Culture & Media Archives

The Trick of Evocative Science Writing: “Books Do Furnish a Life” by Richard Dawkins

In his previous essay collection, Science in the Soul, Richard Dawkins ponders why a scientist has never received the Nobel Prize in Literature—the only possible exception, Henri Bergson, was “more…

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6 min

A Life of Cultural Appropriation: “The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi”

Fukuzawa Yukichi was born in 1835. When he was a young man, Japan was still a feudal society: static, rigid and almost completely isolated from the outside world, wanting nothing…

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5 min

Culture & Media

Would Hunter S. Thompson Be Cancelled Today?

It’s a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die.—Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine. The father of gonzo journalism was known for his uncompromising but…

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7 min

Culture & Media

The Fault in Their Stars

A man can’t know where he is on the earth except in relation to the moon or a star. Astronomy comes first; land maps follow because of it. Just the…

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10 min

Culture & Media

The Microkindnesses of Larry David

Is Larry David a member of the British royal family? When Harry and Meghan sat down for their now fabled chat with the individual who expressed such interest in their…

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6 min

Culture & Media

Why Art Is Not Just a Vehicle for Meaning

People have always used art to understand aspects of the past and present and conceive visions of possible futures that remain unattainable by other means. Despite this, nowadays, outside of…

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7 min

Culture & Media

De Jure and De Facto Censorship: Why We Need to Be Concerned About Both

The last few weeks have seen dustups over the decision by the foundation overseeing Dr. Seuss’s works (i.e. Dr. Seuss Enterprises) to cease publication of six books deemed problematic, as…

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5 min

Culture & Media

The Rise of OnlyFans: A Sign of Economic Austerity

OnlyFans performer Ariel Anderssen has recently written about the ways in which she is empowered as an adult performer who is an active participant in the sex economy by choice.…

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6 min

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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10 min

In Defence of Argument: “Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars” by Piers Benn

In the closing pages of Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars, Piers Benn writes: I was motivated to write this book because there was something that mattered to me, that…

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5 min

Joseph Henrich’s “The WEIRDEST People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous”

Writing from Islamic Spain in 1068, scholar Said ibn Ahmad describes the different nations of the world. Some, like the Greeks, Romans, Persians, Egyptians, Indians and Jews, he writes, have…

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8 min

Culture & Media

The Art of I: Why Contemporary Poetry Is So Bad

Old Lady Barkeep found a mistress To comfort Hitler in his distress When all plans went to ruin. But for prestigious, high style wooin’, Disclosure to the public’s viewin’, Even…

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9 min

Culture & Media

Dostoevsky’s Critique of the Modern World

Dostoevsky is considered one of the greatest novelists of all time—a reputation that is well earned. Most writers would be content to write one masterpiece; two would be an exceptional…

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4 min

Culture & Media

The Novel Virus: In Defense of Fiction

As 2020 draws to a close, there is a pre-echo of normalcy in the air, the possibility of a return to a glorious summer even as we head into what…

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9 min

Orwell’s “1984” and Trump’s Presidency

After Trump was elected, sales of George Orwell’s 1984 rocketed. In January 2017, around the time Trump was inaugurated, 1984 was the no. 1 best-selling book on Amazon and it…

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Culture & Media

The Trick of Evocative Science Writing: “Books Do Furnish a Life” by Richard Dawkins

A Life of Cultural Appropriation: “The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi”

Would Hunter S. Thompson Be Cancelled Today?

The Fault in Their Stars

The Microkindnesses of Larry David

Why Art Is Not Just a Vehicle for Meaning

De Jure and De Facto Censorship: Why We Need to Be Concerned About Both

The Rise of OnlyFans: A Sign of Economic Austerity

Journalistic Objectivity: What Is True and What Is Important?

In Defence of Argument: “Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars” by Piers Benn

Joseph Henrich’s “The WEIRDEST People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous”

The Art of I: Why Contemporary Poetry Is So Bad

Dostoevsky’s Critique of the Modern World

The Novel Virus: In Defense of Fiction

Orwell’s “1984” and Trump’s Presidency

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