Word: taboo
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During the decades that the concept of human nature was taboo in academia, many scholars claimed that romantic love was a recent social construction. It was an invention of the Hallmark-card poets or Hollywood scriptwriters or, in one theory, medieval troubadours extolling the adulterous love of a knight for a lady...
...their lives, what we really want is not a personal connection but a dependable president. But some of the world’s best leaders, Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt included, held deep convictions of their own. They believed so passionately in their words that emotion inevitably followed. Indeed, these taboo appearances of genuine feeling have come to serve as the only indicator that a politician is anything more than a partisan mouthpiece. Sure, Hillary has plenty of flaws, and her own public persona hasn’t escaped the scrupulous nip-and-tuck required of all presidential hopefuls. It doesn?...
...taboo-defying Internet tax doesn't generate protest, Sarkozy's ad ban on public TV probably will. State TV officials have already voiced their displeasure with the proposal that could translate in job cuts and more political meddling with their programming. Pundits, meanwhile, have been quick to point out that the plan would send billions in new ad revenue to private broadcasters - principally market leader TF1, which is owned by a group run by Martin Bouygues, a close friend of Sarkozy. Sarkozy has also suggested a new tax of TV ad revenues, meant to generate additional funding for public channels...
...These kinds of ideas are so backward they could only be from America,” cracked an international student in one of my classes. For a comment that would have been taboo if he had narrowed it to one of America’s ethnic groups, it was surprisingly well-received. The Americans at the table laughed and nodded their heads sadly, while the only objections came from foreigners. Strange though this reaction might seem, it’s cause to celebrate: America’s self-doubt is a strength, not a weakness...
...great was the taboo surrounding FGM until recently that even the Iraqi Kurdish authorities, largely supportive of campaigns against it, have sometimes been tentative in their resolve to take action. Since 14,000 people signed an April 2007 petition for a law against FGM, though, the mood has changed radically. Both the region's main parties have given their blessing to the law, and FGM is now openly discussed by the local media. Back in parliament, Pakhshan Zangana knows the law represents only the end of the beginning of this struggle. Her aim now, she says...