I was watching Gladiator not long ago, and it just hit me: I’ve seen this movie before. Or rather, I am seeing it again. Donald Trump is the Emperor Commodus. He’s all about show. He… Continue reading…
From Jan. 26, 2017
My Deleuzian impulses make me want to resist some of the implicit stories we are telling in the current crisis (and it is, without question, a crisis). A great deal of… Continue reading…
From Jan. 24, 2017
This feels like the opposite of Nobel prize week. Instead of a celebration of ideas that were successful, this is a week of really bad ideas.
Physics anti-prize –… Continue reading…
From Jan. 20, 2017
Prognostication is always, by definition, a gamble. Maybe this is right. I think the idea that California is the future is quite likely, although the article doesn’t really deal… Continue reading…
From Jan. 9, 2017
https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2017/01/no-core-identity
I posted this comment on someone else’s thread (h/t Ross Emmett) and I thought it might be worth posting here.
The article has a kind of… Continue reading…
From Jan. 4, 2017
Canada as postnational? Maybe. It’s at least a useful fiction, and perhaps the only place in the world where that fiction might be aspirational, as this article suggests. I… Continue reading…
From Dec. 21, 2016
Trump = Dear Leader. Term of respect, obeisance, and uncritical acceptance of all things dispensed by our Orange Oracle.
Trump apologist = Trumpologist. Like an astrologist, someone who truly believes in… Continue reading…
From Dec. 19, 2016
Philosophers affect the world, not always in good ways. Apparently the “Kremlin-approved philosopher Alexander Dugin” is the custodian of the “Kremlin-approved nationalist philosophy”. I’ve seen various attempts at national… Continue reading…
From Dec. 10, 2016
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america
Teen Vogue, now part of the liberal elite mainstream media. Teen Vogue. Thing is, they’re right. This is gaslighting, this is an attempt to establish a new normal in… Continue reading…
From Dec. 3 2016
I was reading through my June 1903 copy of The American Boy, as one does, and came across this little racist nugget in an article on lacrosse:
“It is characteristic of… Continue reading…
From Nov. 28, 2016
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/
This is an ongoing proposal, already passed within 11 states with 165 electoral votes, for tying the votes of the electors in each state by law to the national… Continue reading…
Nov. 28, 2016
The following was originally posted to Twitter by Timothy Snyder, historian of the Holocaust and of modern Europe at Yale University. I think these points are well taken no matter who one… Continue reading…
From Nov. 27, 2016
Devos as education secretary is a clear case of putting ideology over students, empirical results, and the public good. While her experience is with primary and secondary education, I also… Continue reading…
From Nov. 25, 2016
NYT: “Many in Florida Count on Obama’s Health Law, Even Amid Talk of Its Demise”
So, for all those who said that they took Trump seriously but not… Continue reading…
From Nov. 22, 2016
FiveThirtyEight: “Education, Not Income, Predicted Who Would Vote For Trump” http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/
The statisticians do the correlations here. At the end, there are some guesses as to causation.
“Education levels may be… Continue reading…
From Nov. 15, 2016
Is anyone else having a really hard time focusing right now? Everyone has their reasons. Mine include: what’s the use of being a philosopher and trying to teach the proper use… Continue reading…
From Nov. 13, 2016
https://www.splcenter.org/tell-president-trump-take-responsibility-hate-hes-unleashed
Yes to this. And I’d go further, as I have been over the past few days. Now is a golden opportunity for many Trump supporters to live up to… Continue reading…
From Nov. 12, 2016
So, what I want to know (and this is a real question): are there groups of Trump voters standing up and condemning hate crimes done in the name of… Continue reading…
From Nov. 11, 2016
In the aftermath of the election, I’m hearing from some Trump supporters that they do not want to be grouped with the racists, the sexists, the xenophobes, the hatemongers. They claim… Continue reading…
From Nov. 9, 2016
Deterritorialize, reterritorialize. The molar won, or did the molecular? Depends on who’s seeing a line of flight. All I know is, the affect is ugly, but it is still affect. There’s… Continue reading…
From Aug. 26, 2016
Interesting article. There are precedents in Judaism, in Native American traditions, in some African traditions, and in various Anabaptist traditions, including my own Mennonite background, in the peace stand…. Continue reading…
