Read: An open letter to Catherine Deveny on gaslighting and #qanda
Lots of people really hate Catherine Deveny. They hate her because she’s an uppity atheist, she’s too loud, she occasionally says outrageous things… she’s just a bit gauche, isn’t she? Is she? Well, Richard Dawkins is frequently accused of arrogance and shrillness too (not always unjustified), but with Deveny it seems to be more personal, and her appearance on Q&A the other week was a case in point. The outrageous dribble that came out of Peter Jensen’s mouth was overshadowed by that awful loud Deveny woman, who controlled the whole discussion.
That’s nonsense. As usual, the female contribution was well and truly overshadowed by the male, and Jensen spoke considerably more than Deveny. This article, by an ex-wife of an evangelical pastor, is illuminating on the rhetorical technique sometimes known as ‘gaslighting’, where women are placed in the position of being the raging harpy through the insidious and clever manipulation of their, and our, perceptions. Even if — particularly if — you dislike Deveny, this is well worth a read.
Watch: One day
This sweet, very short animated film has been doing the rounds recently. Created, it seems, by third year students at the French animation school Gobelins, it’s about a man whose house changes its location every night. I don’t want to give too much away; it’s really sweet and you should just watch it.
Listen: Music from the screens by Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso
Paris’ musings about mashups last week reminded of dj BC‘s awesome (no longer available) Glassworks album of hip hop Philip Glass mashups. A couple of the tracks use Glass & Musa Suso’s music for the Jean Genet play The screens, which I hadn’t heard. See, illegal sampling is a force for good.
Foday Musa Suso is a brilliant kora player and composer from Gambia, and his collaboration draws out the best in the oft overrated Glass. So check out the gorgeous kora bassline and exquisite violin solo in Warda’s whorehouse.
Oh and OK, now let’s listen to djBC mashing it up with The Fugees’ beloved classic How many mics?.
