Song(s) of the Day # 4,446 Rostam
1 hour ago
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Row after Pope's remarks on atheism and Nazis
A speech in which the Pope appeared to associate atheism with the Nazis has prompted criticism from humanist organisations.
However, the Catholic Church has moved to play down the controversy, saying the Pope knew "rather well what the Nazi ideology is about".
Humanists have said the comments were a "terrible libel" against non-believers.
In his address, the Pope spoke of "a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society".
He went on to urge the UK to guard against "aggressive forms of secularism".
The Pope made his remarks in his opening address to the Queen at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
He said: "Even in our own lifetimes we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live.
"As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus a reductive vision of a person and his destiny."
'Highly political'
A statement from the British Humanist Association said the Pope's remarks were "surreal".
It said: "The notion that it was the atheism of Nazis that led to their extremist and hateful views or that it somehow fuels intolerance in Britain today is a terrible libel against those who do not believe in God.
"The notion that it is non-religious people in the UK today who want to force their views on others, coming from a man whose organisation exerts itself internationally to impose its narrow and exclusive form of morality and undermine the human rights of women, children, gay people and many others, is surreal."
The German-born Pope has previously spoken of his time growing up under the "monster" of Nazism.
He joined the Hitler Youth at 14, as was required of young Germans at the time.
Late on in WWII he was drafted into an anti-aircraft unit in Munich.
He deserted the German army towards the end of the war and was briefly held as a prisoner-of-war by the Allies in 1945.
The Pope's conservative, traditionalist views were intensified when teaching at the University of Bonn in the 1960s he was said to be appalled at the prevalence of Marxism among his students.
In his view, religion was being subordinated to a political ideology that he considered "tyrannical, brutal and cruel".
He would later be a leading campaigner against liberation theology, the movement to involve the Church in social activism, which for him was too close to Marxism.
There Are Books a Young Man Should Read OR How Not To Get Laid
There are books a young man with literary pretensions should read if he wants to get laid—see the other entries in this department—and then there's Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille. This slim little packet of social anthrax was delivered to me six weeks into my freshman year at college by another very nice young man with literary pretensions who purported to be my friend. Let the record state that this individual wore a cinnamon-colored beret around campus and listened to exactly one album, Einstürzende Neubauten's Haus der Lüge, on repeat on his jet-black Sony Discman. Let the record also state that this individual had (or seemed to have) a lot of sex. As far as I could tell, the world had gone insane: where I'd grown up, my new friend would have been beaten into a quiche-like gruel every Saturday night as a trust-building exercise for the rest of the community. But I was only too happy to accept his reading recommendation, if only because my first month at school had been a washout. If talking in a fake Scottish accent and brewing non-alcoholic absinthe in your dorm room had sexual currency in this new world, after all, there might actually be hope for me...
Continue reading
John Wray @'Paris Review'
PDF's Of Bataille books
@'Supervert' Friday, 17 September 2010
Fact Mix 185: Midland
Midland takes charge of our 185th FACT mix.
The up-and-coming producer/DJ announced his arrival earlier this year with the ‘Your Words Matter’ 12″, a collaboration with his friend Ramadanman released on Will Saul’s Aus Music label. This was followed by Play The Game, a four-track EP on Phonica Records that really showcased the breadth of his sound. Midland makes warm, tensile house and techno, but the narrative shape of his tracks and his regular deployment of fragmented, ethereal vocal snippets betray the influence – conscious or otherwise – of dubstep individualists Burial, Pangaea and Joy Orbison.
If his epic 23-track FACT mix is anything to go by, our man also draws inspiration from much further afield. It’s packed with unreleased material, including Midland originals ‘Shelter’, ‘Hub’ and ‘Dead Eyes’, together with his remix of Caribou’s ‘Sun’ and cheeky re-edits of Washed Out and Massive Attack, and Appleblim & Ramadanman’s immense, forthcoming ‘Void 23′. There’s also classic house from Kerri Chandler, shark-eyed minimal from Arnaud Le Texier and DJ Koze, plus recent cuts from Space Dimension Controller, Workshop, 6th Borough Project and a special edit of Boards Of Canada exclusive to this mix.
Tracklist:
1. Boards of Canada – Corsair - Warp (Hyde park field recording)
2. Matthew Dear - Honey - Ghostly International
3. Midland feat. Anywayawana – Hub – Unreleased
4. Al Green – Truth n time – The Right Stuff Records
5. Space Dimension Controller – BBD Alignment – Royal Oak
6. Boards of Canada – Olson – Warp (Midland Re Edit – FACT Version)
7. Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy (Nellee Hooper Instrumental Remix – Midland Rearrangement) – Wild Bunch
8. Ron Deacon – Untitled B2 – Workshop
9. Rainer Trueby – Ayers Rock – White
10. Loot – Dollkraut – Doppelschall Records
11. Washed Out – You’ll see (Midland Re- edit) – Unreleased
12. Roberto Rodruigez – I Got – Forthcoming Fina Records
13. Archie Bronson Outfit – Chunk (6th borough project remix) – Domino
14. El Txef A – She Kissed Me first (Minilogue Hypno Remix) – Forthcoming Hypercolour
15. Mathias Kaden – Kawaba (Dj Koze’s Kosi-san Remix) – Vakant
16. Adultnapper & Big Bully – Low point on high ground – Simple Records
17. Sideshow – Scary Biscuits (John Tejada Remix) – Aus Music
18. Midland – Dead Eyes – Forthcoming This is Music
19. Terrence Dixon (Arnaud Le Texier remix) – Change – Children of Tomorrow
20. Ramadanman & Appleblim – Void 23 – Forthcoming Aus Music
21. Midland – Shelter – Forthcoming Aus Music
22. Kerri Chandler – Fortran (Argys Legendary Bonus Beats) – Deeply Rooted House
23. Caribou – Sun (Midland Remix) – Unreleased
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