In Defense of Beauty
The famous column overlooking the town of Astoria, Oregon has had a long and chequered history. Immense human capital has been expended on the construction of this tourist attraction on…
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Culture
13 posts
What is Neoliberalism, Anyway?
There are few words in today’s political lexicon as simultaneously popular and misunderstood as neoliberalism. The term has become a rallying cry for the left, used to signal one’s political…
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A WEIRD Problem for Human Nature
Various aboriginal communities lived in the rainforest of north-eastern Australia, surrounded by waterfalls, short rivers and swamps. They lived off hunting, fishing and gathering. Some tribes inhabited the coastal areas…
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The Case For Culture
I would like people to speak more openly about culture as a causal phenomenon. In addition to citing biological and socio-economic factors to help us make sense of the world,…
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The Decline of Traditional Conservatism and the Rise of the Postmodern Conservative.
In a July 4 article in the New York Times, conservative icon Roger Scruton lamented “What Trump Doesn’t Get About Conservatism.” Scruton argues that Trump largely bypasses intellectual arguments about conservatism…
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Who’s Afraid of the “Intellectual Dark Web”?
I have been meaning to comment on the sound and fury about Bari Weiss’ New York Times piece on the “Intellectual Dark Web,” an informal network of “heretics” and “renegades” who dissent…
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Farewell, Esquire?
On a layover in Toronto en route to Phoenix several weeks ago, I purchased the latest issue of Esquire magazine at a news shop before boarding my plane and shuffling…
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Garrison Keillor & The Dark Side Of #MeToo
I can’t believe I actually have to make this point. Innocent-until-proven-guilty is a way of ensuring innocent people don’t find themselves punished for a crime they didn’t commit (has anyone ever read To Kill A Mockingbird?
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The Consumerism of Cute: How Merchandise Governs the Star Wars Franchise
Despite being the seventh feature film in the franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the first one to debut in December instead of May. This proved to be a…
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Is Cordelia Fine’s Award from the Royal Society an Escalation of the Culture Wars?
One occasionally hears it said, generally by intelligent people who have turned their brains off for a moment, that science and politics don’t mix, and shouldn’t. This is of course…
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Appropriating Confusion: A Reply to Briahna Joy Gray in Current Affairs
Earlier this year, Kenan Malik wrote an essay in the New York Times critical of the now-fashionable concept of “cultural appropriation.” The article caused some controversy. Briahna Joy Gray wrote…
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The Gospel of Jon Snow: Christ Allegory in ‘Game of Thrones’
— 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…
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Taking out a Patent on Culture
Calls to destroy a painting by a white artist, Dana Schutz, of a black victim of a lynch mob hanging in the Whitney Museum illustrates that for many, even artistic…
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