The Tuesday Eudemon
Evidence that America's TV watchers are, indeed, unintelligent: "Predictions that DVRs would kill off TV ads appear to be off the mark: Nielsen reports that viewers watch 40 percent of the commercials they could skip." (Atlantic link)
With roughly 9 in 10 of its citizens claiming to believe in God or a Supreme Being, America is widely acknowledged to be the most religious of modern industrial nations. Yet when it comes to knowledge about religion, it ranks among the most ill-informed. While close to two thirds of all Americans regard the Bible as a source of answers to life's questions, only half can name even one of the New Testament Gospels. Similarly, in a land of growing religious diversity, only 10 percent of U.S. teenagers can name the world's five major religions.
A little off topic: Why is Judaism included in the list of five major religions? I assume we're talking sheer numbers, and Judaism simply doesn't have 'em: 14 million, compared to Buddhism, which comes in fourth place with 376 million (this Wikipedia entry's numbers correlate with my general knowledge of the matter). Even the pagans smoke 'em in numbers.
Good, though nauseating (too much "gay ick"), piece at The Atlantic about the vibrant homosexual life in Saudi Arabia, "The Kingdom in the Closet." The story in a nutshell: Because Saudi women are off limits outside of marriage, "men" turn to people of Lot activities. Excerpts:
Reaffirmation that I don't want to go to prison:
[T]he number of men in the kingdom who turn to gay sex is even greater. “They're not really homosexual,” she said. “They're like cell mates in prison.”
America has exported McDonald's and its gay bathhouse culture?
“Guys romp around and parade in front of you,” [a gay Filipino who re-located to Arabia] told me. “They will seduce you. It's up to you how many you want, every day.”
The next excerpt is a little too descriptive for heterosexual tastes, but here goes:
“You can be cruised anywhere in Saudi Arabia, any time of the day,” said Radwan, a 42-year-old gay Saudi American who grew up in various Western cities and now lives in Jeddah. “They're quite shameless about it.” Talal, a Syrian who moved to Riyadh in 2000, calls the Saudi capital a “gay heaven.”
This is surprising enough. But what seems more startling, at least from a Western perspective, is that some of the men having sex with other men don't consider themselves gay. For many Saudis, the fact that a man has sex with another man has little to do with “gayness.” The act may fulfill a desire or a need, but it doesn't constitute an identity. Nor does it strip a man of his masculinity, as long as he is in the “top,” or active, role.
Ten grammar mistakes that make you look stupid. Great list, though I've committed number seven accidentally and number ten on purpose (for effect). The rest of the items are things that drive me nuts when I see them, and I see them frequently in the work of other lawyers who should know better (and who are also cocky and would argue that their usage is correct).
