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2 men get brutally honest about Islamophobia. The result is uncomfortable but important.

Paul Martin, a former Christian pastor, and his buddy Chris have been friends for 35 years.

They even share the unbreakable brotherhood that comes from having played in a rock band together.

But just because they're close doesn't mean they agree on everything.

The two friends recently found themselves in a heated debate over Islamophobia.

Paul insists lumping all people of a certain faith together is problematic and unfounded.

"Islam is a religion, it's not a person," he says. "I don't think a religion can hate."

Chris, frightened by ISIS-inspired attacks close to home, argues some Muslims do hate America, and what scares him is that there's no way of telling who they are.

It's not a comfortable conversation to watch, but it's a hard one that needs to happen. Not just between Paul and Chris, but between Americans from all walks of life.

The truth is that for every ISIS-inspired attack on American soil, there are countless violent acts perpetrated by everyday American citizens. But that doesn't make people's fears any less real.

These two friends manage to at least reach some modicum of common ground when Chris says, "I know that my sense of understanding is so shadowed by what's the truth and what's not the truth and what's being fed to me for political agendas."

That's exactly why conversations like this one are so critical toward building understanding. Watch how Paul and Chris talk this important issue out in the video below:

Education

A school assignment asked for 3 benefits of slavery. This kid gave the only good answer.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

Trameka Brown-Berry/Facebook

A school assignment asked for 3 "good" reasons for slavery.



It's not uncommon for parents to puzzle over their kids' homework.

Sometimes, it's just been too long since they've done long division for them to be of any help. Or teaching methods have just changed too dramatically since they were in school.

And other times, kids bring home something truly inexplicable.
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Family

A kid's wrong answer to this riddle went viral. It shows a lot about how we process death.

People got a huge kick out his response.


Teacher Bret Turner thought he'd kick off the morning with his first-grade students using a little riddle.

On the whiteboard in the front of the class, he scrawled it out in black marker:

"I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere. I'm the beginning of eternity, the end of time & space."

One student raised their hand, the first to venture a guess.

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Pop Culture

Weird viral photo of Adele's face exemplifies the phenomenon called the Thatcher effect

The 42-year-old optical illusion is still astounding people.

upload.wikimedia.org /Credit: Condé Nast (through Vogue Taiwan)

Prepare to get Thatcherized.

It seems that Adele is going viral once again.

Perhaps you’ve seen the image in question previously (it seems to make the rounds every couple of years). But in case you missed it—it’s Adele’s face. Normal, just upside down.

Only it’s not normal. In fact, when you turn Adele’s face right side up, what you notice is that her eyes and mouth were actually right-side up THE ENTIRE TIME, even though the entire head was upside down. So when you turn the head right side up, the eyes and mouth are now UPSIDE-DOWN—and you can’t unsee it. Do you feel like you're Alice in Wonderland yet?

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psychology
Parenting

Teenage girl shamed for her ‘distracting’ outfit fights back in a very funny way

“[Because] she has a figure she was told she had to change.”

Photo from Facebook page.

A clever message written on her T-shirt.

A Lawton, Oklahoma, student who goes by the Facebook user name Rose Lynn had the last laugh after being sent home from school for wearing an outfit deemed "distracting." Rose Lynn believes her outfit attracted the attention of school officials because of her figure.

She proved it by posting a photo on Facebook of her modest outfit, which consisted of black leggings, a t-shirt, long cardigan, and boots. In her post, she wrote that she was sent home "because I'm developed farther than the average girl my age," and because she's a "CURVY woman." Rose Lynn also thinks the appropriate response shouldn't have been to tell her to cover up, but to teach boys to "to respect the boundaries of young ladies."

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women
Science

She tattooed half her face and you'd never know it. Her skills are just that good.

This incredible medical tattoo technology is giving renewed hope to burn victims.

All images via the CBS/YouTube

Basma Hameed runs a tattoo shop, of sorts...


Meet Samira Omar.

The 17-year-old was the victim of a horrific bullying incident.

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Pop Culture

Merriam-Webster announced the 2023 'Word of the Year,’ and it says a lot about today’s world

Plus, some other terms that made 2023 a historic year.

via TIFF 2022/Wikimedia Commons

Taylor Swift at 2022 Toronto International Film Festival Red Carpet Day 2.

The wordsmiths over at Merriam-Webster have announced their official “Word of the Year for 2023,” they say it’s something we are “thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more” than ever.

The word is authentic.

According to the dictionary, the most common definitions of authentic are “not false or imitation,” “being true to one's own personality, spirit, or character,” and “worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact.”

Merriam-Webster says the word saw a “substantial increase” in lookups this year. That’s probably because we now live in a world where artificial intelligence, deepfake technology and questionable memes challenge our basic notions of reality.

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language
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