Ricky Gervais and the Manuel Problem
The only thing more predictable than the transphobic jokes in Ricky Gervais’ new Netflix special, SuperNature, was the criticism they elicited.
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Posts by author
Barry Purcell
9 posts
Barry Purcell lives in Ireland. He writes about philosophy, psychology, politics and language.
Will This Article Kill You?
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. —John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (Meditation XVII). Can Just Seeing Something Kill You? There…
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National Values and the Denaturalisation of Shamima Begum
On 9 February 1933, Irishman James Gralton was denaturalised and deported from what was then the Irish Free State. He had spent some years in the US, but he was…
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[Title Redacted] or How Not to Address Holocaust Denial and Anti-Semitism
When initially asked about Facebook’s refusal to remove the InfoWars page, John Hegeman, head of Facebook’s News Feed, said, “I guess just for being false that doesn’t violate the community…
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Should You Delete Your Facebook?
Given the recent revelations about Facebook’s facilitation of data mining on behalf of Cambridge Analytica, deleting your Facebook could be a reasonable reaction. You might even consider participating in Quit…
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The Jimmy Carter Effect
“There is nothing more pathetic in life than a former president.” — John Quincy Adams Public fascination with what an ex-president does with his time is greater than ever. On…
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Is Ireland Ready for Abortion?
Ireland has always been seen, along with Poland, The Philippines and Central and South America, as the heartland of Catholic belief. Despite Ireland’s official status as a democratic republic, however,…
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This Is Your Brain on Ideology
PATHOLOGY: What is “ideology” and why is it bad? Like “postmodernism” or “feminism,” an ideology can have as many meanings as there are people using the term. In this article,…
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Why Do We Hate Dogs?
As humans, we have visited the most horrible cruelty on dogs. Although some recent self-serving studies (commissioned and conducted by humans) indicated that it may originally have been a mutually beneficial…
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