Writing during the twilight age of literature, maverick media theorist Marshall McLuhan devoted his life to the understanding of the global mass media and its effect on human behavior. He argued that by changing our sense ratios, different communication technologies altered the focus of our mental attention and affected us both on an individual and […]
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James Damore, the Google employee who wrote the viral Google manifesto, was fired yesterday for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” From the various reactions I’ve read, you would think Damore wrote the next iteration of Mein Kampf. Gizmodo labelled it an “anti-diversity screed.” Mashable called it a “racist/sexist manifesto” when reporting that the author’s identity had been revealed. Tweetstorms were fashionable, with […]
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The lamentable and dangerous myth persists that there is no such thing as innate talent or a gifted child. Whilst we might concede that if you are not born with the genes that will later propel you to brush the 7ft mark, then you will stand no chance of playing in the NBA, we are […]
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Spoilers for Game of Thrones up to Season 7, Episode 3 When a writer is trying to convey that a character is some kind of hero or redeemer, that character is often made to resemble Jesus Christ. This comes up in just about every great fantasy franchise; Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and most recently, […]
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Logging into Facebook, I see Corbyn memes jostling for space with videos warning of the Islamisation of Europe; petitions in support of transgender rights alongside disdainful cartoons about “SJWs.” I have liberal friends, conservative friends, communist friends, and ultra-reactionary friends. This is how I like it. It makes life interesting. Infinitely more eminent people than myself […]
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Emmanuel Macron has just become one of the most powerful individuals in the world, at the age of 39 and more or less out of nowhere, and has five or more years of this power ahead of him. He doesn’t need me to defend him, and wouldn’t know if I did. If some folks on the internet […]
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In one debate after another on any issue with regards to religion, race, gender, or fairness, there is one maxim of faith you’ll hear repeated over and over again with an evangelist’s zeal: objective truth doesn’t really exist. And what we hear to be the truth is merely based on power – power invested in the state, […]
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Now that the election has come and gone, we can see the large swell in the youth vote. Much of it went to Corbyn. Once seen as puffed up lazy millennials, now the young are naïve, inexperienced and brainwashed [1], toasting Bobby Sands in their hipster pubs [2]. For now, they’ve made their mark on British politics […]
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We can focus better on tasks that are urgent or pressing than those that seem distant and far away. Even the laziest of students seem somehow able to drag themselves to the library to cram study in a week before an exam. This is because temporality has a strong influence on our evaluation of importance; […]
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