We preach non-discrimination, equality, and democracy, but when confronted with what seemed to be a potentially mortal threat to our health and lives, we reverted back to pre-modern forms, almost overnight creating a new caste system, shoving the lessers among us in front of the virus to keep the elites pure and clean.
The Political Hierarchy of Infection Read Journal Article
Interventions rooted in panic, driven by political machinations, and using all the levers of state power to terrify citizens and muzzle critics in the end needlessly killed massive numbers of the most vulnerable while putting the vast low-risk majority under house arrest. The benefits are questionable but the harms are increasingly obvious. The Johnson government in general and Hancock in particular revalidate Lord Acton’s astute observation that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Conspiracy Theories Become Conspiracy Facts Read Journal Article
The task ahead is not to preserve the CDC’s aura. It is instead to put public health on a foundation of honesty, openness, and freedom. That — not resignation letters steeped in fallacy — is what will make America healthy again.
Enough Is Enough: What a CDC Resignation Letter Reveals Read Journal Article
By going with the grain of how we think and act, the state-employed ‘nudgers’ can covertly shape our behaviour in a direction deemed desirable by the regime of the day – an appealing prospect for any government. The ubiquitous deployment of these behavioural strategies – which frequently rely on inflating emotional distress to change behaviour – raises profound moral questions.
The Nudge: Ethically Dubious and Ineffective Read Journal Article
Is Fauci a synonym for science? No man is. But he was a prominent drive of US based pandemic policy, and at least some of his biggest decisions may have been errors. He should be judged for that.
Is Anthony Fauci the Same Thing as ‘Science’? Read Journal Article
The case for nuclear weapons rests on a superstitious belief of magical Realism in the utility of the bomb and the theory of deterrence. The extreme destructiveness of nuclear weapons makes them qualitatively different in political and moral terms from other weapons, to the point of rendering them virtually unusable. Like the emperor who had no clothes, this might well be the truest explanation of why they have not been used since 1945.
My Transition from Nuclear to Covid Read Journal Article
More than other members of society, children are at a critical phase in development, with their well-being largely dependent on the good judgement of the adults around them. As we wrap up the holiday season, full of reminders of the innocence and joy of childhood, it’s time to embrace our responsibility, as adults, to protect that innocence through reasonable pandemic policy.
Students with Disabilities Need the Least Restrictive Environment Read Journal Article
The puppycide movement made a good effort. The ACLU took it one step further, situating violence against our pets within the scope of the militarization of policing. While the ACLU was directionally correct, policing is downstream of something more fundamental.
Peanut and Puppycide Read Journal Article
Beyond empathy, to combat a psychic epidemic we need meaning in our lives. Not an ersatz top-down solidarity, dreamt up by technocratic communications experts, but genuine, socially meaningful relationships, purpose and values. Lockdowns and restrictions squashed exactly what we need to flourish as human beings in order to counteract a psychic epidemic. For the good of the collective, we must recapture meaning and values as individuals.
The Moral Cruelty of the Pandemic Response Read Journal Article
The free world is stuck tallying the costs of its catastrophic foray into totalitarianism. Most of these costs were predicted well before the policies were ever implemented. Hundreds of millions have gone hungry. An entire generation of children has been abused and traumatized. Young people were robbed of some of their brightest years. Small businesses and those who depended on them lost their livelihoods. Trillions of dollars were transferred from the world’s poorest to its very richest.
We Need Truth and Justice Read Journal Article
