John Wood, Jr., Author at Areo

Hood-Adjacent: Place and Class in Black American Life

It would be wonderful to live in a world without labels or stereotypes. But it is impossible to analyse complex widescale social trends without thinking in terms of broad categories…

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10 min

White People and the Conversation About Race

It is always saddening when reasonable, thoughtful people fail to understand each other’s point of view in important conversations. It is even more unfortunate when they fail to respect each…

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6 min

Politics

How We Chose Violence

The term violence has achieved an amusing new cultural cachet in the age of Twitter. “He woke up and chose violence” prepares us to hear a funny insult, see a…

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7 min

Free Speech, Civil Rights and the Moral Imperative of Persuasion

The guarantee of freedom of expression in the First Amendment to United States Constitution has never abridged a publisher’s right to determine what content he prints in his newspaper. Just…

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10 min

Politics

The Pivotal Irony of American Racism

Is the problem of American racism structural or personal? Is racism a significant problem in the United States? Are the problems of the black community in particular a reflection of…

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10 min

Politics

The Party Switch ‘Myth’

There are many odd features of the narrative based epistemology that governs party politics. One of them is the need for stories connecting the opposing party’s guilt and corruption, in…

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9 min

Politics

The Prophecies of Kavanaugh

On Thursday, September 27, 2018, at ten o’clock in the morning Eastern Standard Time, the United States of America—and much of the world—readied itself to watch the most anticipated confirmation…

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10 min

Politics

Race, Culture and the Dynamics of Prejudice

Racism is looked upon as the defining sin of the West. Tribal warfare has stained human history and the conflicts between clans and nations have catalyzed the shifting boundaries of…

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14 min

Virtue Ethics for the Modern Age

Scott Adams, creator of the popular comic strip Dilbert, trained hypnotist and erudite public commentator, posed what may seem like an odd question on his blog last year: “why do…

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13 min

Features

Liberal Individualism and the Challenge of Narrative

There is a philosophical self-image at the heart of the western world’s conception of itself. That image is the classically liberal vision of the self—the individual—as the essential unit of…

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11 min

Features

The Philosophy of Nonviolence: The Lost Legacy of Martin Luther King

The 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. has come and gone. MLK Day is behind us. Yet there is no reason for us to stop talking…

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10 min

Politics

Sam Harris, Ezra Klein, and the Politicization of Science

The year long feud between cognitive neuroscientist Sam Harris and Editor-at-Large of Vox Ezra Klein is one that has pitted advocates for a group identity based approach to politics against…

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John Wood, Jr.

Hood-Adjacent: Place and Class in Black American Life

White People and the Conversation About Race

How We Chose Violence

Free Speech, Civil Rights and the Moral Imperative of Persuasion

The Pivotal Irony of American Racism

The Party Switch ‘Myth’

The Prophecies of Kavanaugh

Race, Culture and the Dynamics of Prejudice

Virtue Ethics for the Modern Age

Liberal Individualism and the Challenge of Narrative

The Philosophy of Nonviolence: The Lost Legacy of Martin Luther King

Sam Harris, Ezra Klein, and the Politicization of Science

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