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Culture & Media

An Ode To The Ghost Rider: Neil Peart’s Journey Reaches An End

We are strangers to each other Full of sliding panels An illusion show Acting well-rehearsed routines Or playing from the heart? It’s hard for one to know We are islands…

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5 min

Culture & Media

Raising an Athenian

What can we learn about child-rearing from the ancient Greeks and Spartans? I teach seventh grade ancient civilizations and one of our most popular topics is ancient Greece. The students…

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11 min

Critical Thinking is Nothing Without Knowledge

Among high school students, I’ve seen puzzled looks in response to the mention of Adolf Hitler, segregation, Thomas Jefferson, the Cold War, Aristotle and the Bill of Rights—among other things.…

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10 min

Culture & Media

Impossible Conversations: An Invitation

The illusion of unity isn’t worth having.—Christopher Hitchens Note: We’re currently holding an Impossible Conversations competition at Letter. This article will explain why and give examples of conversations that epitomise…

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14 min

A Peculiar Phenomenon: Review of “The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism” by Matthew McManus

Most of us were utterly unprepared for those astonishing events of 2016: Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency. Why…

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7 min

Ouroboros: The Return of Moral Guardian Puritanism

The social media network Gab and its CEO Andrew Torba are divisive to say the least. Gab is seen as a free speech alternative to giants like Twitter by some,…

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13 min

Culture & Media

Dostoevsky’s Campaign Against Rationalism and Progress

Fyodor Dostoevsky was defeated by history. A man who viciously attacked and satirized the ideologies of rationalism and communism and defended traditional religious and family structures, Dostoevsky died just decades…

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6 min

Culture & Media

Unlearning Race: A Letter Exchange with Thomas Chatterton Williams

“[On Gethen] one is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience.”—Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness “I am aware—and from time…

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12 min

Culture & Media

What Happens When Meaning Goes Away: A Review of Yuval Noah Harari’s “Homo Deus”

Humanity has made tremendous strides in reining in plague, famine and war in recent decades. Take just one example: poverty. Since 1990, on average, with each passing day, there are…

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5 min

Culture & Media

Dave Chappelle and Comedy

While accepting the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the legendary Dave Chappelle recently made a firm defence of freedom of speech and the right to offend against what…

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9 min

Culture & Media

Culture, Politics and Shia LaBeouf

In the upcoming biopic Honey Boy, about the life of child actor turned cultural phenomenon Shia LaBeouf, the line between reality and performance is blurred, as LaBeouf plays the role…

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11 min

Culture & Media

Towards a Radical Hope: A Review of “Unfollow” by Megan Phelps-Roper

Reading Megan Phelps-Roper’s account of living in and leaving the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, I kept thinking about Kurt Wise. Wise is a young-earth creationist, but he’s no fool. He…

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12 min

Culture & Media

How to Write a Letter

“Appearances are against me. Don’t believe them. I have written you in intention fifty letters.” —Charles Dickens, letter to Lady Blessington, 1844 There are no hard and fast rules for…

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4 min

Culture & Media

YouTube Nerd Essays and Mental Health: A Paean

If you have been engulfed by the all-consuming black hole that is depression or anxiety, or have found yourself peering over its event horizon, then you may be fortunate enough…

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9 min

“Watchmen” and the Fundamental Moral Dilemma: Do the Ends Justify the Means?

Warning: this article contains spoilers. Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, is the go-to example of a graphic novel when people want to show that comics—even…

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16 min

Culture & Media

The Humane Art: Why We Should All Read and Write Letters

Scarcely any species of composition deserves more to be cultivated than the epistolary style—Samuel Johnson, 1751 Such [letters] as are written from wise men are of all the words of…

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8 min

Culture & Media

An Argument Worth Having: “Outgrowing God” by Richard Dawkins

The Battle for Truth and Reason “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” you might cry, “Richard Dawkins is banging on about God again! Hasn’t he already been there and done that? Why…

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Culture & Media

An Ode To The Ghost Rider: Neil Peart’s Journey Reaches An End

Raising an Athenian

Critical Thinking is Nothing Without Knowledge

Impossible Conversations: An Invitation

A Peculiar Phenomenon: Review of “The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism” by Matthew McManus

Ouroboros: The Return of Moral Guardian Puritanism

Dostoevsky’s Campaign Against Rationalism and Progress

Unlearning Race: A Letter Exchange with Thomas Chatterton Williams

What Happens When Meaning Goes Away: A Review of Yuval Noah Harari’s “Homo Deus”

Dave Chappelle and Comedy

Culture, Politics and Shia LaBeouf

Towards a Radical Hope: A Review of “Unfollow” by Megan Phelps-Roper

How to Write a Letter

YouTube Nerd Essays and Mental Health: A Paean

“Watchmen” and the Fundamental Moral Dilemma: Do the Ends Justify the Means?

The Humane Art: Why We Should All Read and Write Letters

An Argument Worth Having: “Outgrowing God” by Richard Dawkins

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