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    Random thought about the SC horrors – illustrated nicely by Marginal Revolution

    From this post

    Normative sociology, the study of what the causes of problems ought to be, greatly fascinates us all

    That sums up a lot of the next round of media coverage.  The navel gazing has begun about the killings, namely media criticism about differences in coverage, the deeper motivations of the shooter, making him the internet celebrity he seems to want to be.

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    Greatest comeback ever – Alexandre Dumas edition

    It turns out he was of mixed race – or so says wikipedia anyway

    Despite Dumas’ aristocratic background and personal success, the writer had to deal with discrimination related to his mixed-race ancestry. In 1843 he wrote a short novel, Georges, that addressed some of the issues of race and the effects of colonialism. His response to a man who insulted him about his African ancestry has become famous. Dumas said:

    My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. You see, Sir, my family starts where yours ends.

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    Ever More Quotes of the day

    Again from Slate Star Codex

    The difference between “religion” and “culture” has always been pretty vague. Shinto is the best example; it’s less a coherent metaphysical narrative than a bunch of things Japanese people do and a repository for Japanese traditions and rituals. A quick look at Hinduism reveals that they have no idea what gods they believe in, it’s a bunch of different religions stuck together under one umbrella, but the point is that it’s the sort of thing Indian people do and a repository of Indian traditions. Even though Jews have a pretty coherent religion, the line between “Jewish culture” and “Jewish religion” is equally fuzzy. Religion as distinct from culture seems like a pretty Western phenomenon, the result of a triumphant Christianity colonizing cultures it never originated from, ending out with the modern conception of culture as ethnic food + silly costumes.

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