As so often, the answer depends on who’s asking and who’s running for president. A new Pew survey found that only 44 per cent of Americans said they would be less likely to support a presidential candidate who is 70 or above, which a decrease of 16 percentage points from a similar survey in 2007.
Brendan Nyhan of the New York Times has more.
The MEP’s name is Roger Helmer, and he’s no stranger to controversy, Pink News reports. He’s no stranger to stupidity either. When I read statements like this, I always wonder what that person would say if anyone suggested that his or her love life was a defect that required a cure. Should men who love their wives be cured in hospitals?
The Local has published an English translation of the king’s speech.
Abdication seems to be the new normal in European monarchies. In recent years, we have seen abdications in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg. We have also seen a pope leaving his office.
Seen above is Sweden’s national coat of arms, which I think looks really nice would like to see used more often. Unlike many other European countries, we don’t have our foremost national symbol on our passports. Instead, we have some small details of it mixed with some bizarre modernist symbols representing nothing substantial.
Norway is the most gay-friendly of the Nordic countries according to a new report from the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Had it not been for the fact that everything in Norway is far too costly, I just might have given Oslo a try.
This has to be some kind of record in malicious stupidity. A frequent commenter on the Swedish Humanist Association’s official blog describes how people seek to become discriminated minorities because this is a privilege:
An infinite number of people will demand the privilege of being an oppressed minority; people who do not satisfy with being treated as normal people but demand recognition and love specifically because of their minority status.
No one seeks oppression. What most people want is to be treated not as “normal people” but as the person he or she is. What the comment illustrates is the common misbelief that norms fit all and that those who diverge from these norms do so because they consider themselves better than others.
The quotation in Swedish: »Det finns ett oändligt antal grupper som kommer att propsa på privilegiet att vara förtryckta minoriteter; som inte nöjer sig att betraktas som vanliga människor utan kräver bekräftelse och att älskas just i egenskap av sin minoritetsstatus.«
This is horrific news from Iraq. A militant group has taken over several cities and imposed strict sharia laws, one of which bans women from leaving their homes.
An outright religious war looms closer in Iraq. Read about it at Arab News.
“Members of the militant group ISIS posted gruesome photos on Twitter on Sunday night claiming they slaughtered 1,700 Iraqi officials and soldiers,” The Daily Beast reports. The New York Times has more on this story. This is really horrific news and an example of religion being abused for the most perverse purposes.
The weather is too nice for blogging. Living in Sweden, one must take every opportunity to enjoy the short summer months. That, and the fact that I’m busy doing jury service, is the reason for the infrequent updates.
Felipe VI became king of Spain yesterday. I don’t know why I find royalty so interesting, but it’s something special about old monarchies. A bit like old religions. You don’t have to believe it’s right to see the beauty in it.
Anders Zorn (1860–1920), Midsummer Dance (1897).
Update: I realised that I’ve been posting a picture of this painting once before, in 2010, but I like it that much.
“Fear of the dentist can make people do strange things to avoid having their teeth checked including inventing a story that you have been kidnapped,” The Local writes. The article tells the story of a 12-year-old boy in France who did just that. I’m impressed!
“A recent global survey by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League suggested that France now has the highest percentage in Western Europe—37 percent—of people openly harboring anti-Semitic views,” Washington Post writes. And a vaguely disguised Hitler salute made popular by the anti-Semitic activist Dieudonné M’bala M’bala has become commonplace.
“Her burnt remains were discovered behind a bin at a rental facility,” Pink News reports.
How on earth anyone could be so upset by transgendered people that they commit hate crimes like this is really beyond me.
“The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Rowan Williams, says he has “no problem” with legal parity for same-sex couples, but claims the state rushed into “redefining” marriage,” Pink News reports.
Lord Williams is wrong. If anything, the official recognition of gay people’s civil liberties is long overdue. It’s great that Britain and many other countries now consider gay citizens equal to heterosexual citizens, but it has by no means been done in a hurry. It should have happened many generations ago.
A dramatic painting by fourteenth-century artist Simone Martini.
A new study suggests that Swedes are more worried about an increase in xenophobia in Sweden than they are about the increase in immigration. Thank God, there’s still some sanity left in humankind. Far too often one gets the impression that the racists are the majority—they sure do everything possible to make people think they represent the silent masses. Feels good to know they are not.
This remarkable because Bush Junior wanted an amendment to the American constitution that specifically outlawed equal right for gay people.
Read about it at Politico.
On the face of it, it’s a resolution aimed to protect the family, but since all mentioning of same-sex and single-parent families has been deliberately removed from what is included in human rights, it’s easy to see where this is heading.
Read more about it at Pink News and Gay Star News.
Samuel Hirszenberg (1865–1908), The Shabbat Rest (1894).
Something that made me uncomfortable when I walked on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was the many posters encouraging people not to commit suicide. I learned that this bride is the number one favourite spot for people who want to end their lives because the strong current makes it nearly impossible to survive such a jump. People are literally sucked deep into the Pacific Ocean never to be seen again.
So why haven’t anyone put up a fence? Well, it turns out that San Francisco has now decided on just such a suicide barrier. Good! I don’t think for a second that this will prevent determined people from ending their lives, but it will make one of America’s most beautiful buildings a less gloomy place.
Read more about it at San Francisco Gate.
“The Irish government is seeking to close a loophole in equality law that permits religious employers to discriminate against gays,” The Local reports.
I never get tired of the urban landscape. I took this picture today from the top of a multistorey car park in Malmö.
Siewert Öholm, once a renowned journalist on Swedish state television, has joined the most extreme fringe of the Christian Right as he proclaims that legalised same-sex marriage risks turning boys into Nazis. Read about it in Swedish at Aftonbladet.
