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…
Marie Snyder
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…
Progress or Ruin
Monbiot’s recent article sits in my belly like lead: As a child and young adult, I delighted in being able to identify almost any wild plant or animal. And now…
The Trouble with Relativism
From a comment on a social media post advocating that we stop protesting people with Trump hats: “The trouble with refusing to serve someone because you abhor their views, is…
Right to Free Speech, not to an Audience
In Brian W. Van Norten’s article in today’s New York Times, “The Ignorant Do Not Have a Right to an Audience” he carefully argues the stance that I’ve attempted to…
On Limits to Free Speech: Hate Crime Laws and Defamation Suits
Watching the excellent series The Handmaid’s Tale, at first I questioned the glaring lack of racism in the show. It’s supposed to be happening just a few years in the…
Left Wing Opposition Rebuttal
Here’s a facebook response to my previous post about left-wing ideology, and the post included a link to this article about Peterson. First claim: the left are promoting racism and…
Defining the Left
This is a continuation of my previous post on the political correctness issue raised in last week’s Munk Debates with Jordan Peterson, Michelle Goldberg, Michael Eric Dyson, and Stephen Fry…
Munk Debate On Political Correctness
Immersed, as I have been, in the political correctness / free speech dichotomy, I looked forward to the recent Munk Debate with Michelle Goldberg and Michael Eric Dyson on one…
The 9.9 Percent
The Atlantic has a great article about the 9.9% being the new American aristocracy. Matthew Stewart has separated the 0.1%, who are the super rich, from the moderately wealthy who…