RationalWiki:To do list/archive2016
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20 | Cassie Jaye - a feminist filmmaker who directed the documentary film The Red Pill that details her journey (and eventual descent) into the men's rights movement. |
37 | Normalizing appears to be the new buzzword for 2016 signifying once unacceptable things becoming acceptable. Shouldn't we have an article on this? |
56 | Killer bee/Africanized bee, hyped for many years as a grave threat to American civilisation, but what is the scientific reality? We have a lot of bee and honey articles but not this. Maybe we could build some kind of a wall? |
73 | Terraforming (literally, "Earth-shaping") of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable by Earth-like. Prospective planets include Mars and Venus. We can also do an article regarding the philosophical concerns within biology and ecology as to whether terraforming other worlds is an ethical endeavor. |
54 | Liberland, a particularly silly and amusing micronation scam. Currently a redirect to Micronation, but there's material here for a proper article. Founder is of course a serial scammer, with several other serial scammers participating. |
7 | Sojourners, American magazine with conservative bent |
21 | John F. MacArthur, known for his best-selling bible commentary, but after looking at his Wikipedia page (John F. MacArthur) he seems a crazy of a high degree, on the fringe of mainstream Protestantism, and to have been involved in several controversies - all of which is rather worrying considering the influence he has on how the Bible is interpreted. |
41 | Saqqara Bird, a wooden artifact recovered from Egypt and carved in the image of, as one might expect by the name, a bird. With a wingspan of little more than half a foot, it is a fairly small construct, but this hasn't stopped people from claiming that it must have been a model for actual flying devices invented by the ancient Egyptians, which "mysteriously" left absolutely no evidence of their existence outside of this artifact. Most of this stems from its tail being vertical instead horizontal, the fact that birds are aerodynamic, as well as the works by such sorts as Martin Gregoria who built an upscaled version where the startling discovery was made that the thing was far too heavy and unstable to even glide. As one might expect, this of course hasn't stopped others from claiming they've made their own models work. |
55 | InteligenCreate draft, a new form of wooplement that is hitting the internet streets via url shortened spamlinks, google result url spams and other link obfuscating methods. their ad policy http://goodllwits.com/intl/wmyy/inteligen?bhu=bHVFxtJVSq1qDzzkWhcNF3wmhaMzLCaYbn#37686 and http://www.inteligenscam.com/ domain scam blares the red alert on them. |
27 | Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers (MAAF) is a community for atheists, humanists, and freethinkers in the military, both within the United States and from around the world. The MAAF can assist U.S. military members to respond to illegal and insensitive religious proselytizing on military bases. It is an independent 501(c)(3) organization building community for humanists and other nontheists in the military. The MAAF supports constitutional separation of church and state and First Amendment rights for all service members. It also educates and trains both the military and civilian community about atheism and humanism in the military. Flagship programs for MAAF are its local Network, with over 70 worldwide points of contact, lay leaders, and local groups from Kyrgyzstan to Japan and throughout the US and its Chaplain Outreach program to educate 5000 military chaplains on how to support atheists and humanists in the military. Supporting those major programs are care package delivery, lay leader and chaplain endorsement, and a robust advocacy program to identify and resolve issues to make the military a safe place for nontheists. (Well, as safe as an organization whose purpose is to fight wars can be, at least.) |
107 | Ricky Gervais, comedian and internet atheist |
16 | God on Trial is a 2008 BBC/WGBH Boston television play written by Frank Cottrell Boyce. The play takes place in Auschwitz during World War II. The Jewish prisoners put God on trial in absentia for abandoning the Jewish people. The question is if God has broken his covenant with the Jewish people by allowing the Nazis to commit genocide. |
13 | The Agora, formerly Agora, Inc, is the parent company of many, MANY crank publishers and "news" sites, including Natural News and the below-mentioned MoneyWeek. This body of the crank hydra is infamous for its spam emails offering a "free"* book by some Austrian School nutjob. |
12 | MoneyWeek (who also runs Capital & Conflict) is a magazine whose website makes wild claims about wealth confiscation before telling you to buy a "report" or sign up for some newsletter. For example, that weird ad at their homepage (http://moneyweek.com) |
49 | ThePhoraCreate draft, another major hate site. Basically Stormfront with slightly less overt racism. |
16 | Paul McHugh, anti-transgender and anti-gay[1] formerly distinguished psychiatrist, widely criticised by those who've read more recent research.[2] He also defended the Catholic Church (of which he's a member) over paedophile priest allegations, blaming it all on the church for being insufficiently anti-gay. |
17 | Peace and Freedom Party, California-centred leftist minor party with an impressive range of celebrity Presidential/VP candidates including Roseanne Barr, Cindy Sheehan, Eldridge Cleaver, and Benjamin Spock. Standing again in 2016. |
72 | Conspiracy theories about higher educationCreate draft (or something of that nature), because the eebill essjaydubyaz are turning campuses into |
14 | Rocky IV is a 1985 American sports film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. Because the film came out during the height of the Cold War era, it is basically pro-American nationalism with Rocky Balboa as the symbol of both the American Dream and American idealism taking on the six foot tall goliath, Ivan Drago, who is the physical embodiment of the Soviet Union. |
138 | Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party is yet another paranoid political documentary by Dinesh D'Souza about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and an examination of the "history" of the Democratic Party. Currently just a subsection of the D'Souza article. |
32 | U.S. support of the Khmer Rouge is a conspiracy theory promoted by some figures on the Left in the U.S. Not sure if it validates its own article, but it could get a section in the Khmer Rouge article. |
55 | Ener-ChiCreate draft and/or Andreas MoritzCreate draft, a peddler of New Age woo. [3] |
42 | Hoodia gordonii, the plant marketed as Hoodia as an appetite suppressant, even though it totally isn't one. A favourite of herbal and diet scammers. |
30 | Suzanne Moore. Suzanne "Men. You can’t live with them. You can’t shoot them." Moore. Second-waver "radical feminist" who rejects "modern feminism" because she believes it "spends most of its life not just bending over backwards, but in the doggy position, saying how much it likes men". Accused of being transphobic (if true this would basically make her a TERF). In terms of extremeness could probably be considered somewhere between Andrea Dworkin and Cathy Brennan. |
66 | Women's studies or Gender studies programs in the Humanities departments of universities. Are they statistically-rigorous investigations of the relationship between gender and society, or a liberal plot to make you hate men? |
72 | U.S. Right to KnowCreate draft is an organic industry interest group whose practices have been monitored by a user wanting to bring them to light. Activities of this organization include involvement in the FOIA accusations of Kevin Folta, and repeated attempts to silence critics by calling them paid trolls. |
56 | The Forbidden KnowledgeCreate draft, at theforbiddenknowledge.com. Magnetic crank website with a significant amount of views, combination of Antimasonry, Freeman on the Land, NWO nightmare, and a great example of Haig's law in action. |
75 | Development dictatorshipCreate draft the curious idea on the right that developing countries have to go through a phase of basically being Singapore, South Korea until the 1980s, Taiwan until the 1980s or China today if they ever want to get out of poverty. Similar and related to the "if only the Chinese were running things" complaint of Western very serious people |
18 | Correct the Record, a PAC founded by Media Matters creator David Brock to "defend Hillary Clinton from baseless attacks," and one of the latest boogeymen for angry pro-Trump Redditors. |
26 | Northwest Front, a crank scheme to "save the white race", etc., by establishing a whites-only enclave in the Pacific Northwest. Going Galt for the alt-right. Here's their website - they have a constitution and everything! |
54 | kosher tax or kosher tax conspiracy about the Kosher tax conspiracy theory, not the actual historic taxes on kosher food. Apparently some people think the small labels showing whether a product is kosher dairy or meat are one giant (((Jewish))) conspiracy. Some even believe that the "K" in a circle means the product was made by the Ku Klux Klan! |
53 | Activia is a mostly irrelevant yoghurt brand these days, but it caused quite a shitstorm a few years ago when the people discovered that the supposed active ingredient, "Bifidus regularis", turned out to be regular old gut bacteria. Classic example of food woo and deepity in action. |
10 | The Claremont Institute is a conservative think tank, the paleocon complement to the neocon Heritage Foundation and libertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute. Big fans of Leo Strauss, the go-to guys for genteel racism since 1979. |
36 | Chestahedron, a geometric shape invented by a student of Rudolf Steiner that is claimed to have some mystical connection to the heart. |
32 | A more global, wider-ranging article on immigration: there is Myths and facts about immigration to the United States, Britain is full and illegal immigrant as well as coverage of Islam in the West, nationalism, and more, but nothing about legal migration in general. Anti-immigrant sentiment is related to racism, but not the same, as it references cultural factors (religion, etc) and worries about overcrowding and economics. Immigration is now a major political issue in much of Europe: cover anti-immigrant parties and agitators. Also, myths advanced by the far-right about immigrants all being criminals, stealing jobs, being lazy, acting as a secret invasion force/being terrorists, etc (which are covered in the US article but not globally). Plus, how worries about immigrants often don't reflect actual levels of immigrants, or the racial/ethnic/religious identity of most immigrants. There may be scope for merging or writing more of an overview. |
85 | The infamous white supremacist and "comedian" Sam Hyde.[4] |
54 | The so-called War on cashCreate draft feeds on the revolution in how we are paying for goods – examples of questionable claims include Zero Hedge and even Forbes! – I already made some preliminary notes on this. |
17 | We need to investigate the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a target of conspiracy theories that allege that the act allows the US government to confiscate savings in the same way as Cyprus did in 2013 (although it I did not get to design new banknotes for them since they did not leave the euro in the end). Examples include govtslaves.info, which itself needs an article, and Zero Hedge. |
63 | Hindus for TrumpCreate draft; a Hindu nationalist group that fully supports Donald Trump, beliving him to be a reincarnation of Vishnu. |
48 | We might need to investigate Finca BayanoCreate draft (http://www.fincabayano.net/en/survival.htm) to figure out this unique kind of survivalist woo that entices people to "Emigrate while you can". Its ads appears in what appears to be another conspiracy site Govtslaves.info, according to this. |
12 | Jay Severin was a radio show host who openly claimed that all Muslims should be killed. |
80 | Bruce Lee, was a Hong Kong American actor, martial artist, philosopher, filmmaker, and founder of the martial art Jeet Kune Do. He is widely considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be one of the most influential martial artists of all time, and a pop culture icon of the 20th century. He is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films. His eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to claim that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings. |
52 | Apricot kernel, a "Health food" that causes Cyanide poisoning (see also laetrile). Also basis for a cheap substitute of marzipan |
53 | Asses see Demons and Cocks see AngelsCreate draft, or some variation on this entertaining title. Belief held by some Muslims which references scripture alongside donkeys and roosters seeing IR/UV to conclude that their braying/crowing is a result of seeing Demons/Angels. |
78 | Vaping - its claimed benefits, conspiracy aspects ("Government trying to kill it because taxes on smoking are higher") and the missionary zeal of some addicts. Currently a redirect to a small section on Tobacco smoking. Draft in progress. |
13 | Shmita, or Shemitah, is a sabbatical year in Judaism that is occasionally a target of anti-Semitic predictions of a global economic collapse (one of the most recent being for 15 September 2015), some of who try to sell religion with it: offenders include Before it's News, The Dollar Vigilante, The Economic Collapse Blog and even InfoWars. |
47 | The Money MastersCreate draft - an Austrain economics documentary full of Federal Reserve conspiracy theories. |
10 | Irving Fischer is an economist who's theories have heavily influenced post-Keynesian economists. He was also an advocate of full-reserve banking and alternative currencies (akin to Bitcoin). Unfortunately, he made medical crank theories and argued in favor of prohibition and eugenics. |
6 | Tawfik Hamid is a self-described ex-Islamic fundamentalist and a campaigner for a more "peaceful Islam". He is also a Muslim Zionist. |
41 | Virginity test "medical procedure" which tests to see if a woman has had sexual intercourse. Human Rights Watch has documented incidences where these tests have been used to deny women jobs and marriages. |
24 | CrossFit and the controversy and criticism surrounding it. |
16 | Washington Legal Foundation, the mortal enemy of the Food and Drug Administration. They oppose all government regulation, but they're particularly gunning for the FDA and are responsible for most of the setbacks in FDA regulation in the past thirty years. They are horrifyingly effective at what they do. Funding is not clear but is probably the Kochs. Their 2015 annual report covers their hard work against regulation in general. |
50 | Choice CenterCreate draft Las Vegas, a Landmark-style Large Group Awareness Training that teaches you "leadership" and oh yeah, wants you to fundraise for them too. Suggested by a reader. |
41 | clitoris: things I've heard lately (1) the excellent example of bad science where male anatomists totally ignored it for hundreds of years, because patriarchy (2) it's allegedly the only human organ with no evolutionary purpose (cats have clitoris in their vagina btw), or that may be a myth, but creationism[5] (3) lots of myths and tall stories about its nerves or lack of nerves, sensitivity or insensitivity, plus dangers of clitoral piercing. |
17 | Eugene Landy was an American psychologist and psychotherapist most notorious for his unconventional 24-hour therapy, as well as for ethical violations concerning his treatment of the Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson in the 1980s. |
72 | Patient-funded trialCreate draft, a way to sell snake oil to sick people. The loophole the Burzynski clinic uses. Controversial, particularly ethically. [6][7] Occasionally nets a really deserving sucker like Peter Thiel.[8] |
30 | Pure Flix Entertainment is a Christian film production company, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and co-founded by Arnold Schwarzenneger of Christian films David A. R. White. The company produces, distributes, acquires and markets Christian and family-friendly films. The company produced such classics as God's Not Dead, Jerusalem Countdown, and Do You Believe? |
66 | WeAreTheLeftCreate draft (actually "#WeAreTheLeft", but you can't start an article with a #) was an open letter posted on Medium that argued that the left needs to embrace intersectionality and address bigotry in the ranks. A lot of leftists seem to be taking umbrage at it (including many on this very site). |
49 | Tiny Nose's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party. This is the critically panned sequel to 2016: Obama's America, directed by Dinesh D'Souza. |
33 | Repatriation, the idea of returning legal immigrants (invariably non-whites) to their "homelands", either "voluntary" or by force. A mainstay of the racist right in Britain since the 1960s, it would be interesting to trace the history of the idea and the practicalities or impracticalities. A contrast could be made with the "Back to Africa" movement or the "right of return" in the Middle East and similar ideas of voluntary return "home". |
72 | Onision, a YouTube atheist known for angry rants against those who disagree with his views, and calls himself a feminist, in an attempt to hide and excuse his true misogynistic behavior. |
63 | Erin ElizabethCreate draft has gained notoriety on Facebook for promoting food woo, anti vaccine nonsense and other miscellaneous quackery, so a page here is now a must-have. |
20 | Howard Stern, the shock jock known for banter about sexuality, bashing and starting feuds with celebrities of all kind, and using big tragic events for his brand of comedy and/or moralizing. |
28 | Islamic Jihad is an Islamist group in the Middle East known for collaboration with Hamas in Palestine. |
27 | Mujahideen is a term in Islam which means holy warrior, and often used by extremists. |
20 | Fitna is a term which generally referred to anything that is a distraction in Islam, but is now mostly used as a snarl word by Muslim fundies to describe women's actions if they aren't dressed "properly" or are even in the public eye. |
16 | Jay Sekulow runs the right wing American Center for Law and Justice. Through his daily radio show, internet video, and web site, he panders to evangelical conservatives, bashes the left, files lawsuits, and gathers petitions promoting various right wing causes. The ACLJ, formed by Pat Robertson, has come under criticism for filling the coffers of Jay Sekulow and his family with tens of millions of dollars since the 1980s. (Currently a stub at the ACLJ article). |
45 | TruNews[9] is a right wing blog and companion radio show run by paranoid conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles. They appear to have gained some traction recently among fellow conspiracists, and they now broadcast their odd combination of evangelical Christian fare, extreme right wing talk, and conspiracy theories from shortwave station WRMI in Florida and a number of domestic U.S. radio stations. (Currently a redirect to Rick Wiles.) |
74 | STEMlordCreate draft is a term used by some people about those too holier than thou about science. |
15 | Bill Warner is an anti-Islam speaker known for his YouTube channel "Political Islam". |
20 | Asra Nomani is a feminist Muslim who gained controversy over her opinions about Islam. She originlly was known for championing the cause of desegregation in mosques by gender, but later started voicing more controversial statements. One of her biggest points currently (and probably the only one she focuses on) is about the Muslim headscarf. She has even gone so far as to equate it with terror, which led to even others who criticize the headscarf to distance themselves from her views on this (claiming that she has become paranoid on the topic). Other questionable views include her loudly supporting Ben Carson, being one of the most vocal voices against the "Park 51", supporting profiling of Muslims, and claiming that a common Islamic expression is symbolic with extremist ideology. |
14 | Ana Kasparian is Cenk Uygur's reporting partner for TheYoungTurks. |
25 | Yitzhak Rabin was Israel's beloved Prime Minister who was murdered by some fundamentalist Jew because he intended to make peace. |
20 | Mondoweiss has been popping up in WIGO a lot recently - who are they, what do they do and who reliable are they as a source |
25 | The World According to Monsanto, yet another anti-GMO propaganda film. |
36 | Perhaps an article on Treason, including the history of the charge, and its abundant presence in Pseudolaw, especially in the United States, where some believe that Treason is anything the government does that they don't like. |
33 | Monica Lewinsky. This article would focus on her as a person, her veering between shunning publicity and embracing it since the scandal, and her claims about being the patient zero for cyberbullying. Also would address claims that feminists berated her at the Tiny Noses' urging. |
17 | Healy-Rae family or perhaps Danny Healy-Rae, scary Irish political family who hide behind "the veneer of a friendly/simple country yokel" but are a lot worse than one may think. Jackie left Fianna Fáil and made a huge furore about how unprincipled they were (despite only quitting for political reasons), then proceeded to support them anyway. Michael was absent for over two thirds of Dáil debates but claimed expenses on all of them anyway, and decided that excluding the number 13 would 'save the Irish car industry', and is current head of Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, and worst of all is Danny, who decided that climate change was controlled by 'God alone' and puny humans can do nothing to stop it (This isn't something I implied, HE EXPLICITLY STATED THIS IN DÁIL EIREANN). Worse still, they are currently best mates with Fine Gael (yep) and could be damaging if they get anywhere near the cabinet. And yet the people of Kerry love them. Michael got the most votes out of anyone in the 2016 general election surpassing 20,000 ON A SPLIT STRATEGY (the next guy was Stephen Donnelly in Wicklow, who is JOINT LEADER OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS) and Danny got in on the second count, pushing out a MINISTER and experts said there were enough for 3 Healy-Raes. While they say they will bring it up to "dose smart alecks up in Dublin" they have a very sinister, unstoppable agenda. |
72 | "YADA"Create draft is a youtuber and crank. He is also a member of the Hotep Movement. |
71 | "Can We Take a Joke?" is an upcoming documentary by Reason contributor Ted Balacker. It looks like it's going to be the latest round of aging comedians complaining about political correctness being "censorship." Made in partnership with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. |
20 | J. Warner Wallace is an American homicide detective and Christian apologist. He has authored several books, including Cold-Case Christianity and God’s Crime Scene, in which he applies principles of cold case homicide investigation to apologetic concerns such as the existence of God and the reliability of the Gospels. |
28 | Reason Rally. Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear exists, and this has happened twice. The nonsense around the second one should be interesting. |
32 | Klaus Barbie was a Nazi officer (in)famous for his methods of torturing French resistance fighters. Instead of being tried for war crimes, he was hired by the CIA to track down German commies - and possibly to capture Che Guevara. |
56 | Bill StillCreate draft is a dubious broadcaster that desperately needs to be Rationalwikized. He is in the debunked conspiracy film Thrive. He has done a show about how Donald Trump is "God's Trumpet". |
67 | Good schoolsCreate draft a dog whistle term for white people to explain why they move away from "those people" once they start a family. Ripe for analysis of the (mis)use of the term and if the inherent claim actually holds water |
30 | Apparently ecosexuality is a thing. Looks New Agey to me. |
58 | Massie MunroeCreate draft,[10] senatorial candidate from California vows to end "remote Voice to Skull technologies and Mind Control" for Targeted individuals. |
66 | Brexit: The Movie A pro-leave film made by the same guy who made the Great Global Warming Swindle. I don't think I know enough to respond to all of it but I'm pretty sure the bit about fishing is bullshit given that most of the decline in British fishing occurred before the Common Fisheries Policy was introduced thanks to its own overfishing. |
30 | Bernard Nathanson - was an abortion provider and pro-choice advocate, now a pro-life nutter. |
80 | Awake DatingCreate draft [11] is a dating site created to facilitate romantic connections between conspiracy theorists. |
127 | German ethnic cleansingCreate draft (working title; should be changed) is a claim that many white supremacists and Neo-nazis use as a red herring when discussing the Holocaust. Examples include the German POWs killed in Utah during the Midnight Massacre, in Dachau after its liberation, those who died during Rheinwiesenlager, and those who died laboring for the Soviets. They may also mention the treatment of German prisoners of war in the United States or the flight and expulsion of Germans across Europe during and after WWII. A book called Other Losses, by Canadian novelist, James Bacque, purports that millions of Germans were purposely killed by the Allies after the war but it was heavily criticized for misrepresenting and misreporting facts; his book Crimes and Mercies, also about the treatment of the Germans wafter WWII, was better received. The forced assimilation of German Americans during WWI may also be relevant to this topic. |
38 | Annie Lacroix-Riz, French literature professor, is an unreconstructed Stalinist, arguing no famine happened in Ukraine on 1933, that an Vatican-Berlin-Warsaw axis worked to fight against Communism in the 1930s and that France has been stabbed in the back by the Synarchie - business and industry bigwigs - on 1940. |
43 | The Thomas Carlyle Club for Young Reactionaries (Students Against a Democratic Society) is a pseudonym taken by neoreactionary Karl F. Boetel and published several articles on the website Radish, including apologism against democracy (see here) and for slavery (see here), lynching (see here) and the Congo Free State (see here). Also came up with the Dark Enlightenment Magic: The Gathering cards. |
47 | Calvary Chapel is an evangelical association of Christian churches, which grew out Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in Southern California in 1965. There are over 1,000 churches in the United States alone and have affiliations with half a dozen colleges campuses. While they try to promote themselves as a friendly organization they have conservative leanings when it comes to Biblical teachings, which tends to piss off most non-Christians and most moderate to liberal Christians |
65 | Americans for Common Cents, otherwise known as the penny lobby. They are one of the groups pushing the keep the U.S. penny in circulation, despite the fact it costs more to make a penny than what the coin is actually worth, or the fact that the coin has become essentially obsolete in this day and age. They claim we need to keep it for such reasons as charity drives and the "fact" that millions of Americans want to keep it, and totally not because the group is backed by the industrial company Jarden Zinc Products, which produces the blank zinc disks from which pennies are made. For more info: (https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/07/02/14959/saving-penny-makes-cents-zinc-backed-front-group) |
74 | The Muslim Students' Association is a decently sized religious organization operating on college campuses. While they try to promote themselves as a friendly organization they have ultraconservative leanings on the Quran and support political Islamism, to the point where they don't even allow moderate Muslims to join them on some campuses because they don't consider them real Muslims. Unfortunately it can be difficult to separate the genuine extremeness of the MSA from the more conspiritorial ramblings of Islamophobic crazies who use them as a favorite boogeyman (though this time they're not completely wrong that the MSA likes to use social justice organizations for cover). |
64 | Dial-the-Truth Ministries is fundamentalist Christian website founded by Dr. Terry Watkins. They are King James Only-advocates, and they believe that rock music (including Christian rock) is evil. The ministry also believes that Hell is a physical place located in the core of the Earth, that Santa Claus is a form of Satan, and has additionally written on the theory of a link between the number '11' and the September 11 terrorist attacks, alleging that, "This could be the "beginning of the end" of America the great." |
60 | John Kennedy Toole satirised neoreactionary politics in A Confederacy of Dunces and religion in The Neon Bible. |
83 | GhostPolitics, True Capitalist Radio, or True Conservative Radio, whatever you want to call it: Yet another right-wing kook with a microphone on the internet. Transphobic (refers to his trans callers as "transtesticles"), homophobic ("You're fruitin' up my broadcast! The whole place smells like butt-crack!"), racist ("I'M A MELTING POT OF FRIENDSHIP!! I'M A NICE GUYYY!!!1!"), brony-hatin', sexist ("Your mother is out at Applebees' lookin' for the high hard one from some ethnic minority, huh?"), conspiracy-theorizin' (the usual "Moon Landing in Nevada" tripe, for starters), hyper-capitalist, fat-shamin' ("You're a fat greasy-ass smelly HAAAAAAMBOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!"), Islamophobic (spouts out the usual Eurabia fearmongering and says that Muslim women have to wear "beekeeper suits"), and all-around asshole with a humongous ego ("I'm listened to by TENS OF THOUSANDS of capitalists THROUGHOUT THE WUUURLD!!1!") and attempts to be a Goat ("MAAAAAH MAAAAAH MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"). Has gained a cult following among trolls due to how easily angered he is. Some of his fans could also use a RWing. Sandbox start page here. |
135 | Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history. It is designed not only to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty, but also in many cases to empower women and uplift entire communities by extension. Critics argue, however, that microcredit has not had a positive impact on gender relationships, does not alleviate poverty, has led many borrowers into a debt trap and constitutes a "privatization of welfare". The first randomized evaluation of microcredit, conducted by Esther Duflo and others, showed mixed results: there was no effect on household expenditure, gender equity, education or health, but the number of new businesses increased by one third compared to a control group. |
90 | Nim Chimpsky or Project Nim or chimp sign language: another topic with grand claims but also allegations of bad science or scientific fraud. The film Project Nim covers a famous experiment with teaching sign language to a chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky. Separating fact from fiction would be good. |
144 | handwashing and drying: there is a lot of scientifically-illiterate nonsense about this everyday activity that has enormous importance in public health. One issue is antibacterial soap which research shows is pointless in general use[12][13]; there's also a heated debate about how to dry your hands.[14] And, is washing your hands after you go to the bathroom necessary, if washing your privates prior to oral sex isn't?[15] |
123 | RationalWiki:Monthly RW/Archive, RationalWiki:Monthly RW being long dead, but we should keep the history, dontcha think? |
81 | Jeremy Hunt for pissing off all the Junior Doctors. |
57 | Lysander Spooner, who was an anarchist, abolitionist, early competitor with the US Post Office and, apparently, pro-pedophile. Supposedly a major influence on Murray Rothbard. |
60 | Preachers of L.A. is an American reality television series that premiered October 9, 2013, on Oxygen. Preachers of L.A. chronicles the lives of three bishops and three pastors from their work within the church to their personal lives at home. The preachers are adherents of prosperity theology. Here's a video of CultOfDusty pointing out their hypocrisy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMwLFLbRNu0&nohtml5=False |
95 | Bob WhitakerCreate draft/Robert Whitaker, former Reagan staffer, running an openly racist campaign for 2016 US president on the American Freedom Party ticket.[16] Inventor of the "anti-racist is a code word for anti-white" crap. |
97 | FCKH8 Gay rights group accused of being biphobic, transphobic and misogynistic. |
92 | Obergefell v. Hodges is currently just a redirect to Same-sex marriage i think we should give it the same treatment as Roe v. Wade and Kitzmiller v. Dover |
95 | SaveOurSteelCreate draft Basically the uk steel industry is being discussed to be closed down by the Tories after dismantling half the welfare state, leading to the loss of hundreds if not thousands of jobs, pissing of the people with those jobs, and creating a massive controversy. Summary of events, for and against. Really needed |
74 | Fetal homicide laws have been passed in numerous US states and countries in order to punish women who have abortion, whether medically or self induced, or have had miscarriages. There have also been attempts to punish "fetal harm" which involves any "injury" done unto the fetus and has punished women for fetal deformities. |
70 | Michael Ruppert was probably the most notable conspiracy theorist in recent times. He originally accused the LAPD and CIA of drug trafficking, compiled an 'evidence' list accusing the US government of being complicit in 9/11, and feared peak oil and Fukushima. He starred in a critically acclaimed movie, Collapse, which criticized humanity's response to global warming and delved into goldbuggery. |
97 | An article on White OppressionCreate draft cause it turns out that Republican white people especially think their whiteness is being oppressed. |
62 | The Voltaire Network is a French NGO that supports securalism and studies far right movements; they have been heavily critical of the US's foreign policy, but they have supported Hezbollah. |
71 | CounterPunch is a American leftist (socialist) magazine dedicated to muckraking and has been consistently antiwar. They cover environmental and labor issues. They have occasionally endorsed anticapitalist conspiracies and have hosted underhanded anti-semitic articles. |
66 | Antiwar.com is a libertarian, anti-war website that was created to oppose the Bosnian intervention. It has hosted contributions from Glenn Greenwald to Ron Paul. |
48 | Standpoint theory is a postmodern method for analyzing how authority is rooted in individuals' knowledge. It is decried by the right wing as being used by the left and spooks as a form of thoughtcrime. |
72 | HIV discrimination exists in many countries were those who are infected become social outcasts and may be imprisoned for their behavior. |
64 | John Lewis was a chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and a prominent civil rights leader who later became a politician; he was a critic of the Tiny Nose's welfare reform. |
84 | Waiting for "Superman" was a neoliberal propaganda documentary that criticized American public schools and American teacher unions. It endorsed charter schools as the miracle solution, but cherry picked inaccurate data. The movie was criticized by the the Grassroots Education Movement made a documentary critical of it called The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman which is named after the director's, Davis Guggenheim, previously famous documentary An Inconvenient Truth |
58 | Peter James Knight, the perpetrator of the only instance of murder by an anti-abortion activist in Australian history.[17][18] His motivation involved opposition to oath-making and a refusal to pay tax, as well as living off the grid and pursuing his own unique interpretation of Christianity, which appears relevant to recent American fringe wingnuttery. Info about his ideas and actions would be interesting, and the Wikipedia page on him is kind of shit. |
90 | Keith Lowell JensenCreate draft, atheist comedian. |
144 | False flag claims about the Brussels airport bombing. EG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUDumwfs_80 |
71 | The American Conservative definitely deserves an article for being one of the only paleoconservative outlets left in the US.They have also been against the growth of the surveillance state and big business corruption. |
60 | Lord of the World I think I found the source of every NWO conspiracy theory. It depicts a totalitarian one world state based around Marxism run by Freemasons lead by the Antichrist who oppress hard working Roman Catholic priests.It was written 1907 and has been praised by both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. I think we pretty much have to talk about itas conspiracy theories (most likely) based off of it and its believers have taken up a lot of our time Edit: Wording in stuff. Can't think straight right now |
46 | Percy Shelley: atheist, socialist, libertine, celebrity, mediocre poet, hero to the left. Must be some jokes in there somewhere. |
62 | Salt Lake City, headquarters of Mormonism. Surely someone could provide a useful travel guide? (Utah is quite brief too.) |
72 | Lourdes, a popular pilgrimage site associated with miraculous cures. Also the subject of a thoughtful fiction film of the same name directed by Jessica Hausner. |
77 | Outreach Judaism is a Jewish counter-missionary organization founded by Rabbi Tovia Singer. It is described as "an international organization that responds directly to the issues raised by missionaries and cults, by exploring Judaism in contradistinction to fundamentalist Christianity." It's a great website for those looking for arguments against the fundamentals of Christianity such as Jesus being the messiah. |
32 | A list of fiction that everyone should read/watch/listen/play |
87 | "Personal responsibility", another platitudinous piece of sophistry, extolled with such religious zeal by conservatives and libertarians that it's practically become an incantation (e.g. "freedom", "free market", "small government", "hard work", etc.). |
76 | Ex Machina (stylized as ex_machina) is a 2015 British science fiction psychological thriller film written and directed by Alex Garland in his directing debut. We can do an article discussing the themes of artificial intelligence, roboethics, and gender politics. |
44 | Kurt Schuschnigg Leader of Austria until Anschluss. |
75 | Jozef Tiso Josef Tiso was in charge Slovakian puppet regime during ww2 from 1939 to 1945. Was tried and executed after the war. |
71 | Ioannis Metaxas Fascist ruler of Greece from 1936-1941. Lost to Mussolini in the Greco-Italian War. |
81 | Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC. The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and the active relationship between cosmic determinism and human freedom, and the belief that it is virtuous to maintain a will (called prohairesis) that is in accord with nature. |
77 | The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded by Father Michael J. McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882, it was named in honor of the mariner Christopher Columbus. Originally serving as a mutual benefit society to low-income immigrant Catholics, it developed into a fraternal benefit society dedicated to providing charitable services, promoting Catholic education and actively defending Roman Catholicism in various nations. |
74 | Communitarianism It's fiscally liberal (social security, universal healthcare) while being socially conservative (ban abortion, traditional values). |
70 | Chrismukkah is a pop-culture portmanteau neologism referring to the merging of the holidays of Christianity's Christmas and Judaism's Hanukkah. The term was popularized by the TV drama The O.C., wherein character Seth Cohen creates the holiday to signify his upbringing in an interfaith household with a Jewish father and Protestant mother. |
126 | WehraboosCreate draft WTF we don't have an article on this already?! Wehraboos is a slang term for fans of Nazi Germany, especially their military. While not being Nazis themselves (though some are), they are essentially Nazi Apologists, and propagate myths about German military superiority. They range from some guy on Reddit to the History Channel itself. |
95 | Interstellar is a 2014 science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine. Caltech theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, whose work inspired the film, was an executive producer and acted as scientific consultant. While the film did well with both critics and moviegoers, the film received mixed reception by members of the scientific community for its scientific accuracy. |
120 | Deus Ex, a series of video games rife with real world conspiracy theories. |
80 | The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is an attempt to remove foreign aid and foreign business and academic ties with Israel in order to help create an independent Palestine. They compare themselves to the anti-Apartheid movement and suggest Israel to be similar to Apartheid South Africa. Many opponents have called it a form of hate speech as they believe it to be an antisemitic movement. Even some critics of Israel like Jimmy Carter disagree with the means this movement employs. |
71 | Robert Chambers propounded evolutionary ideas in the mid 19th century, most famously in Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation which was hugely popular (Prince Albert read it to Queen Victoria) and controversial, with a strong Christian counter-attack. It doesn't seem to have been hugely accurate, claiming there was evolution in rocks and other inanimate things, and it didn't propose a mechanism for evolution even in animals. But very historically important; allegedly it outsold Origin of Species throughout the 19th century. |
45 | Samir Chachoua, another alternative to medicine practitioner, but this one actually has some experience in actual medicine. Notably ripped off a small african country and "treated" Charlie Sheen's HIV. Now in Mexico. |
78 | Óscar Romero was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador, who served as the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador. He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture. In 1980, Romero was assassinated while offering Mass in the chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence. |
91 | Moonshine is illicitly distilled or smuggled liquor. |
120 | The Passing of the Great Race is a 1916 book by the American eugenicist, lawyer, and amateur anthropologist Madison Grant. The book became an immediate best seller, with new editions in 1918, 1920 and 1921, multiple printings and translations in German, French and Norwegian. It became hugely influential among leading academics, politicians and scientists. Grant expounds a theory of Nordic superiority and argues for a strong eugenics program. Grant's proposal to create a strong eugenics program for the "Nordic" population to survive was repudiated by Americans in the 1930s and Europeans after 1945. It is considered one of the main works in the 20th century tradition of scientific racism and has been described as "The Manifesto of Scientific Racism". |
139 | The Ahnenerbe was an institute in Nazi Germany purposed to research the archaeological and cultural history of the Aryan race. Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe conducted pseudo-scientific experiments and launched pseudo-archaeological expeditions in an attempt to prove that mythological Nordic populations had once ruled the world as a way to promote political propaganda. Originally, the official mission of the Ahnenerbe was to find new evidence of the racial heritage of the Germanic people; however, due to Himmler's obsession with occultism it quickly became his own occult tool. |
77 | James Clerk Maxwell, one of the top 5 greatest physicists ever, but also a devout Christian (albeit one who shopped about between denominations) who proposed an unusual version of intelligent design; his views on evolution are also argued about between pros and antis. |
74 | Dan Barker is an American atheist activist who served as a Christian preacher and musician for 19 years but left Christianity in 1984. Barker, along with his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor, is the current co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. |
110 | Night of Shattered Glass The Nazi purge & riot of Jewish ghettos |
110 | Night of Long Knives The Nazi purge of political dissidents as well as people who helped Hitler rise to power. |
100 | Blackshirts Fascist militants who were instrumental to Mussolini's rise to power. |
95 | SA Nazi militants who were instrumental to Hitler's rise to power - Later pushed to the side because the Wehrmacht didn't like them and because of fears they'd take the "socialist" in "national-socialist" seriously |
91 | Thule Society Early 1920s German occultic society that would later inspire the Nazis. |
93 | Nazi Occultism The occult beliefs that the nazis had, especially when it came to Atlantis, Thule, magic, neo-paganism, etc. |
47 | Human resources, a department of a business in charge of hiring, firing, mediating employee disputes and so on. A minority of conservatives, racists, MRAs, etc. rail against them because, I dunno, because they "enforce diversity quotas and only exist to create jobs for people with useless liberal arts degrees", or something. One suspects that the real reason why so many of them hate them so much is because many of them have themselves been reprimanded by human resources departments for exhibiting racist or sexist attitudes at work that prompted complaints from co-workers... |
40 | Davos and the associated World Economic Forum are involved in various New World Order-type conspiracy theories. |
123 | Founding Fathers on IslamCreate draft - we should discuss what the rather heterogeneous group that declared independence from Britain, fought the war and wrote the Constitution had to say about Islam. Given that they are often cited by both sides to make some kind of point. |
73 | Gavin Menzies or his book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, which sounds like an entertaining work of pseudohistory about how the Chinese discovered North America before Columbus. Later books sound even madder: Wikipedia. (There is now an article about the 1421 theory.) |
92 | Volkstaat - an Afrikaner political project in South Africa to basically start over with Apartheid on a smaller territory but without any black people in it Wikipedia has an article on it. Thankfully it has stayed a fringe movement even within white South Africans... |
61 | Anne Graham Lotz is the deranged daughter of Billy Graham and what Ann Coulter is going to look like in ten to twenty years. Check out her links at Right Wing Watch to get an idea of what were dealing with here. |
43 | 350.org[19]: "Climate-focused campaigns, projects and actions led from the bottom-up by people in 188 countries. Email is how 350 connects — Join in and get started" |
66 | A grand coalition is a government form in parliamentary systems that usually combines the two biggest parties (often one socialist/social democratic/liberal and one christian democratic/conservative) in an often temporary "unholy alliance". It is usually seen as a stopgap and perceived very negatively by all involved, but countries like Austria have ended up with the Grand Coalition as the "standard" government on the federal level. A RW article on the phenomenon should explore reasons that lead to grand coalitions and whether the purported negative consequences actually exist. |
91 | Disposition Matrix is Obama's administration's official kill/capture list used for drone killings, rendition, and surveillance of suspected terrorists. The criteria for someone to end up on this list is classified and the CIA and Obama administration have refused to comment on it; this list has been said to most likely exist indefinitely. John Brennan has heavily shaped how this list works. The WaPo originally revealed this story and everyone from the ACLU to Rand Paul has condemned it. This should be chalk full of civil liberties violations and have many conspiracy theories surrounding it. |
73 | Frozen Conflict are unresolved wars that end up in perpetual ceasefires. The first example came out of the Korean War, but has since been used by authoritarian governments as a tactic to take over land that has a large ethnic group that makes up their country. Some examples include Northern Cyprus (annexed by Turkey), Transistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, the Donbass, and Crimea (annexed by Russia), and Nagrano-Karabakh (claimed by Armenia, but owned by Azerbaijan) |
82 | Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. We can explain the book's history and thesis and probably do a side by side refutation of his arguments. |
46 | New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Cologne. |
90 | Sons of Iraq, a |
64 | Someone in the archives proposed we do an article on the phenomenon of the emergency manager as seen in Flint and other places in Michigan and throughout these United States of America. Given the fact that it has recently become a lot more pressing to debate this issue, we should definitely cover it |
76 | Bioscience Resource Project - according to their page on WP (which has been subject to at least one edit war) they do some agenda pushing related to genetics and GMOs. As some IP editor recently inserted them into our article on genetically modified food they seem to be something we should cover |
124 | Dogfighting, Cockfighting, Bullfighting, and maybe even Fox hunting all involve vast amounts of animal cruelty, and with various batshit arguments in favor (or against) them. |
81 | Concussions in Sport, or more specifically Concussions in American Football a long tragic story of denial and lawsuits, now a major motion picture. Debunking those that say "ah getting hit on the head can't be that bad" should be a major component of the article. |
143 | The whole tough on crimeCreate draft disaster, including three strikes laws could get the RW treatment. Do harsh sentences work? Do they have racial or class components? Who came up with this ideology in the first place? How do we end the epidemic of incarceration? |
60 | Simon Magus is a famous magician from Christian tradition. He could change himself into a goat! As well as become invisible, jump off tall buildings, and antagonise pretty much everybody. |
82 | The Confederate Constitution has many supporters who range from southern sympathizers to libertarians who see it as the true small government America ought to be and saw Lincoln as the ultimate tyrant. Ironically it would have limited states rights and didn't remove the government's ability to quash rebellion. |
58 | Robert Kiviat director of such hits as "Alien Autopsy" and "Aliens on the Moon: The Truth Exposed", the latter of which is available on Netflix. Also not just alien "documentaries", with "I Shot JFK: The Shocking Truth" and ironically "World's Greatest Hoaxes: Secrets Finally Revealed". |
86 | Oddly enough despite having articles on the rest of the manosphere we don't have an article on Red Pillers, an even more extreme and militant form of misogyny pushed on the internet. It's also arguably the most dangerous form of internet misogyny in the real world considering a good chunk of red pillers are rape apologists, pedophilia apologists, and a few mass shooters have been encouraged by their rhetoric.They're so bad even some MRA's dislike them. |
146 | Do we have an article on the tendency of cranks and their followers to dishonestly cite a letter to the editor in a peer-reviewed journal as if it indicates the journal supports their crackpottery or somehow magically proves their claims? Not quite quote mining. (It's similar to dishonest TV ads for a movie which quote "The New York Times", when in fact the quote comes from a newspaper ad for the movie and not from a legitimate critic.) Needs a snappy name too. |
74 | 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, the latest film from Michael Bay, the man who tried to outdo Titanic by turning Pearl Harbor into a poorly done love triangle and woefully inaccurate circle jerk of American exceptionalism. Currently only a small part of the larger article on the 2012 Benghazi attack. |
110 | Tong renCreate draft: smacking dolls with a hammer will heal you. Yeah, it's as silly as it sounds. |
75 | Retraction Watch, part of the immune system of science. Useful for flagging interesting terrible past science. |
42 | Shmuley Boteach[20] came into the public eye for writing about sex. Er, that may not have been the best way of phrasing that. Anyway, being pro-sex (in a strictly religious sort of way) and Jewish are the main things that distinguish him from Christian fundamentalist conservatives. Has defended thinly veiled antisemitic remarks by Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican primary campaign |
121 | Chemo KillsCreate draft (https://chemokills.info/) The absolute worst sort of quack website, as they don't just promote cancer woo (Paleo diet, Vitamin C megadosage, etc.), but also actively and very strongly encourage people to not get (life-saving) chemothrapy. Claims that "globally 1.5 million people a year are murdered by chemotherapy for profit.". A number that cited by Mike Adams (The Health Ranger) on http://pharmadeathclock.com/ . (Could perhaps also be covered in Chemotherapy, which is a stub). |
132 | Pro-smokingCreate draft is a thing. Pro-smoking example: https://smokerswrites.wordpress.com In the middle-ish example: https://www.heartland.org/ideas/smokers-rights Harassment: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jun/01/pro-smoking-activists-health-campaigners |
80 | National Socialist Underground, Jena Cell, NSU or whatever we want to call it. A far right group of terrorists who went around mrudering for nearly a decade - lots of Conspiracy theories out there. Did the intelligence agencies just fail or botch stuff on purpose? |
87 | Infomercials and shopping channels. How can we not have an article each (or together) on these two sources of fraud, pseudoscience and general crankery? |
77 | Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a man popularly believed to be either guilty of a triple homicide or railroaded by a racist conspiracy. Here, discussion over the case and evidence on both sides (and the fact that it's possible that he's innocent while only being convicted because it was reasonable to think that the evidence pointed to him, with no frame-up needed), the Bob Dylan song "Hurricane", and the 1999 film starring Denzel Washington (and why he should've won the Oscar then and there, and that he was robbed because of well-intentioned but misguided protests to the Oscar board). One of various possible information sources: http://graphicwitness.com/carter/index.html |
111 | It Works!Create draft Actually, it's apparently some kind of body wrap that is supposed to help weight loss in spite of any evidence that it actually, y'know, works. Also promoted via multi-level marketing. |
137 | "Social engineering," used to legitimately describe government/business practices, or alternatively as loaded language by cranks. |
71 | Deer Tribe Medicine Society New Age claptrap cult about sex. Couldn't find much else about it |
45 | Avatar Course Former Scientology mission sued by the Church of Scientology only to convert into some kind of Free Zone cult |
91 | MOVE Black Power & Radical Environmentalist/Animal Rights group that committed 2 shootings and 1 bombing. |
42 | Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness New Age cult, former member says its founder has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. |
78 | Narcissistic Personality Disorder A lot of cult leaders and dictators are said to have this. Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc. Currently just a redirect to personality disorder. |
48 | House of Yahweh Religious tolerance.org labels it as a "high risk group" and a "cult". Predicted the End of the World numerous times. Gave us this funny image https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Yahweh#/media/File:Hoy_botnb.jpg |
82 | Mexican Drug War A lot of the cartels often incorporate nutty Folk Catholicism in their chaos. Ties in with the whole War on Drugs legalize weed thing. |
61 | Order of the Solar Temple Italian cult claiming they are the decedent of the Knights Templar. Committed some mass suicides & as well as some murders between 1994-1995. |
62 | True Russian Orthodox Church An offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church that threatened mass suicide if authorities intervened with them holding up a cave to await the end of the world. |
125 | Ninja A lot of woo, myths, urban legends, and bullshit about them. Ties in with a lot of the mall ninja McDojo crap we talk about. (Currently a redirect to RationalWiki:Ninja.) |
67 | Crank magnet libertarianism People like Alex Jones, Mark Dice, Bo Gritz, etc. Basically the antithesis of Rationalwiki's views in general |
82 | Julius and Ethel Rosenberg One of the most controversial executions Of The Last 30 Seconds, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were a couple with 2 kids at the time of their execution for espionage. A great way to delve into the politics of the Cold War and an omen to those who dare to repeat history. |
81 | Erin Brockovich. Made a name for herself around a scary-sounding chemical whose carcinogeneity is still uncertain. Currently a strongly anti-GMO voice with her own following. |