On Extinction Rebellion
Here’s climate scientist Dr. Kate Marvel on hope and courage as quoted in Truthout: “Hope is a creature of privilege….he opposite of hope is not despair. It is grief. Even…
Marie Snyder
On the Origins of Cultural Marxism
From an article by Samuel Moyn in the New York Times: “‘Classical Marxists, where they obtained power, expropriated the bourgeoisie and gave their property to the state,’ ‘Where you obtained…
Stuck Between Fear and Hope
Graham Saul was on TVO’s The Agenda: “We need a better narrative to motivate us towards change. We need to be dragged from our ethical fog. The best leaders we…
On J.S. Mill and Free Speech
Most on “Just say ‘no’ to hate speech.” Maverick Philosopher wrote about free speech today, and I’d love to comment there, but there seems to be no means. So I’ll…
Munk Debates: Is Populism the Way of the Future?
I watched the recent, heavily protested, Munk Debate between good buddies on the right, Steve Bannon and David Frum. The issue they were debating was, “Be it resolved, the future…
Climate Change Education: Maybe Too Little, Too Late?
I’ve been teaching about climate change since I started teaching in 1991. Back then, most students just laughed, and I came across as a crazy person. I was fine with…
Can We Turn This Corner?
September is always a busy month for me, and typically I don’t get the luxury of reading the new significantly, but this time was different. It’s been a car crash…
On Anita Hill
My time at university was split down the middle by the news of the Montréal Massacre, and the subsequent years were plagued with fears of the Scarborough rapist. We proactively…
Hedges’ Talk on America: The Farewell Tour
I was able to get a seat to see Chris Hedges at CIGI in Waterloo. It was a packed house with a full overflow room as well. He started his…
On Culture Wars
I just finally got around to Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies. It’s a comprehensive book outlining the history and categorization of various groups online that have seeped into real life,…
On the Climate Emergency
Lots of bleak news these days. The fires sweeping through Canada and the U.S. this year, at least, for the thinnest of silver linings in these devastating tragedies, have woken…
Censorship Quiz
I’ve been reading Bob Altermeyer’s book on authoritarianism written in 2006. Here’s a censorship quiz (p 84) that perhaps can help people recognize that few of us actually want every…
On Internet Haters
Here’s how I see it: If two people who are equally matched have a fight, the loser can still save face. It was a fair fight and someone had to…
On Transgressions
I’ve been enjoying a podcast “This Jungian Life,” in which three Jungian analysts discuss various questions. This one in particular discusses the difference between sin and transgression, but then it…
On Manne’s "Down Girl"
With thorough argumentation and heavily footnoted facts brought to the table, Down Girl, by Kate Manne delineates misogyny from sexism and hopes “to offer a useful toolkit for asking, answering,…
End of an Era: On Buying My First Car
I bought a 2009 Kia Rio. I went with a friend because I had no idea how it all worked, and I had lots of stupid questions, like: How do…
On Discovering Ourselves Through Choosing Others
Online dating, or, I suppose, regular dating (but I barely remember what that even is anymore) is a fascinating exercise in identity discovery. To take part in the game, we…
Music is a Necessity
. . . After food, air, water, and warmth, music is the next necessity of life. ~ Keith Richards Things are really messed-up. The kids got out of the cave,…
On Half Earth
The headline says, Scientists call for a Paris-style agreement to save life on Earth. Monbiot says this often, and E.O. Wilson, and so many others. We have to let parts…
First Time for Everything
I wonder what would have happened to Sleeping Beauty had she slept for, oh, say 20, 30 years or so, but continued to age. I’m thinking Shrek, but with the…