@ www theotherpress.ca Humour Atheist coalition backs the snood Popular hybrid scarf piece endorsed by Richard Dawkins By Dylan Hackett, News Editor Last week, by a worldwide press release, the Humanists for Uncut Humanity announced their unfettered endorsement for the snood, an increasingly popular hybrid renowned for distancing wearers from problems surrounding scarf knots that the HUH claims “nobody can tie properly anyway,” with its simple crocheted circumference. The group heralds the fashion piece as “a woolly plight against the aesthetic of genital mutilation and the pious pragmatism that First World problems: a growing threat to global security United Nations Security Council meet to discuss the issue By Keating Smith, Chief Procrastinating Correspondent he United Nations Security Council (UNSC) met last week in New York to discuss the growing threat of First World problems in the northern regions of the world. With the United States, France, and Great Britain making up three of the five permanent members of the UNSC, the countries expressed to the assembly that First World problems are a growing threat, not only to the security of their respective nations, but to Photo illustration by Joel McCarthy shields it from rational discussion.” The press release announced “the snood is an embodiment of our stance against the culturally normalized child abuse known to many as circumcision, but deemed by us as genital mutilation. We encourage our supporters to wear the snood this winter season in solidarity against the practice we seek to cease worldwide. Wear the those in other developed countries. Several other wealthy countries in Europe including Norway, Switzerland, and Finland, as well as Canada and Australia were also on the UNSC’s list of countries to take attentiveness to the new and growing global problem. “The assassination of Osama bin Laden has greatly reduced the issue of global terrorism,” said Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, in a statement to the international media. “And while the sinister consequences of Arab spring have generated a civil war in Syria and created continuous political instability in Egypt, we cannot ignore the problems of the First World like we have been.” snood up or down—it is ready to adjust to whichever position the situation requires.” Evolutionary biologist, author, and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins has been witnessed wearing a beige snood around London and posted a picture through his Twitter account concurrent with the HUH press release. The 71-year-old academic posted on his Twitter page “@HUH reppin’ the #snood hard #topman #swag pic.twitter. com /666rd8da9k”. The announcement was deemed by many in the press as unsettlingly timely, given the HUH’s “Adopt-an-Anteater” drive launched last November—an effort to provide funding for an anteater shelter in The words come from Rice and several of her colleagues after a growing number of hashtags typically coined as “#firstworldproblems” have been reported plaguing the social media world in recent months. These First World problems range from someone burning their tongue after drinking hot coffee purchased from a corporate restaurant to having an intermittent Wi-Fi connection in a very large suburban house. Paralleling the growing amount of First World problem hashtags in the world of social media are several videos recently posted on YouTube, particularly Africa for Norway, which is a video depicting Africans unanimously northern Brazil. The long snouted mammal was also adopted as the group’s official mascot at the 2012 Global Atheists Convention, appearing onstage to rally conference attendees behind the HUH’s agenda. The Creator’s Coalition for Circumcision, a union of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian supporters advocated for infant circumcision and critiqued the backing of the snood in a rebutting press release distributed last Friday. “Circumcision is a practice dating back as far as Hebrew times and is practiced worldwide as a sanitary precaution for infant health and as a WHO recommended procedure to reducing HIV infection rates. The coming together to help people in Norway by donating their heaters to the extremely cold Scandinavian country. “Tm basically heading up a team that’s getting Africans together in this time of need for Norway [by] helping them out,” says Breezy V, an African rapper and spokesperson for the video. “A lot of people aren’t aware of what is going on there right now. It’s just as bad as poverty if you ask me. “People don’t ignore starving people, so why should we ignore cold people? Frost bite kills people too,” Breezy proclaims at the beginning of the video. With Norway having some of the largest offshore oil deposits in the world and one of Europe’s highest GDP’s, snood’s resemblance to an uncircumcised penis is negligible and its fervent endorsement by Richard Dawkins and his co-thinkers flouts a respected and long-standing tradition amongst religious and secular communities worldwide. The [HUH]’s stigmatization of the garment causes harm to these cherished communities,” the release claimed. In an ensuing battle on Twitter late Friday afternoon, the HUH was quick to point out the CCC’s own scandal in the mid-’90s where the group was found to have paid the producers of popular Christian family drama, 7th Heaven, to have character Simon Camden don a mushroom cut, a staple of mid-’90s hairstyles. Norwegians historically struggle to keep warm during the winter months. Breezy concludes his speech by saying “We need to make a difference in Norway by collecting our radiators and shipping them off [to] spread some light, spread some warmth, and spread some smiles.” The UNSC is set to meet before the holiday season in a general assembly to discuss the potential threats First World problems could pose in the western world in the new year. Fresh off his newly reelected term, U.S. president Barack Obama is speculated to seat the assembly’s chair. With files from Daily Dingdong politics. 23