The Kitsch of “Wokeness”
One of the most frequent criticisms of so-called wokeness is that it consistently operates in bad faith, strawmanning complex systems and individuals as racist, misogynistic, etc. But how can one…
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Politics
674 posts
Clear Writing: A Path to Critical Thinking
Which of these statements make you feel more uncomfortable: the poor person struggles to make rent or the economically disadvantaged person struggles to make rent? Hang on to those feelings…
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Free Speech in the Age of Digital Oligarchy
An opinion that corn-dealers are starvers of the poor, or that owning private property is robbery ought to be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly incur…
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Social Media’s Role in the Riots that Are Shaping America
The most iconic image of last week’s events is that of “the Q shaman.” He wears a furry horned hat, his arms are snaked with cryptic cellular tattoos, his face…
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Why Do American Politicians Suck?
All artwork in this piece is by the author. I sometimes do a little word-association on the first day of my introductory American government classes at Rhodes College. The first…
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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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What Can We Learn from the Trump Years?
Trump is the embodiment of American excess: pure anti-intellectualism, self-congratulation and wealth. His obsessive need to see more of himself in the world has committed him to imprinting his name…
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“Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race” by Reni Eddo Lodge
Reni Eddo Lodge’s 2018 Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race has scooped six literary awards and received near-universal praise and Lodge has recently been voted one…
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The Downfall of a Would-Be Authoritarian
Wednesday, 6 January saw a dramatic tipping point in Donald Trump’s ongoing crusade to assuage his personal grievances by overturning the results of November’s election. Members of his own party…
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The Response to the UK Report on Child Sexual Exploitation Is Dangerously Misleading
The Home Office’s recent paper on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation has increased distrust between the British public and the media. Some of the headlines that the report invited seemed to…
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Why the US Needs a Just Two-Tier Healthcare System
Does access to adequate and affordable healthcare require a trade-off between equality and liberty? What kind of health care system is most effective? Benjamin J. Krohmal and Ezekiel J. Emanuel’s…
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The Look of the Hunted in Today’s US High Schools
Victim. Privilege. Fragility. Lived experience. Systemic. This is just a sampling of the new woke lexicon, into which many Americans are rapidly being catechized. Underlying such supposedly empowering woke-speak…
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The Anti-Rational Woke Meme
Woke ideology, which presents itself as the progressive successor to the liberal tradition, is actually a source of cultural lethargy and decay. It is an anti-rational meme with the power…
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Towards a New American Humanism
It’s easier to criticize something than it is to replace it. During the Black Lives Matter protests this past summer, it was moving to see that so many people care…
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A Blood Alcohol Guessing Game and a False Accusation of Racism
A number of years ago, I worked as a low level emergency responder. When allegations surfaced in June that ER workers across British Columbia were playing a blood alcohol level…
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The Real Price of the Covid-19 Vaccine
Every year, the leaders of the G20 meet to assess the financial state of the world. This year, the Covid-19 pandemic was, unsurprisingly, a major point of discussion. Since the…
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The University and the Social Justice Movement: A French Perspective
Universities are supposed to be pluralistic places for debate and the exchange of ideas, but in the English-speaking world and especially in North America, they have lately become crippled by…
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White Supremacy: How Big, How Bad and How Come?
The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville did not unite the right. The groups in attendance—from alt-light to straight-up Nazi—reacted with anything but unity to the death of Heather Heyer,…
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