Brownstone Journal

Articles, News, Research, and Commentary on public health, science, economics, & social theory

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woke religion

What and Why is ‘Woke?’ 

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Woke’s lust for destruction has emerged from the heart of a decaying Western society. Woke is an attack on the most potent and healthy elements of that society, backed by the super-rich who seek more control. At once a sterile new religion of the useless to celebrate uselessness, a fanatical doomsday cult, and a thief of what is good, healthy and self-affirming, woke represents in four letters what ails the West, and the antithesis of what is needed to heal the West.

What and Why is ‘Woke?’  Read Journal Article

cdc director

New CDC Director Is Another Lockdowner 

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We are all hoping for a clean repudiation of these policies, and even a flip of the narrative such that participating in this disaster would be a mark against people in terms of career development. We are nowhere near that point yet. It’s the opposite. The regime is still hiring and promoting out of the lockdown party for the future. They cannot admit error and are working to make sure they never have to do so. 

New CDC Director Is Another Lockdowner  Read Journal Article

fraying order

The Fraying of the Liberal International Order

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To no one’s surprise, the rising and revisionist powers wish to redesign the international governance institutions to inject their own interests, governing philosophies, and preferences. They also wish to relocate the control mechanisms from the major Western capitals to some of their own capitals. China’s role in the Iran–Saudi rapprochement might be a harbinger of things to come.

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A Myth-Making Toolkit from the Volcano’s Shadow

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Collective consciousness, especially when it spans multiple centuries, carries immense power; but many of us have lost our communal ties and our sense of history. We may have forgotten who our ancestors were and where they came from; we may know little about what they ate, what they believed in, and the rituals they practiced. 

A Myth-Making Toolkit from the Volcano’s Shadow Read Journal Article

deplatforming

The Deplatforming of the “Disinformation Dozen”: More Coverage From Tracy Beanz

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Facebook responded to the White House’s incessant and abusive demands for more censorship with, “We hear your call for us to do more, and as I said on the call we are committed to working towards our shared goal.” This after a triple punch of threats were lobbed by the White House and the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG), Dr. Vivek Murthy, at social media companies in mid July 2021.

The Deplatforming of the “Disinformation Dozen”: More Coverage From Tracy Beanz Read Journal Article

ireland

Ireland’s Assault on Free Speech

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A law infected with this level of vagueness will easily become a conduit for the subjective opinions and ideologies of the interpreter. This means that public officials, whether police, prosecutors, or judges, will be able to use their power, if they so wish, as an instrument of political and ideological domination, dressed up under hopelessly vague language. For example, a judge who believes that biological sex is passé might interpret hard-hitting criticism of the trans agenda as “incitement to hatred” rather than reasonable democratic debate.

Ireland’s Assault on Free Speech Read Journal Article

economic thinking

The Economics of Lockdown Panics

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Economics alone cannot tell us if any cost is too much to “save one life.” But economic thinking can help us understand that preserving human life entails bearing costs. It requires resources and people with skills. We must provide ourselves with the means to bear those costs if we wish to continue to have the ability to preserve human life in the future. 

The Economics of Lockdown Panics Read Journal Article

Misinformation

Misinformation Is a Word We Use to Shut You Up

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The “anti-misinformation” projects are obvious miscarriages of civility, decency, and the rule of law. We must rediscover the norms of openness, tolerance, and free speech that dignify humankind. Science depends on confidence, and confidence depends on those liberal norms. Those norms are the parents of good science, healthy sense-making, and civil tranquility.

Misinformation Is a Word We Use to Shut You Up Read Journal Article

nowhere man

Nowhere Man

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One moment, you’re waving to a longtime neighbor. The next, the neighbor is calling the police because you are violating the lockdown. One moment, you have a decent little community business. The next, the authorities have shuttered your doors and you watch helplessly as the “big box” near the freeway gobbles up your customers and, in the end, your livelihood.

Nowhere Man Read Journal Article