So yes, the four-year debacle that is our collective Covid response is attributable in part to ignorance and in part to malice. But worse than either of those, and far more damaging to society in the long term, has been the sheer stupidity—humanity’s capacity for which I will never again underestimate.
Ignorance, Stupidity, or Malice? Continue Reading
Little acts of kindness mean more than we thought and losing them means more than we might have realized. It also means we are in desperate need of a kindness renaissance.
The Renaissance of Our Hearts Continue Reading
Just as, at any given time, there are conventions or ‘shadows’ that have a stranglehold on people’s ability to see beyond what current, tacit agreements allow one to see, today there are unprecedented, deliberately manufactured ‘shadows’ that govern the visible and auditory world. What are some of these?
Plato’s Cave Resurrected Continue Reading
The most alarming aspect of the contemporary scene may actually not be things like the horrific potential of nuclear and biological weapons. Instead, it could be the rejection of objective truth and rational thought as essential guides to sensible conduct. When even the sciences and medicine become unmoored from reason and reality, we are all in serious trouble.
The Fall of Critical Thinking Continue Reading
The “welfare clause,” referring originally to the loose collective of the states under the Articles of Confederation, and the concocted “rights of the community,” either alone or in combination, do not (maybe, “shouldn’t”) excuse Theft-by-Lockdown. We know the Constitution doesn’t allow exceptions for fear or being afraid. Neither do the Articles of Confederation. That’s fortunate since we also know the Revolution – a cause for fear all on its own – was fought during a smallpox pandemic – a secondary cause for fear.
Theft by Lockdown Continue Reading
We spent years needlessly frowning behind masks and protocols. We didn’t smile. I frowned at my unreasonable cello playing. I didn’t smile, but I should have. I learned my lesson after that first recital. Now — I smile no matter how badly I play. It is the most important thing an aspiring cellist can do after a performance. Smiles will always be an infection we should Start to Spread.
Don’t Slow the Spread of Joy Continue Reading
What no one told us, however, is that this reformist method of engendering peaceful change was highly dependent on the existence of a broadly-subscribed ethos of honesty, goodwill and, perhaps most of all, healthy shame in the class of people possessing an outsized ability to promote new ways of approaching social problems.
The Taboo Ingredient for Progress: Shame Continue Reading
I want to take the thesis of the last essay a step further and explore what might be causing our collapse. Is it a coincidence that we are suffering in so many different areas of life right now? Is it a little misstep on an otherwise progressive path? If we are on the verge of collapse, is it part of the arc of all great civilizations? Or, like Oedipus, do we suffer from some tragic flaw — a collective destructive character trait that we all share — that is responsible for bringing us to this place at this moment in history?
In the Shadow of Oedipus Continue Reading
Judging by the fight between knowledge and stupidity today, the latter ostensibly still has the upper hand, but as more people are awakening to the titanic struggle between the two, knowledge is in the ascendant. It is up to us to tip the scales in its favour – as long as we realise that it is a never-ending battle.
The War Between Knowledge and Stupidity Continue Reading
We recoil because we know that the appeal to self is corrosive to unit cohesion. We also know that promoting individual identity and self-actualization—focusing on what is different among us—fosters division. And yet we are repeatedly told that it’s precisely such “diversity”—not of thought, but of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, and sexual orientation—that makes our nation prosperous and our military strong.
Divided We Fall Continue Reading
Much of the current debate surrounding health care – putting aside momentarily the catastrophic failure of the public health system during the pandemic – is whether or not it is a “right” or a “privilege.”
Health Care: Right, Privilege, or Neither? Continue Reading
Our models represent, largely, a collaborative social universe, where people play by rules, say what they mean, and act with honesty and integrity — and where, in general, we do not deal with calculating minds trained in the arts of war and espionage. Their models, on the other hand, encompass a reality that exists completely off this game board, which is not beholden to it, and whose players often take each other’s movements into account and plot reactions several steps in advance.
The Playmobil Society vs. The Game of Nations Continue Reading
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