I believe OP is talking about the co-option of legitimate gay rights and women's rights activism to advance the political status quo, that hurts everyone, including gay people and women, in the developing world. He or she is arguing that Obama's move here is not helping gay people in Uganda, rather, it's helping the…

I really wonder if the stage is being set for drone strikes and military intervention in that region? "Pinkwashing" has been used to justify war crimes committed by our allies and ourselves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_mark…) and "women's rights," and by extension the rights of sexual minorities, were used to…

Yeah, its totally about oil, with less than 15% of our oil imports coming from Saudi Arabia. Our relations have much more to do with investment and the military than oil, especially considering the downward trend in US oil imports.

The last part may be true, homosexuality and transgenderism have existed everywhere, forever and are not western imports. But, I've heard from some African LGBT/human rights advocates (who risk prison, violence, exile for speaking out) that they don't think the western agenda of LGBT rights (for example, marriage) is…

BUT DOES THIS COMPANY CHECK YOUR FACEBOOK?!

i was by NO MEANS the mall goth/che t-shirt kid in high school so i don't say this often buuuuuut: that is some fascist horseshit.

The sad thing is this could be used for many other nefarious things. I used to work in higher ed admissions and I've heard of students being denied at other schools (not mine) because of their social media postings. Actually, I know of one person who was denied a graduate internship because of all of their drunk pics…

This is exactly why I won't post any pictures of my Black friends' kids on Facebook or Instagram. Not even kidding. I figure it's only a matter of time...

Cue the "THIS IS THE END OF AMERICA, THANKS PC NAZIS" crowd.

Good grief. If the language is so complicated that a regular reader of this blog can't keep up with it, it's certainly too complicated for the general population to get everything exactly right. I'm so sick of hearing "Google it! Do your research! Why can't you get it right?!" as the solution, too, because there isn't…

Go dangle your bait somewhere else.

The Muslim peace movement is called Islam. Islam has no Pope. Every act of violence is denounced, publicly and often, but it's never enough for people like you, is it?

So most Muslims sympathize with terrorists? Really? Indonesia? Kosovo? Senegal? Tunisia? These countries are over 90% Muslim. Those entire countries sympathize with terrorists? Are you aware that there are different types of Muslims, with different philosophies, as well as many cultures that contain Muslim people? You…

I feel like I'm heaping on Japan in this thread, but there are a lot of comments that strike me as veering towards orientalism in their admiration of the wise and cultured Japanese - the whole: *look, even their fans are civilized!* (oof, and I just now really noticed the title Isha - the whole "gracious"…

This is why atheists have such a bad reputation. Going on long rants about how stupid everyone is that believes in "a man in the clouds" and then says something about how they believe in something ridiculous is not exactly the best way to win friends. I'm not particularly religious, but I hate it when people push…

Since someone is going around saying that the US is becoming the Middle East, I think it's important to bring in some historical perspective (facts are magic!)

...being rational, level-headed and invariably correct on matters of spiritual importance?

So...why argue? What's the point? How do you intend to accomplish anything? Why are you even here?

I didn't say you were white, I said you have a white savior's magic ability to understand African women's lived experience. Letting go of your first world privilege in these situations is hard, I understand that hearing a different perspective can be a cause to lash out. But maybe instead take a second and try to…

I am not claiming it is fantastic, but just that for many, many women who experience fgm they don't go on to have life-long pain. They are able to menstruate and give birth without complications. FGM is horrible and unnecessary, but the way it is depicted by Western NGOs you would think that the women of Ethiopia and…