In a world where possibilities, if not hope, seem in short supply, can we learn to look at those who have been marginalized, excluded, and often dehumanized and demonized not as the Other but as the Otherwise—not aliens but alternatives for reimagining ourselves and our exhausted institutions and societies?
We Have Seen the Other and She is (or Could Be) Us Read More »
If we want to see the republic survive for another 250 years, perhaps it’s time to consider a 28th Amendment—denying men the right to vote.
A Modest Proposal for a 28th Amendment Read More »
People often do what they know is bad for them or fail to do what they know is good. This kind of akrasia or lack of willpower or self-control is now being seen in digital technology—or are we being forced into digital tech against our will?
Technological Akrasia Read More »
Clarence Thomas’ recent speech extolling the Declaration of Independence and Western civilization while decrying the existential threat of progressivism should instead have acknowledged the similarity between King George’s trespasses against Americans and Trump’s current trespasses.
A Long Train of Abuses and Usurpations Read More »
Educational institutions in America, under the current conservative regime, are actively suppressing discussion and knowledge of gender diversity, but the facts of sex/gender around the world indicate that sex/gender is diverse and not completely determined by physical traits (or even necessarily permanent), allowing for more sex/gender categories and a more accepting attitude toward such diversity.
Ex Multis Generibus Una Gens Read More »
The recent executions of American citizens in Minneapolis test Trump’s 2016 claim that he could shoot someone on the street and not lose any voters. This dark image—a threat and a prophecy—has become too real, without any clear sense of where it ends.
On Shooting People on Fifth Avenue Read More »
Years after scholars identified people who are “unskilled and unaware,” Republican politics has devolved into a show of “unprincipled and unashamed,” in which leaders ignore, violate, or invent and then discard principles.
Unprincipled and Unashamed Read More »
Originally conceived in Hebrew and Greek traditions as words that offend deities, blasphemy has morphed in the present day into a battle of images and a cry of subjective emotional pain, which anyone can use against anyone to silence and dominate them.
The reaction to the killing of Charlie Kirk lays bare the exclusionary boundaries of “the people” in the US and the unacceptable violence against “us” (Republicans/conservatives) and acceptable violence against “them” (Democrats/liberals).
Disappointment — especially in the failed promises of capitalism and democracy — is a driving force in contemporary American and global politics.
The New Great Disappointment Read More »
Ignorance has become a leading force in world politics, calling for a term to label rule by ignorance—agnocracy.
We’re All Living in Agnocracy Read More »
