Israel’s Assault on Gaza
In the days since Hamas’s violent rampage through southern Israel, one word that keeps popping up is “unprovoked.” A Biden administration official condemned “the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against…
violence
Breathe, Grieve, Love, Repeat
We have very little direct influence over one another but we do affect one another in myriad ways that we often don’t even notice. I had a student once, about…
Age of Absurdity
We’re skipping gleefully into the most absurd period in history. The philosophical notion of the absurd came from Camus. It grew legs with existentialists after WWII when the youngest and…
On the Social Disease of Anger
The anger that escalated at a recent Ottawa-Carlton school board meeting when a trustee proposed and lost a motion to mandate masks, in a setting of generally polite discussion, makes…
Violence is widespread and growing in Ontario health care
Contrary to popular perception, there are more assaults in hospitals than in any other industry. Long-term are facilities are also major site for assaults. Health care as a whole has…
The Harrowing Road for Candidates – and the Rest of Us
I’ve recently read two articles on the problem and solution to the current nastiness in elections after hearing first hand about serious issues candidates have had at the door. You…
The Argument for White Supremacy
It seems that the main argument of the white supremacists is that white western European countries would not have conquered the world if they were not superior societies. Of course…
Can America Be Saved
I am writing this as a citizen of a world that no matter where we live are strongly impacted by whatever America does and whatever happens in America America is…
Ways to Reduce Police Violence
vote This past week saw Americans out on the streets en masse to protest police violence, in particular race-based discrimination practiced by police throughout the nation. Non-white individuals get harassed…
On Gun Control
I’ve been observing many gun control arguments online and in the classroom (also online) recently. I’ve written about this before, once after Sandy Hook and then after a Stoneman Douglas…
Hannah Arendt’s On Violence
Unfortunately, this is really timely. Arendt wrote this short book in 1970, but there’s nothing in it that needs to be updated today. Absolutely nothing significant has changed; it’s just…
Amber Alert Red Herring
People were upset to be woken up by the Amber Alert Thursday night. And now, on social media, people are REALLY upset that people were upset to be woken up…
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,…
On Entitlement and Unfettered Rage
One of the benefits or downfalls of the internet is that it allows fringe groups to find each other online. When it comes to feeling like nobody in the world…
Prayer isn’t stopping the violence
An acerbic piece in Maclean’s Magazine from June had the title “America’s mass delusion.” The subtitle read, “Surprisingly, the strategy of praying to God is not stopping the mass shootings…
For the countless Canadians humiliated by anti-gay policies, healing can finally begin
Svend Robinson was Canada’s first openly gay MP. He is now based in Geneva with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Originally published in the Globe &…
Our Progress
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Our Progress
The LGBT community is a community of fighters. We may never make sense of the tragedy in Orlando, but look at the reaction; look at the outpouring of love, compassion,…
Miserable People Sow Misery (Or fascism, genocide, violence, hatred, war…)
Miserable People Sow Misery:Be Compassionate To All Beings – Including Yourself Miserable people often love schadenfreude – evil joy: taking delight in other’s sufferings, failures or faults. It’s disgusting. No…