Alliance, which describes itself as "Britain's most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute" is a particularly splendid instance of fustian diathermancy (hot air):
"Human embryos and tissue are the property of human beings, not resources to be controlled by arrogant moralisers and the alleged "great and the good" in state socialist bureaucracies... The opponents of cloning, an unholy alliance of religious fundamentalist lunatics and the green slime of environmentalists and anti-scientific and anti-capitalist primitivists, are an axis of evil, whose predictable reactionary moaning and groaning should be dismissed as the ranting nonsense it is... Life, liberty, property, scientific and industrial progress, and the abolition of illness, death and taxes are the axis of human values. The reactionary opponents of cloning, and the despotic and arrogant Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority who would seek to control or restrict it, are the voice of anti-life values and the culture of death.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
A flag to die for
The debate is well and truly on regarding the design of New Zealand's flag.
But the acquittal of Paul Hopkinson for burning a flag recently is an important legal milestone.
In many countries (perhaps even most), the flag is a very potent symbol. It represents the aspirations of the people, and their nationhood. In times of war, the flag must be protected at all costs - for the flag to fall is a disgrace and a sign that the battle has been lost.
People in these countries will die for their flag. Are we willing to die for ours? In that sense it does not matter what the design (although I believe the current ensign contains some powerful statements about heritage and geographic place that it would disappointing to lose). If we are not prepared to die for our flag, it does not matter what we place on it, because it really represents nothing to us of real value.
The fact that Hopkinson burnt the flag showed that he repudiated his New Zealand citizenship. And the fact that the court imposed no penalty showed it agreed that the flag no longer has any potency.
The debate is well and truly on regarding the design of New Zealand's flag.
But the acquittal of Paul Hopkinson for burning a flag recently is an important legal milestone.
In many countries (perhaps even most), the flag is a very potent symbol. It represents the aspirations of the people, and their nationhood. In times of war, the flag must be protected at all costs - for the flag to fall is a disgrace and a sign that the battle has been lost.
People in these countries will die for their flag. Are we willing to die for ours? In that sense it does not matter what the design (although I believe the current ensign contains some powerful statements about heritage and geographic place that it would disappointing to lose). If we are not prepared to die for our flag, it does not matter what we place on it, because it really represents nothing to us of real value.
The fact that Hopkinson burnt the flag showed that he repudiated his New Zealand citizenship. And the fact that the court imposed no penalty showed it agreed that the flag no longer has any potency.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Two victories for marriage
The California Supreme Court has ruled in a unanimous decision that in directing the county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the mayor of San Francisco had exceeded his authority. The court declared that the 4,000 gay “marriages� contracted in San Francisco are null and void.
The day after the California decision, Australia codified normative marriage. By a 39-7 vote, the Australian Senate inserted the following in the nation’s 1961 Marriage Act: “Marriage means the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.� A further provision stated that same-sex unions contracted elsewhere would not be legally recognized in Australia.
The California Supreme Court has ruled in a unanimous decision that in directing the county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the mayor of San Francisco had exceeded his authority. The court declared that the 4,000 gay “marriages� contracted in San Francisco are null and void.
The day after the California decision, Australia codified normative marriage. By a 39-7 vote, the Australian Senate inserted the following in the nation’s 1961 Marriage Act: “Marriage means the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.� A further provision stated that same-sex unions contracted elsewhere would not be legally recognized in Australia.
British can't tell Hollywood from history
Historical fact is being diluted by Hollywood fiction, with some young people believing Gandalf the wizard defeated the Spanish Armada, according to an article in the NZ Herald.
Almost half of 16- to 34-year-olds questioned in a BBC poll did not know that Sir Francis Drake led the English fleet against Spain. One in five 16- to 24-year-olds thought it was Columbus, and one in 20 said it was Gandalf, the wizard from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
The figures, released to mark the start of Battlefield Britain, were declared "really surprising" by history specialists. Campaigners for a return to a more traditional syllabus branded the results a "disgrace" for the state education system.
Showing the impact of Hollywood on history, 15 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds thought that when Orangemen marched in Northern Ireland on July 12, they were celebrating victory at Helm's Deep, a battle at the end of The Two Towers, the second novel in Tolkien's trilogy.
Of the 1006 adults over the age of 16 who took part in the survey, only half of all age groups knew that the marches marked the Battle of the Boyne, in which the Protestant William of Orange defeated the troops of King James II in 1690.
Despite the blanket coverage in the media of the recent 60th anniversary of D-Day, a third of those polled and half of 16- to 34-year-olds did not know that the Battle of Britain took place during World War II.
The Roman occupation of Britain proved equally unmemorable, with one in five unaware that they had been here at all. One in 10 of 16- to 24-year-olds thought that the Germans had conquered Britain.
Sample poll question - Who defeated the Spanish Armada? a) Sir Francis Drake; b) Christopher Columbus; c) Gandalf the Grey
Historical fact is being diluted by Hollywood fiction, with some young people believing Gandalf the wizard defeated the Spanish Armada, according to an article in the NZ Herald.
Almost half of 16- to 34-year-olds questioned in a BBC poll did not know that Sir Francis Drake led the English fleet against Spain. One in five 16- to 24-year-olds thought it was Columbus, and one in 20 said it was Gandalf, the wizard from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
The figures, released to mark the start of Battlefield Britain, were declared "really surprising" by history specialists. Campaigners for a return to a more traditional syllabus branded the results a "disgrace" for the state education system.
Showing the impact of Hollywood on history, 15 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds thought that when Orangemen marched in Northern Ireland on July 12, they were celebrating victory at Helm's Deep, a battle at the end of The Two Towers, the second novel in Tolkien's trilogy.
Of the 1006 adults over the age of 16 who took part in the survey, only half of all age groups knew that the marches marked the Battle of the Boyne, in which the Protestant William of Orange defeated the troops of King James II in 1690.
Despite the blanket coverage in the media of the recent 60th anniversary of D-Day, a third of those polled and half of 16- to 34-year-olds did not know that the Battle of Britain took place during World War II.
The Roman occupation of Britain proved equally unmemorable, with one in five unaware that they had been here at all. One in 10 of 16- to 24-year-olds thought that the Germans had conquered Britain.
Sample poll question - Who defeated the Spanish Armada? a) Sir Francis Drake; b) Christopher Columbus; c) Gandalf the Grey
