Review: “Don’t Burn This Country” by Dave Rubin![]()
The Right - “This book undoubtedly represents an evolution in Rubin’s thinking, and contrary to those who accuse him of changing to suit others, changing one’s mind on philosophical beliefs is not automatically a disqualification.” 5/12/2022
The Right - “This book undoubtedly represents an evolution in Rubin’s thinking, and contrary to those who accuse him of changing to suit others, changing one’s mind on philosophical beliefs is not automatically a disqualification.” 5/12/2022To Win Wars, Cut the U.S. Defense Budget![]()
The Center - “It is time to slash the United States defense budget. The money wasted on weapon systems designed to win last century’s wars is staggering, as are the opportunity costs.” 5/9/2022
The Center - “It is time to slash the United States defense budget. The money wasted on weapon systems designed to win last century’s wars is staggering, as are the opportunity costs.” 5/9/2022Woke Culture Isn’t Nihilistic![]()
The Left - “If the woke activists who are willing to wake up at 5:00 am to march for racial justice are nihilistic, they sure seem to find nihilism plenty meaningful and inspiring.” 4/23/2022
The Left - “If the woke activists who are willing to wake up at 5:00 am to march for racial justice are nihilistic, they sure seem to find nihilism plenty meaningful and inspiring.” 4/23/2022The Many Problems with Race Reparations in the United States (Part Two)![]()
The Center - “The analyses attempting to quantify reparations, cited above, will likely encounter strong and ongoing resistance, if only based on the price tag alone.” 4/16/2022
The Center - “The analyses attempting to quantify reparations, cited above, will likely encounter strong and ongoing resistance, if only based on the price tag alone.” 4/16/2022Rediscovering “Third Place” Friendships in a Post-Pandemic World![]()
The Center - “By taking part in ordinary activities like visiting a bar or restaurant or a park or library, we are doing something which is important to the health of our neighbors, neighborhoods, and communities.” 4/15/2022
The Center - “By taking part in ordinary activities like visiting a bar or restaurant or a park or library, we are doing something which is important to the health of our neighbors, neighborhoods, and communities.” 4/15/2022Review: Michael Millerman’s “Beginning with Heidegger: Strauss, Rorty, Derrida, Dugin and the Philosophical Constitution of the Political”![]()
The Left - “However, its veneration of far-right thinking (sometimes qualified but always in the most intellectualized vein) undermines its claims to genuine seriousness.” 4/13/2022
The Left - “However, its veneration of far-right thinking (sometimes qualified but always in the most intellectualized vein) undermines its claims to genuine seriousness.” 4/13/2022Yemen and the Weaponization of Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid![]()
The Center - “A country on the brink well before war arrived, Yemen’s humanitarian crisis has been labeled the worst of our generation.” 4/12/2022
The Center - “A country on the brink well before war arrived, Yemen’s humanitarian crisis has been labeled the worst of our generation.” 4/12/2022The Many Problems with Race Reparations in the United States![]()
The Center - “What accounts for the gap between scholars and activists who advocate reparations and broad public resistance to the idea?” 4/7/2022
The Center - “What accounts for the gap between scholars and activists who advocate reparations and broad public resistance to the idea?” 4/7/2022The Pandemic and the Scientific Gnostics ![]()
The Right - “As Deneen says, Voegelin ‘argued that modern Gnosticism was an effort to ‘redivinize’ the political world—not now by bringing the gods in to the service of the city, but by making the city into a heaven on earth.'” 4/1/2022
The Right - “As Deneen says, Voegelin ‘argued that modern Gnosticism was an effort to ‘redivinize’ the political world—not now by bringing the gods in to the service of the city, but by making the city into a heaven on earth.'” 4/1/2022Blame Putin, Sure, But Also Blame Biden![]()
The Center - “The fact—one that should surprise no one—is that the same folks who gave us the grossly mismanaged withdrawal from Afghanistan have also taught a master class on how to bungle our crucial relationship with an already insecure nuclear superpower.” 3/29/2022
The Center - “The fact—one that should surprise no one—is that the same folks who gave us the grossly mismanaged withdrawal from Afghanistan have also taught a master class on how to bungle our crucial relationship with an already insecure nuclear superpower.” 3/29/2022A Better Way to Promote Equality of Opportunity Through Education![]()
The Center - “Now is no time to double down on a crumbling status quo. Instead of universalizing college and directing young people through a single pathway to opportunity, we should be multiplying pathways to opportunity.” 3/28/2022
The Center - “Now is no time to double down on a crumbling status quo. Instead of universalizing college and directing young people through a single pathway to opportunity, we should be multiplying pathways to opportunity.” 3/28/2022A Millennial Technologist’s View on Jaron Lanier’s “Who Owns the Future?”![]()
The Center - “Lanier draws a straight line from the idealism and optimism that ‘information wants to be free’ to the dystopian problems facing today’s world, including but not limited to a declining middle class, filter bubbles, and dysfunctional politics.” 3/26/2022
The Center - “Lanier draws a straight line from the idealism and optimism that ‘information wants to be free’ to the dystopian problems facing today’s world, including but not limited to a declining middle class, filter bubbles, and dysfunctional politics.” 3/26/2022A Response to Cathy Young: Let’s Be More Dispassionate When Discussing Ukraine![]()
The Center - “Young knows all too well what a chilly climate for dissent can devolve into, regardless of good intentions. This can undermine the West’s moral high ground more than any Russia-backed stooge could.” 3/22/2022
The Center - “Young knows all too well what a chilly climate for dissent can devolve into, regardless of good intentions. This can undermine the West’s moral high ground more than any Russia-backed stooge could.” 3/22/2022Neither Putin Nor Russia Are “Based”![]()
The Right - “For a start, American conservatives are either unaware of or ignore that Russia has the highest abortion rate in the world and the third highest divorce rate.” 3/20/2022
The Right - “For a start, American conservatives are either unaware of or ignore that Russia has the highest abortion rate in the world and the third highest divorce rate.” 3/20/2022Drivel’s Advocate: Why Nonsense Is Necessary![]()
The Center - “To us it should be plain that bad information accompanies the good: that it is (as death is to life) the necessary dark background against which one might see any light at all. “ 3/17/2022
The Center - “To us it should be plain that bad information accompanies the good: that it is (as death is to life) the necessary dark background against which one might see any light at all. “ 3/17/2022Gods and Beasts: An Aristotelian View of the “Corona-Years”![]()
The Center - “Yet, today, what seems most poignant about this story of just a few years ago is not so much that the young man had the opportunity to meet his friend in person as that meeting face-to-face was still considered an essential requirement by either him or his community—the consummation, if you like, of their friendship.” 3/15/2022
The Center - “Yet, today, what seems most poignant about this story of just a few years ago is not so much that the young man had the opportunity to meet his friend in person as that meeting face-to-face was still considered an essential requirement by either him or his community—the consummation, if you like, of their friendship.” 3/15/2022