The Post In Which I Get Cranky on Climate Change
When people talk about the effects of climate change, they often worry about water burying some prized beach-front real estate, but an article in Thursday’s Guardian, “Seven ways climate change…
Marie Snyder
On Words and Virtue
Scott Long wrote an excellent article separating the act of supporting free speech from the act of supporting the words and images created by Charlie Hebdo. But I disagree with…
On Restricting Free Speech
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Evelyn Beatrice Hall I’m not so sure I agree with Ms.…
On Chomsky’s Driving Forces in US Foreign Policy
On Chomsky’s “Driving Forces in US Foreign Policy.” This talk is from last summer, but it just caught up to me now. I’ve summarized bits of the 2-hour long talk…
On Acting Nice
I’ve been watching lots of movies and thinking about this bit from Aristotle: “But we get the virtues by having first performed the energies, as is the case also in…
On Pseudonymns
A post at Feminist Philosophers discusses why some bloggers feel the need to write under an alias, and the respect this decision necessitates. The reasons are primarily around safety. Bloggers…
Harris on Harper
Michael Harris discusses union busting tactics, forcing members out of office, refusing compensation for veterans, and other scandals of the Harper years – so far.
The Newsroom: On Journalism, the Environment, and Sexism
I just finished watching the final season of The Newsroom as it appears catching up on shows is becoming a personal tradition on the first day of any holiday. It…
On Sex Ed, Double Standards, and the Red Herring of Consent
We discussed Erin Anderson’s article from Friday’s Globe and Mail in my philosophy class on Friday, and it provoked a whole gamut of topics. I’ll try to encapsulate some of…
Inequality for All
I watched Robert Reich’s film last summer on a camping trip. I woke up in the middle of a pitch-dark night and couldn’t fall back asleep. I tried a movie…
It’ll Be Fast: On Yes Means Yes
Globe and Mail. I was struck by the report of an intimate exchange between a man and woman in today’s Globe & Mail; the woman later questioned how consensual the…
On Wente’s "It Girl" Article
It’s curious that Margaret Wente is so clear about the errors Klein commits in her new book, when it appears from Wente’s article today, “The It Girl of climate change…
On Naomi Klein’s Climate Change Battle
Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times So far, I’ve just dipped into This Changes Everything, but the introduction alone is a compelling read. I made my way through Shock Doctrine several…
Disruption Critiqued
I showed Disruption to my grade 10 civics class. Some liked it okay, but many thought it was long and boring. “They could have done all that in a fraction…
People’s Climate March Update
“If you don’t fight for what you want, then you deserve what you get.” – Disruption The People’s Climate March is in one week. The 50-minute film, Disruption, is a…
AER Strategies
Margaret Wente recently wrote about a teacher, Lynden Dorval, who was fired for giving students zeros when they didn’t complete assignments. Fellow teachers argued his case: “They told the tribunal…
On Alone Time
Three articles caught my attention, two juxtaposed on a page of the Globe and Mail Saturday, and one forwarded along on Kinsella’s blog. Doug Saunders wrote about the blur between…
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
I love Nicholas Carr’s book. There are lots of studies and science mixed with many stories and asides and discussions of philosophers and other great thinkers. It reminded me of…
Chomsky’s Forward to Albert’s Realizing Hope: Life Beyond Capitalism
In full: (The book is here.) “Throughout much of the world there is growing resistance to the severe harm that has resulted from the neoliberal policies of the past generation.…
Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century
I feel like I don’t have to read this one with all the press it’s getting. Maybe next summer. This is the gist I’ve gotten so far: Michael Rozworski wrote…