{"id":549,"date":"2005-05-23T20:38:00","date_gmt":"2005-05-24T00:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vmalt\/?p=549"},"modified":"2005-12-10T16:31:34","modified_gmt":"2005-12-10T21:31:34","slug":"weighing-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/weighing-in","title":{"rendered":"Weighing In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia Postrel has a pretty good post<\/a> about the Newsweek\/Koran fiasco.<\/p>\n

It puts me in mind of the furor over Scorsese’s Last Temptation of Christ<\/a>, back in 1988. A lot of Christians were pissed off when this one came out. People who’d never seen the movie called for protests, not realizing the humor factor in hearing Judas-by-way-of-Brooklyn, by Harvey Keitel.<\/p>\n

Anyway, my point is, these Christians were irate about a movie portraying Jesus Christ as a man with some human feelings. You can argue about the validity of what they were mad about, but what’s incontrovertible is that no one started a riot over it. No one threatened the lives of Scorsese, Willem Dafoe, or Paul Schraeder (although some of my friends really<\/em> disliked Bringing Out the Dead<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Or, as Ms. Postrel puts it:<\/p>\n

With its Western biases, Newsweek thought it was writing about allegations of prisoner abuse, a human rights issue. Its overseas audience had a different reading. The differences between us and them really are bigger than the differences between us and us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virginia Postrel has a pretty good post about the Newsweek\/Koran fiasco. It puts me in mind of the furor over Scorsese’s Last Temptation of Christ, back in 1988. A lot of Christians were pissed off when this one came out. People who’d never seen the movie called for protests, not realizing the humor factor in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Weighing In”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-8R","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14011,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-407-virginia-postrel","url_meta":{"origin":549,"position":0},"title":"Episode 407 – Virginia Postrel","author":"Gil","date":"November 10, 2020","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 407: Virginia Postrel \"The history of textiles engages with the history of technology and science in interesting ways; it engages with economics and culture similarly.\" Journalist and scholar Virginia Postrel rejoins the show to celebrate her brand-new book, The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made The World\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/comppostrel2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C552&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/comppostrel2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C552&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/comppostrel2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C552&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/comppostrel2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C552&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/comppostrel2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C552&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7440,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-glamour-profession","url_meta":{"origin":549,"position":1},"title":"Podcast: Glamour Profession","author":"Gil","date":"November 10, 2013","format":"audio","excerpt":"\u00a0 Virtual Memories \u2013 season 3 episode 26 - Glamour Profession \u201cEveryone is susceptible to some kind of glamour; it\u2019s just a matter of understanding what kind of glamour you\u2019re susceptible to. Is it technological glamour, or glamour of the intellectual life, or something else?\u201d Virginia Postrel joins us this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/power-of-glamour-book-cover.jpg?fit=961%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/power-of-glamour-book-cover.jpg?fit=961%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/power-of-glamour-book-cover.jpg?fit=961%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/power-of-glamour-book-cover.jpg?fit=961%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1073,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/engines","url_meta":{"origin":549,"position":2},"title":"Engines","author":"Gil","date":"August 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This neat post from Virginia Postrel is about a Metropolis writer who recently read Jane Jacobs when examining criticism of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, which is also discussed in the new issue of New York. Or, as the NYTimes (in bed with the project's real estate developer) sez,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1800,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-30-2007","url_meta":{"origin":549,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Nov. 30, 2007","author":"Gil","date":"November 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Lookin' for links in all the right places? Just click \"more\"! Chip Kidd (briefly) on the impact of Amazon's new e-reader. * * * Morrissey: putting the FU back in Manchester. * * * Designers get their Mad Mix on! * * * Tay Zonday scores some cash for Chocolate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2269,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/two-new-sites","url_meta":{"origin":549,"position":4},"title":"Two new sites!","author":"Gil","date":"August 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I just updated the blogroll, dear readers! It's that \"Sites To See\" link over on the right side of the site. First, Virginia Postrel, who blogs as The Dynamist, just added a new site based on her upcoming book. It's called Deep Glamour. I arbitrarily put it in the Architecutre\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/two-new-sites#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":584,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/be-creative","url_meta":{"origin":549,"position":5},"title":"Be Creative!!!","author":"Gil","date":"July 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I read BusinessWeek, the Economist, and some other bizmags and econobloggers a lot (can't say enough about the New York Post's John Crudele). Outside of my own industry (as a Pharma observer), I like to see read interpretations of how industries function, how business works, and why money does what\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}