The Myth of Ancient Environmental Wisdom
Optimism doesn’t come naturally to an environmentalist. Nevertheless, there’s been an unusually positive tone among climate activists in recent weeks. With the news that the United States has rejoined the…
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Journalistic Objectivity: What Is True and What Is Important?
The objectivity, reliability and transparency of the news have become hot topics in recent years. Ours is the era of supposedly fake news, in which there is little consensus about…
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Why Easing Restrictions Will Lead to More, not Less, Collateral Damage
Any packaged medication will come with a leaflet that warns of possible side effects. Manufacturers have to err on the side of caution, so they report pretty much every symptom…
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In Defense of Beauty
The famous column overlooking the town of Astoria, Oregon has had a long and chequered history. Immense human capital has been expended on the construction of this tourist attraction on…
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How Accusations of Islamophobia Hinder Muslim Reform
Islam can and should be reformed. We should not conflate legitimate criticism of Islamist ideology with anti-Muslim bigotry. It is the duty of those who seek progress for humankind to…
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The Disrupt Texts Movement
#DisruptTexts is an American educational movement whose website declares it to be “a crowdsourced, grass roots effort by teachers for teachers,” with a mission “to challenge the traditional canon in…
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Populism: A Parasitic Ideology
Dejected by recent political defeats, some people in both the UK and the US have been calling for an alliance between right-wing and left-wing populists. These demands rest on a…
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Do You Believe Science?
Science is all the rage at the moment. The Covid-19 pandemic has given us a unique window into how scientists carry out research into the basic mechanisms of disease; how…
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Why More Civics Education Won’t Fix US Democracy
Since the Capitol riot of 6 January, calls for increased civic education have resurfaced. Arne Duncan, a former US secretary of education has recently suggested that “just as Sputnik prompted…
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Why We Should All Quit Social Media
In the aftermath of the 6 January 2020 siege of the US Capitol, the two dominant news stories have been Trump’s impending impeachment and the role of big tech in…
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Salvaging Mental Health Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic
Mental health is health is an aphorism with which young Canadians have grown familiar over the past decade. The sentiment has been reiterated by high school teachers, professors, counsellors, family…
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“United States of Socialism: Who’s Behind It, Why It’s Evil, How to Stop It” by Dinesh D’Souza
Everyone who uses his brain knows that Socialism, as a world system sincerely applied, is a way out. It would at least ensure us getting enough to eat even if…
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Curt Jaimungal and Desh Amila’s Documentary “Better Left Unsaid”
There has been gathering momentum among those who wish to question what is rapidly becoming the contemporary orthodoxy: the Critical Social Justice movement. First people began to notice that something…
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Teaching Empowerment
The 2020–21 US academic school year has been marked by many changes. The prominence of the so-called anti-racism movement—not to be confused with simple opposition to racism—is one of the…
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Not Quite the Satire You’re Looking For: “Somewhere in Europe” by P. J. Vanston
“It’s like a cross between Catch-22 and Lucky Jim for the Brexit generation,” declares a blurb on the back cover of P. J. Vanston’s 2020 comic novel Somewhere in Europe.…
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The Limits of Lived Experience
The phrase lived experience seems to be part of the new normal of modern identity politics. Activists appeal to lived experiences to make their case against perceived social exclusion and…
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Systemic Racism and Policing in America: A Response to Brandon Vaidyanathan
When we talk about race in America today, we think we are debating facts, but we are actually debating stories. We think the debate is over whether racism is evil,…
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Critical Race Theory Is Coming for the Dogs: Katja Guenther’s “The Lives and Deaths of Shelter Animals”
Until recently, the Rosenberg, Texas pound was typical of many American shelters, killing roughly 70% of its animals. The leaders of the shelter did not see it as their responsibility…
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