Excerpt: “Moral Courage: 19 Profiles of Investigative Journalists”
“To understand India’s slippery descent, one should read the reportage of Neha Dixit, a 37-year-old New Delhi-based freelance journalist.”
The Left
A collection of 360 issues
Excerpt: “Getting Elected Is the Easy Part”
“Although an overt threat is never clearly articulated, the potential for serious political consequences makes it all the more trepidatious to consider crossing the aisle on a big bill where every vote is counted and closely watched.”
Samuel G. Freedman: What a Young Hubert Humphrey Can Teach Us
“Humphrey’s insurgency at the convention basically lashed Truman to the mast of [Humphrey’s] own civil rights agenda. And desegregating the armed forces was arguably the single most important civil rights cause of that moment in time.”
Matt Johnson: “How Hitchens Can Save the Left”
“There really hasn’t been anybody like him since he passed…This is why there are these long compilations of ‘Hitchslaps’ on YouTube. It’s why most of the tributes to him focus on his rhetorical prowess—and just his brilliance on the debate stage.”
The Russo-Ukrainian War: A Very Simple Conflict
“The Rada’s final decree is a reproach to all those who think of Ukraine as nothing more than an appendage of Russia, without a culture and a history of its own.”
Excerpt: “How Hitchens Can Save the Left”
“When he saw his old left-wing comrades busily hatching excuses for neutrality as Slobodan Milošević waged war on Bosnia, he realized that much of the Left was either indifferent about this confrontation or on the wrong side.”
On Literary Science and the Bounds of Knowledge
“But philistinism is not limited to the arts. I believe that those who cannot appreciate the wondrous beauty of the real world as revealed by science are philistines, too.”
Review: “How Hitchens Can Save the Left” by Matt Johnson
“[Matt] Johnson believes that by adopting [Christopher] Hitchens’s approach—his allergy to party politics, his hatred of racism and nationalism, his emphasis on pluralism and humanism—the contemporary left will not just benefit at the ballot box but will also benefit morally and intellectually.”
Stop Pretending All Cultures Are the Same
“So I will say it with my heart, and others should too: If a culture persecutes LGBT people, is overtly racist, or makes women second class citizens, then to hell with that culture. My culture is better than that one.”
The Case for Retiring “Confederate Heroes Day”
“As we come to know more about the morally repulsive aspects of our national history—and, more importantly, face those realities—removing symbols of our collective failure in the past is not an attempt to deny our history. Rather, it is a sign of growth, a willingness to face our history.”
COVID-19 and the Banality of Evil
“Compulsory obedience can especially be seen in how the Democratic Party has changed since the election of President Biden in 2020. Before he entered office, COVID-19 was more accepted as an important and legitimate issue.”
Why I Support Australian Republicanism
“A republic represents the ability for Australians to recognize formally what has been long known: that we are willing and capable of charting our own future released from the bonds of the past.”
No Easy Answers: Facing Ecological Crises Honestly
“But we need to replace fanciful dreams of endless energy from renewables with full-cost accounting, which an increasing number of experts are taking seriously. There are destructive environmental and social consequences to constructing the infrastructure for that energy production.”
Holmesburg: Calling for an Apology from the City of Philadelphia
“My father’s skin is in those pharmaceutical companies.”
Why Is This Not Enough?
“Jackson was out walking on his property in Kansas one spring day and called Jensen with a simple question: ‘Why is this not enough?’”
On Finland’s Memorandum with Turkey
“Finns should decide their own fate. Their pact with Turkey signals the opposite.”
On Cultural Poverty
“Similarly, we should understand the notion of greater cultural wealth in connection with greater cultural equality.”
Review: “Nietzsche, The Aristocratic Rebel” by Domenico Losurdo
“First published in Italy, [Nietzsche, The Aristocratic Rebel] has finally been translated into English by Gregor Benton and released as part of the Historical Materialism Book Series with Haymarket Books.”
Why the Left Is Accepting Finnish NATO Membership
“With that said, however, as a country with a 70-year commitment to welfarism, it would not be desirable to substitute this for Russia’s brand of plutocratic capitalism.”
Woke Culture Isn’t Nihilistic
“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.”
Do David Brooks and the New Right Share Common Threads?
“The general public—and not the elite—is, in fact, the primary obstacle to the New Right’s political project.”
Review: Michael Millerman’s “Beginning with Heidegger: Strauss, Rorty, Derrida, Dugin and the Philosophical Constitution of the Political”
“However, its veneration of far-right thinking (sometimes qualified but always in the most intellectualized vein) undermines its claims to genuine seriousness.”
Dwight Evans: The VICTIM Act and Combating Crime
“No one is exempt from being a victim of some sort of crime. And it’s very appropriate that I use that title [of victim] in terms of the VICTIM Act.”
Who Will Guard the Guardians: Dilemmas of Policing
“Policing needs to be seen as a profession to whose ranks people of every class might plausibly aspire.”
Keeping Wounds Green
“In the aftermath of the fiasco that was the Fall of Kabul, it was predictable that American commentators would detect a mirroring effect of the Afghan loss on political crises in the United States.”
Excerpt: “Screen Captures: Film in the Age of Emergency”
“The End of Suburbia lays out the argument that with oil production peaking somewhere around 2027–28, and from then on heading into a steep decline, the living standards of those in suburbia will decline also.”
The Queens on the Throne of Kings
“Presiding over a declining empire is more arduous than presiding over one that is rising.”
Anne Kim: The AP Exam and the Standardized Testing Debate
“I think the downside of going test-optional, the downside of ignoring what assessments tell you, means that you might end up ignoring the underlying structural problems and never fixing the inequities.”
Review: “The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality”
“Now, given that genetics matters for these things, which, in turn, drive inequality, we should take genetics seriously if we are truly committed to egalitarianism.”
Review: “The Memeing of Mark Fisher”
“Located within the framework of the Frankfurt School’s critical theory, The Memeing of Mark Fisher boldly riffs on everything from conspiracy theories and memes to economic policy and election campaigns…”
“A Certain Terror”: A White Male Perspective on Being an Ally
“But that raises another thorny question: Given all the excellent books by women and people of color, why am I writing at all? Why am I not simply recommending other people’s work to men and white people?”
Excerpt: “The End of the End of History”
“History ended in 1989. In 2008, the economic order was shaken. The political reckoning arrived in 2016. By 2020, the End of History was over.”
UFOs, Zombies, and Our Cyborg Futures
“However, without wishing to entertain hyperbole, we may conversely deem this great exposé to be rather trivial—even inconsequential—especially when considering the increasingly ‘extraordinary’ nature of our own existence.”
Why Porn? Why This Porn? Why So Little Concern?
“I want to explore this conclusion by asking why pornography is so prevalent, why themes of domination and subordination are so prevalent in pornography, and why so many people defend or celebrate it, even in progressive and feminist circles.”
Lessons from Labour’s 2021 Election Defeat
“It is a crushing defeat that signals that Labour’s loss of several of its Northern constituencies under former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in the 2019 general election was not a one-off occurrence that could be fixed with a new leader.”
Knowing Which “Hill to Die On”
“Idealists, in order to change the systems in which they exist, must usually remain in that system.”
Joe Biden: the New Face for Much of the Same on Immigration
“Democrats have long gotten away with murder this way, shaking migrant hands in public view while mercilessly oppressing them out of sight.”
Nicholas Kristof Discusses “Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope”
“One of the reasons our anti-poverty efforts in America don’t do better is we start too late. We need to help kids early on.”
Taking an Oath upon the Constitution, Rather than the Bible
“While laws do not and absolutely should not regulate a politician’s religious practices, the time and place for these practices is not when taking an oath of office.”
An Alternative Take on Cancel Culture
“But this, in my view, has little to do with people being overly sensitive and much more to with the very economic system that conservative critics of cancel culture regularly prop up.”
Wes Jackson: How to Respect One’s Tools
“I’m Robert Jensen. I’ll be your guide into the restless and relentless mind of Wes Jackson. I first bumped into Wes’ work more than three decades ago, and his ideas have had a profound influence on my thinking about society and ecology.”
When Conservative Christians Invoke Nietzsche
“Given this, we can recognize that Nietzsche would have seen layers of irony in these contemporary conservative figures appealing to his ideas to critique contemporary socialists…while simultaneously expressing concern about declining Christian values.”
When Discussing Loan Forgiveness, There’s More Than Just Student Debt
“Relief that starts and stops with student loans is merely distracting from larger issues.”
Kant: the Greatest Liberal Philosopher?
“So what, then, makes someone a liberal? In this piece, I am going to argue that the philosophy of Immanuel Kant provides some clues.”
Social Media and the Fraught Question of Regulation
“But, with that said, many of the problems that are blamed on social media run much deeper and require broader societal solutions than just legal controls on social media.”
How to Honor the Legacy of Michael Brooks
“When it comes to theorizing about cosmopolitan socialism, Michael, unfortunately, passed on before he could spell out the details. However, we can infer much from his criticisms of conservative histories.”
Our First Year without Roger Scruton
“At his best, Scruton was a panoramic thinker of formidable intellect who puts to shame many of the lesser polemicists who have followed in his giant footsteps.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein: a Post-Modern Philosopher?
“Struck by this realization, Wittgenstein insisted that the best thing now was simply to stop doing philosophy and to try and find in life what could not be said with certainty.”
Alfie Bown: Where Politics and Gaming Meet
“I think there’s great potential in video games. In some ways, they are the primary space in which the culture wars are now being fought.”
Thomas Ricks: Politics, as Seen from Aristotle to Trump
“And so I remembered from college: When you’re facing a problem that seems deeply puzzling, go back to fundamentals, go to first principles. So I took Aristotle’s Politics off my shelf, my old college copy, and reread it in the context of the election of Donald Trump.”
Book Announcement: “The Emergence of Post-Modernity”
“This is one of the reasons for the remarkable loneliness and alienation from others many have detected in the post-modern landscape.”
From Pornography to Agriculture: Challenging Hierarchy
“At the core of this analysis is a claim that, at first glance, may seem to be a stretch: The erosion of human dignity in our broken world starts with the erosion of the planet’s soils.”
Fitter and Happier? Work after the Coronavirus
“Of all changes that have already been made to mitigate the threat of the deadly virus, the way we work has arguably undergone the biggest transformation.”
An Experiment in (Lefty) Roleplaying?
“Sadly, for past the 40 years, this yearning for an impossible yet fantastical other is one that has become increasingly shared by those on the Left.”
Bill Vitek: In Pursuit of Better Agriculture (and a Better Society)
“The way we farm and the way we think are connected—that’s our premise.”
Rep.-elect Carolyn Bourdeaux: Why She Ran, and Hope for the Future
“One of the big issues was health care reform; my own parents struggled with the cost of prescription medications, using up all of their discretionary income to pay for my father’s insulin and other medications.”
Four Ways Freedom Has Been Understood
“In this brief article, my final for the year, I will discuss four different ways freedom has been conceived of in the European philosophical tradition.”
Gad Saad’s “The Parasitic Mind”: A Reasonable Premise Gone Awry
“At the time the aforementioned Heterodox Academy report was published, firings of conservatives had doubled, yet left-leaning professor firings had spiked by 950%.”
Mayor Justin Elicker: Lessons from New Haven, CT
“It’s clear that so many cities are going through a lot of the same challenges that New Haven is facing right now.”
Christian Conservatism and Neo-Gnosticism: A Reply to Nick Opyrchal
“However, Žižek’s entire point is that the dialectical method reveals a shocking truth about the world: that certain limitations cannot be overcome because they are built into the structure of reality itself.”
Preview: “A Critical Legal Conception of Liberalism and Liberal Rights”
“My new book, A Critical Legal Examination of Liberalism and Liberal Rights, holds that liberalism is best understood as a political and moral doctrine committed to two fundamental principles.”
How Democrats Can Win Back Cuban and Venezuelan Voters
“For those accustomed to political polarization, it is easy to transition into this hyper-polarized political climate in the United States and readily pick a side.”
Žižek and Milbank: The Monstrosity of Christ?
“However, the purpose of this reading is to stress—contra more conservative interpreters like Milbank—that the disordered post-modern world that we inhabit is not a firm break with Christianity.”
How Online Meme Culture Fails the Left
“As such, it is not simply the case that coherent political dialogue is difficult via the Internet; it is difficult, in large part, because of the Internet…”
On Donald Trump, the Person
“Throughout my writings on post-modern conservatism, I have generally avoided discussing President Donald Trump’s personality.”
Pharmakon V: Culture Wars—Trickle-Down Economics vs. Trickle-Down Morality
“Without this circumspection, advocacy appears heavy-handed, tone-deaf, mistimed, and ultimately self-defeating, to the detriment of the downtrodden.”
Ten Books Every Progressive Should Read to Understand the Right
“One question I am often asked by engaged leftists is what texts are most helpful for understanding the political right.”
The Crowding out of a Humanities Education
“Taken to its logical apotheosis, this trend all but guarantees that the humanities—philosophy, literature, journalism, etc.—will become the exclusive domain of the economic elite.”
Book Review: Steven Higashide’s “Better Buses, Better Cites”
“A well-planned and well-funded bus transit system opens up a community to a larger world, better paid jobs, educational opportunities, and the potential for a better life.”
Book Review: “Canceling Comedians While the World Burns”
“Now, in what is sure to be a more controversial move, Burgis is turning his analytical skills towards criticizing the political left.”
A Better Way to Understand the Intellectual Dark Web
“In a different world where the culture war never happened, I might have seen myself as their ally in some areas.”
Preview: “A Critical Legal Examination of Liberalism and Liberal Rights”
“While we may be cursed to live in interesting times, this presents an opportunity to rethink some of our basic assumptions about the democratic politics of liberal states…”
Pharmakon IV: Secret Family Recipe
“Due to the repetitive observations made by most in their daily routines in a country with little socioeconomic mixing, there is poor visibility into how the lives of those in other classes transpire.”
The Problems with Cultural Christianity
“In this respect, it is not a defense of Christianity but its final undoing: the subordination of eternal God to the human, all too human need for reactionary political order and tribalistic identity.”
Review: Roger Scruton’s “On Human Nature”
“The result is a thoughtful and nuanced book that testifies to both his theoretical and exegetical talents, solidifying Scruton’s legacy as the most talented conservative writer of his generation.”
Looking Beyond Easy Explanations for Divorce
“Maybe there is something in our environment that makes staying together so hard.”
Clarifying My Comments on Lindsay, Pluckrose, and Boghossian
“The picture of science that they defend, however, is what merits the most attention.“
What Is Unity, Anyways?
“Without some clarification on this point, calling for unity looks less like an appeal to historical precedent and more like the nostalgic projection of order and stability onto time periods that were anything but.”
Interview: Rep. Susan Wild on How Congress Can Respond to the Pandemic
“The problem is, though, we can’t rely on volunteerism, donations, and gifts for much longer because—quite frankly—most of these places are getting pretty tapped out.”
Pharmakon III: Parable of the Talents
“Even more disturbingly, the odds of a state governor’s child eventually holding the same title is 1 in 51; 1 in 47 for Senators; 1 in 13 for Presidents; and 1 in 9 for billionaires.”
“It’s the Economy, Stupid”: What Marx Can Teach Us about the Pandemic
“Indeed, when COVID-19 hit, the sunny stock market forecasts President Donald Trump boasted of were belied by record levels of corporate debt and a low rate of productivity growth.”
Why the Left Can’t Agree on Anything
“The irony is that this is in stark contrast to how our rivals on the political right often portray the Left.”
On the “Sokal Squared” Trio
“Now, this is not a review of the book, nor a critique of them personally but, rather, a critique of their function as public intellectuals.”
On Tucker Carlson and Sycophants
“Regardless of whether President Trump succeeds in his bid for re-election to the White House, those who think and speak like Carlson will likely suffer no retribution for throwing red meat to his base.”
The Places Where Patrick Deneen and the Left Can Agree
“I agree with Deneen—and I suspect many others on the Left do too—that the local community is the optimal setting to pursue the good.”
How Ben Shapiro Might Consider Locke More Carefully
“Locke’s theoretical arguments prefigured another thinker who had a lot to say about labor and property: Karl Marx.”
Pharmakon II: Sold to the Corporate Libertarian
“Indeed, economist Thomas Piketty observes that the United States presents for the first time in history a society headed towards extreme inequality, driven not by hyper-patrimony (inherited wealth) but hyper-meritocracy…”
A Tribute to Michael Brooks
“It is truly hard to believe that he is gone and that this burgeoning collaboration and friendship will never get the chance to grow.”
Review: Ronald Beiner’s “Dangerous Minds: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Return of the Far Right”
“During the past few years before, I had struggled with—and then firmly said goodbye to—the Catholicism of my upbringing, and I was searching for a new philosophy of meaning that did not seem to depend on so many leaps of faith.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell: Reflecting on the Impeachment of President Trump
“Maybe there are some lessons learned, so this never happens again.”
A Reply to Elizabeth Powers: “Woke” Activists and Deconstruction
“The respective propriety of each strand of said activism must be engaged with on a case-by-case basis, rather than be lumped together with all other causes before being explained away with references to academic trends.”
Pharmakon I: Post-Mortem
“The country is no longer predominantly rural but urban, and the frontier mindset has been largely superseded by a cosmopolitan one.”
The Authentic Conservative vs. the Reactionary Conservative
“The reactionary outlook is, consequently, hostile to the commitment to moral equality that authentic conservatives, liberals, and progressives share.”
Nathan J. Robinson’s Curious Critique
“If people’s convictions about those particular issues are weak enough that they could be changed by watching Rising, they surely could be changed in many other ways…”
Review: “Welcome to the Rebellion: A New Hope in Radical Politics” by Michael Harris
“Although set ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….,’ the Star Wars narrative feels increasingly relevant with a very real empire, one of corporate domination, at large on earth today.”
The Discrete Ideology of Thomas Piketty: Successes and Failures of ‘Capital and Ideology’
“Whereas Piketty’s earlier book was often accused of ignoring the role that political doctrines played in naturalizing inequality, he has here devoted an entire text to that very subject.”
Running Wild: Hulk Hogan, God, and the Coronavirus
“While feeding on an unclean beast alone may seem like a trivial act, it is arguably symbolic of mankind’s time-honored bastardization of the natural order.”
Notes on Change and “First World Problems”
“And as the COVID-19 crisis that has changed seemingly everything shows, en masse unemployment and distrust of the federal government is now a “first world reality.””
Are Conservatives “Virtue Signalling” Too?
“Of course, virtue signaling from the Right regarding the protests has come in many forms other than writing.”
Parallels Between the Coronavirus and Refugee Crises
“This is a perfect example of why a global problem needs a single multilateral response, and not various contradictory unilateral responses.”
Does Jordan Peterson Misconstrue “Myth”?
“This, however, poses another problem because it presumes that mythical truth is somehow free from ideology.”
How Mexico’s Drug Cartels Have Exploited the Pandemic
“In Mexico, the most effective influencers are either politicians or drug lords.”
Understanding the Reactionary Outlook
“One of the defining features of the reactionary outlook is how thin its conception of life’s meaning is, and this, in turn, explains why reactionaries tend to be so anxious about it all falling apart…”
Interview: Johann Hari on Mental Health During the Pandemic
“There has been a huge transfer of wealth to the rich and gradual collapse of the middle class. That’s made a lot of people anxious.“
Liberty and the Left
“Prominent proposals by left-wing parties such as democratizing the workplace or introducing universal public healthcare (in the United States), they argue, are best framed as positions that further the cause of freedom.”
What Cormac McCarthy Saw When He Saw Evil
“When asked to describe Chigurh, the few people lucky enough to have encountered him and survived claimed he that ‘looked like anybody.’”
Republicans Do Still Buy Sneakers
“And so, in an age of divisive politics, Nike had suddenly found a way to embrace and commodify protest; they would have a free marketing base like no other…”
Why Wendy Brown Remains as Relevant as Ever
“Brown makes the bold choice of echoing conservative critics in scrutinizing left-wing variants of identity politics from a Nietzschean perspective; however, she takes a far more nuanced and less polemical approach.”
How Feasible Is Mexico’s Re-Opening Plan?
“According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE), Mexico is the country within the organization that has the lowest levels of testing: at 0.4 tests per thousand inhabitants.”
Bhaskar Sunkara’s “The Socialist Manifesto” and Understanding Millennial Socialism
“What has become ‘millennial socialism’ arguably got its start in 2011, with the founding of Jacobin, a proudly left-wing magazine that was trendy, readable, and erudite.”
Has Dave Rubin Found His Intellectual Stride?
“I do want to give Rubin the fairest shake I possibly can. As such, instead of commenting on the book generally, I will look at some of the book’s arguments in detail and break them down…”
The Outsourcing of American Tennis
“Should American tennis enthusiasts be deprived the opportunity of receiving a financial scholarship and the college athletic experience because coaches—and an increasing number of them from overseas—believe foreign players are their best chance to win matches?”
The Irrelevance of the Intelligence Debate
“By contrast, those on the Left tend to prefer more transparently social determinants, such as ethnic or economic background and push against anything which seems to ‘naturalize’ inequality by explaining it biologically.”
Understanding Belarus’ Upcoming Presidential Election
“Belarusian independence would become, however, a package of unfulfilled promises.
The Coronavirus Must Alter Our “Normal Way of Life” Going Forward
“If the global social discourse continues to be one where we ignore what does not directly affect us, then when the next global emergency occurs, governments will fail people again.”
Given Tara Reade’s Allegation, the Left Should Reconsider Support for Biden
“It should be deeply disturbing for voters on the Left of the Democratic Party to vote for a candidate who, not only is likely to have sexually assaulted a woman—but who used a position of power to do it and get away with it for years.”
America’s Pastime in the Age of Coronavirus
“Embodying much of the American spirit, baseball once again finds itself on the frontline, being utilized for political gains, with any rebuke of the MLB’s return likely to be chalked up as un-American or—worse still—shouted down as a commie act.”
Why Thomas Piketty Thinks We Should Not Naturalize Inequality
“Piketty wants to re-orient the political left away from cultural and educational issues, which dominate the mindset of the elitist ‘Brahmin left’ in his telling, and back to the economic concerns that were once the Left’s bread and butter”
Myth and Mayhem: A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson—Sample Chapter
“One can see here that Peterson, while even less convinced of the equitable distribution of competences than Hobbes, clearly shares his view that life outside the confines of society would necessarily be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.’”
The Problem with Edmund Burke and Defenders of “Tradition”
“The problem here is that one man’s stable hierarchy and proud tradition is another’s tyrannical oppression and ideology.”
The Time Has Come for the Left to Sink the Democratic Party
“If the Left were to abstain from participating in this election en masse, the consequences would be deep.”
Thank you for Taking Our Thoughts on Jordan Peterson Seriously
“But good or bad, the extent of discourse around Myth and Mayhem at Merion West would have been edifying for any author, and we are very pleased the book has generated such interest and strong feelings, even before its release.”
Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Žižek’s Differing Approaches to Psychoanalysis
“Peterson and Žižek, perhaps the best-known public intellectuals of the Right and Left respectively—are exponents of psychoanalysis: Peterson of its Jungian variety, and Žižek of its Lacanian one.”
Joe Biden Is Aided by “Policy Indifference Syndrome”
“Let’s leave aside the fact that Joe Biden has been publicly inactive since leaving office as Vice President in January, 2017, except for making over $15 million in speaking fees and publishing royalties.“
When Gender Violence Outpaces the Coronavirus in Mexico
“What similarities we have are dwarfed, however, by an immense difference. At the beginning of April, Ana Paola—at the age of 13—was raped and killed in her home in Nogales, while I write this safely from between the covers.”
Michael Brooks’ New Book Hits the Mark
“Brooks argues that, far from this façade of ideological diversity, the IDW is built around a single and deep ideological commitment. This commitment is the preservation of presently established power hierarchies.”
Patrick Deneen, Henri Bergson, and Understanding Time
“The decision to break time into past, present, and future reflects a tendency to see time as more or less analogous to space.“
When Jordan Peterson’s Defenders Selectively Use History
“Both Tavana and Peterson have expressed support for capitalism and Western civilization without ever addressing the atrocities committed in their name.”
“Keep America Great”: Wrestling with the Coronavirus
“With the lines between wrestling and politics decidedly blurred, we can neither take comfort in the guile of our leaders nor the well-meaning distraction of wrestling.”
Robert Nozick and the Strongest Argument for Property Rights
“It is long past time that we abandon the transcendent appeal to rights as ways to settle more arguments, in part because—following Derek Parfit—it is far more constructive to ask why and which rights matter.”
Jordan Peterson Is Fair Game for Criticism
“…where Peterson is fond of citing the brutal nature of chimpanzees as proof of nature’s pitiless character, we should recall that the Left can just as easily cite the relatively co-operative nature of bonobos.”
Critiquing the Intellectual Dark Web: Michael Brooks’ “Against the Web”
“Peterson comes across no better in Brooks’ telling. He acknowledges that much of the Canadian psychologist’s self-help is quite useful, and he even jokingly admits that many leftists could do with some tough love about cleaning their room.”
In Defense of My Work Critical of Jordan Peterson
“The irony of this exchange is it has only reinforced my opinion that Peterson’s political rhetoric often has a stultifying impact on sincere intellectual debates.“
When We Imbue the Stock Market with Religious Properties
“These things seem all too familiar when thinking about a somewhat abstract entity with arguably outsized power over billions of people’s lives when—on a whim—it decides to violently go ‘up’ or ‘down.’”
Nietzsche and Godless Post-Modernity
“All of this culminated in the works of Nietzsche, who rejected the ontological and moral truths of monotheism, while retaining their stress on individualism.”
Slavoj Žižek’s “End of Capitalism” and the Coronavirus
“Written in the aftermath of the Great Recession, Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? echoed the bleak skepticism of Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek, in arguing that it is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism.”
Interview: Merion West Contributor Matt McManus on “Postmodern Conservatism”
“So, I finished my Ph.D. in 2017, and, at the time, Donald Trump had just been elected President of the United States. Like a lot of people, I was a bit perplexed and disturbed by what happened.”
The Critics of “Social Justice,” from Jonah Goldberg to Jordan Peterson
“The conservative critiques of social justice are, therefore, wrong on two different fronts.”
Hannah Arendt’s Concept of “Impotent Bigness”
“Impotent bigness uses empty violence to lash out against the vulnerable to compensate for its own utter inability to change the world in any meaningful way. “
Mexican Women Protest Gender Violence, But Is the Government Listening?
“I cannot fathom the extent of their pain, of course, but I know that if something were to happen to my mother or my friends, I would burn everything until justice were achieved.”
At the Border with Reality: the Coronavirus in Italy and Memes
“Italy, the first European country to close its links with China, also became the first nation in Europe in terms of the numbers infected. With this development came the tragic counterbalance of being transformed in one fell swoop from repellers to rejected.”
Why Millennials Are Angry
“Millennials occupy the rather strange position of being both an angry and apathetic generation.”
U.S. Inaction with Rohingya Genocide Echoes Past Sins
“More than 25 years after the Rwandan genocide, the United States’ current response—or lack thereof—to the state-sanctioned violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is chillingly similar.”
Slavoj Žižek, Viktor Orbán, and Understanding “Post-Truth”
“This does seem to be occurring in the academy, as the contemporary academic stars of critical theory such as Alain Badious and Slavoj Žižek tend to be hostile to the extreme skepticism of post-modern theory.”
Announcing the Release of “Myth and Mayhem: A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson”
“Peterson himself described some of its symptomatic features in Maps of Meaning when he discusses how the breakdown of traditional mythopoetic traditions generated a sense of nihilistic uncertainty…”
From Nietzsche to Trump
“This explains the turn to nostalgic and resentment-driven politics to seek to elevate authority figures who will not only halt the flow of time but turn back the clock.”
What Andrew Scheer Gets Wrong about “Privilege”
“…we have a new entry in the contest for the most craven wielding of social justice lingo in Canadian political history: Andrew Scheer exhorting the individuals aiding indigenous rail blockades to, ‘check their privilege.’”
What Douglas Murray’s Book Does Well (And Where It Falters)
“I will begin with the pros of Murray’s book before outlining my disagreements. First, it is well-written and well-organized. His prose crackles with wit and salt, with pointed examples often blending seamlessly with political commentary.”
The Biggest Issue with Richard Dawkins’ Tweet
“The latest of these Twitter controversies that I think warrants being addressed started with Professor Richard Dawkins expressing his opinion on the very delicate topic of eugenics.”
Jonathan Haidt and Understanding First Nations Protesters
“In the current Canadian context, I think the protestors are justified in blocking railway tracks and highways to make their point.”
A Jordan Peterson Biographer Missing the Mark
Jim Proser’s new biography on Jordan Peterson portrays him as a Christlike figure plagued by personal demons. Yet the real devil here is in the details.
How to Respond to the Global Right Phenomenon
“Veterans of the entertainment industry like Steve Bannon and the reality television star Donald Trump instinctively understood how to cater to the resentment of those who felt left behind by neoliberalism but were unwilling or unaware of left-wing alternatives.”
The Nordic Model is Achievable (Without Going to Extremes)
“After all, the disagreement between the authors of The Times piece and the author of the Jacobin piece is only even made possible by the fact that the Finnish system does not easily conform to either model.”
This Is How Bernie Wins
“We have sold genuine socialism to a hitherto unimagined portion of the electorate: the young, the idealistic, and the middle class. We now need to sell it to the people it was designed for.”
The Modern University: A Reply to Nate Hochman
“What makes Hochman’s essay far more interesting than the usual screed against academics and critical theory is his effort to locate the cause in the history of Western rationalism and ultimately nihilism.”
Actually, Howard Schultz, Unions May Just Be the Answer
“Howard Schultz famously state that unions ‘have a role to play’ but are ‘not the answer.’ But, are they not? Thankfully, there is an empirical answer to this question.”
Another One-Dimensional Portrayal of Jordan Peterson
“It is hard for even those of us who disagree profoundly with Peterson’s diagnoses of society to fail to empathize with his common struggle to get through being human.”
Who Was Carl Schmitt?
“As just another political theology—albeit an especially vulgar one—liberalism would, paradoxically, be put into contexts where it abandoned a commitment to rights for the sake of protecting itself.”
Why Progressives Should Not Pin Their Hopes on Impeachment
“So while I think it is important that the impeachment trial proceed, it is far more key for progressives to vest in political and social movements that target the underlying problems.”
From Ben Shapiro to Stefan Molyneux: How the Right “Uses” Philosophy
“For the many activists and intellectuals on the Right, who identify with the ambiguously defined “Western civilization,” a nostalgic and selective association with Western civilization’s philosophical grandeur can be extremely appealing.”
On Mourning for One’s Enemies: Remembering Sir Roger Scruton
“And that is why I will miss Roger Scruton, enemy of my beliefs that he was.”
From Ayn Rand to Amartya Sen: Using the Concept of “Rights”
“Again, there seems to be no ideological bias against the concept of rights; views on the subject come from various distinct standpoints.”
Review: “The Enigma of Clarence Thomas” by Corey Robin
“Despite this, Thomas has also long acknowledged the history of racial discrimination in the United States and has never accepted the popular conservative trope that the impact of racism is merely a historical issue in the present day.“
Review: “Can the Left Learn to Meme? Adorno, Video Gaming, and Stranger Things” by Mike Watson
“Despite the majority of voters aged 18-39 resisting the smear campaigns and voting for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, Britain’s aging population overwhelmed the voice of its youth to take the landslide victory.”
What Sohrab Ahmari Has Failed to Sense
“Such specious reasoning is so problematic that it may well produce more of the existential instability Ahmari is keen to reject, rather than placate it.”
The Decline of the Intellectual Dark Web
“…if one truly believes that the better argument can and should win the day, more formidable ammunition will be needed on the part of the Intellectual Dark Web.”
As the Year Closes: Appreciating One’s Political Opponents
“In this spirit I would like to thank all the many individuals who have written or commented on my writing the last year, especially those who have offered sincere and interesting criticisms that have helped me develop my understanding of the world.”
Fact-Checking the Tweet that Got Andy Ngo Banned from Twitter
“While both of Ngo’s claims are technically true, the proper context paints a widely different picture.”
Standing By Our Criticisms of Jordan Peterson
“If Peterson manages to dispense good advice in spite of muddled philosophical and political reasoning, this attests to his psychological acuity. But it is does not magically redeem his intellectual output.”
How ‘Ideology’ Can Hold Us Stuck in Place (Part II)
“Rapid innovations in communications technology and new media have made it so that any individual can access more knowledge at their fingertips than prior generations could have by traveling to the world’s most esteemed centers of learning.”
Why the Left Should Take Hayek Seriously, Too
“As a student pointed out during a lecture on this subject, this Hayekian market is probably closer to the Open Source movement in software development than to what is commonly invoked with the words ‘free market.’”
Mon Laferte and the Power of Toplessness
“Apparently, there is a significant difference between a woman who decides to show her breasts in a glittery outfit or a see-through dress—and someone who does it in the name of a social cause.”
How ‘Ideology’ Can Hold Us Stuck in Place
“What it means is that when we begin to coordinate our lives according to an ideological worldview, it begins to generate a social world that can look a lot like the image presented by the ideology.”
Developing a Progressive Theory of Rights: A Preview of Liberalism and Liberal Rights
“Finally, even a thinker as cynical and sharp as Michel Foucault invoked the language of rights to discuss the ‘right to intervene’ to liberate suffering individuals from the imposition of tyrannical sovereignty.”
A Chapter from Our Forthcoming Book Critiquing Jordan Peterson
“Peterson consistently invokes the Schopenhauerian-Nietzschean trope that the most important thing is to strengthen the self against the suffering of the world. The stronger one becomes, the greater and more worthy of respect and emulation by those around him.”
“OK, Boomer!” Understood
“Old leftists fully wish to hold Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro, Salvini and co., to account for their post-truthism. Meanwhile the younger leftist is likely to be ‘post-truth’ themselves.”
Mexico: A “Failed State”?
“And, at the regional level, Mexico should pursue stronger cooperation with the United States regarding control of arm trafficking, such as Operation ‘Frozen,’ which attempts ‘to freeze the illegal movement of guns between the two countries.’”
Why We’re Writing a Book-Length Critique of Jordan Peterson
“Diverse as they may be, these four authors are united by a desire to confront Peterson on his own terms—that is, to eschew tawdry criticism and ad hominem attacks and instead to get to the nucleus of his thought.“
The Driver of the Trumpian Movement: Resentment?
“But the more interesting argument Nietzsche puts forward is that resentment was at the base of many of the West’s egalitarian philosophies.”
Getting to the Bottom of Ben Shapiro’s Popularity
“Robinson’s article is both interesting and useful because it summarizes neatly and cogently almost every argument that those on the Left might make against Shapiro. However, it also begins to lay out a broad notion of why critiques of Shapiro usually fail.”
Where Did Post-Modernism Come From?
“In this short essay, I will argue that there were three factors, which contributed to the emergence of post-modern culture.”
Yoram Hazony, Russell Kirk, and the Conservative Fascination with “Order”
“By contrast, Kirk insists that progressives are the real fools in thinking that unbridled reason alone can provide us with an adequate sense of meaning in the world.”
Injecting Nuance into the Reparations Debate
“But when addressing a problem of justice, popularity is neither the sole nor the primary factor for adjudication.”
Identity Politics, Coleman Hughes, and the Left: A Reply to Samuel Kronen
“We should be aspiring to establish a far more egalitarian society in accordance with principles of fairness. But this cannot come at the expense of respecting alternative doctrines which have a right to political expression.”
Review: Matt McManus’ “The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism”
“McManus draws a historical trajectory that sees conservatives responding to the challenges of socialism, communism, and fascism by hardening Burke’s pragmatic project into an ideology: what we now call neoliberalism.”
Slavoj Žižek, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Philosophy of Climate Change
“It does not take an expert logician to deduce that if climate catastrophe were really upon us, we would also observe people giving extreme warnings, and it could even be the case that they still would not support, for example, nuclear power.”
Review: Axel Honneth’s “The Idea of Socialism: Towards a Renewal”
“While this may be a fair criticism of socialist intellectuals, it isn’t obvious to me that all socialists were as myopically economistic as Honneth suggests.”
In Their Own Words: The Teens Behind Mike Gravel’s Campaign
“That was one of the things the campaign was good at: trying to get as much controversy as possible by provoking conflicts. It’s not an honorable way to go through campaigning, but it worked. Better than you could say for Tim Ryan.”
Answering Slavoj Žižek’s Question: Kant’s Unpopularity
“In his book, Žižek analyzes why Kant and his progeny have been struggling philosophically in recent years, while offering a partial defense of their views.”
Slavoj Žižek, Jason Stanley, and Understanding Fascism
“Žižek observes that while many thought this kind of politician was an anachronistic oddity in mid-2000’s neoliberal societies, Berlusconi may actually have been an archetype of the future.”
Writing in the Tradition of Rawls—to Understand Trump
“McManus…is much closer to the analytic tradition represented by authors such as John Rawls and Martha Nussbaum. Yet, his work is much richer thanks to his engagement with Marxist class analysis and post-structuralist philosophy…”
How Slavoj Žižek Can Help Us Understand Climate Change
“There have been several assaults on this conceit before in the Western world; the philosopher Slavoj Žižek directs our attention to three in particular.”
A Brief History of Viktor Orbán
“Lendvai believes that we should never underestimate the role that ‘personalities’ play in politics.”
Interview: Rep. Adriano Espaillat—On the Issues
“First of all, I think we should make [the census] a fun process, where people, families engage in it [together], particularly in hard to count districts and communities.”
Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories
“The paradox of believing in conspiracy theories is that—despite the distrust and paranoia reflected in them—adherents often deeply desire a sense of order in the world.“
Rep. Madeleine Dean: Making Community College a Priority
“[Some of my students] couldn’t do all three: commute, work, and schoolwork. So, I saw the affordability problem growing and growing in that setting, but I hear it also from my constituents in every higher education setting.”
The Roots of Totalitarianism
“The totalitarian movements offered the promise of not just belonging, but total belonging. The individual would be swallowed into the movement, becoming a single homogenous mass with one’s fellows.”
The Spanish Philosopher Who Best Understood Populism
“For Ortega y Gasset, the elite has nothing to do with class or any other kind sociocultural factors. The elite are simply those who make great demands of themselves.”
Dostoevsky, Milton, and the Changing Definition of “Meaning”
“In the case of our current crisis of meaning, it was only in the 19th century that sensitive figures truly began to grasp the profound changes which had transformed societies.”
Being Progressive in the 2019 Canadian Election
“Unfortunately, the Liberal party in power turned out to be as much a political creature as ever.”
Review: J.A. Smith’s “Other People’s Politics: Populism to Corbynism”
“So confident were many in the apparent neutrality and sensibility of the third way approach that the difference between Conservatives and Labor, much like the Republicans and the Democrats, started to look merely cosmetic.”
Why Christians Should Oppose Sohrab Ahmari
“In many ways, it was far better to see Christendom shrunk down to a few genuine believers than to see it ballooned and enforced into a parody of itself”
Jordan Peterson, Noam Chomsky, and What We Mean by “Left” and “Right”
“For these reasons, I think it is not unreasonable to identify this nature-nurture or nature-history spectrum as the basic guiding principle behind the left-right spectrum.”
The Uses and Misuses of Philosophy
“I wanted to take this opportunity to consider some of the ways philosophy has been used and misused in contemporary political debates to justify a broad range of positions.”
The Philosophy of Human Rights (Part II)
“The state must respect the freedom and autonomy of those fleeing violence by accepting them within its boundaries and offering them hospitality, which makes for a precursor to modern refugee law.”
The Philosophy of Human Rights
“Even those who agree that rights exist struggle to locate where they come from, what counts as a genuine right, and how to realize them.”
Mexico’s Glitter Revolution: How Should Women Protest?
“Now, pink glitter seems to be the spark of a new revolution in Mexico against gender violence.”
Slavoj Žižek and the Quillette Hoax
“But this just shows that Žižek is right in that there is no such thing as seeing the world as it really is. There is always something that mediates perception.”
The Four Competing Approaches to Higher Education
“Many critics point out that this one dimensional approach to education helps produce citizens who are selfish, disinterested in politics, and unprepared for dealing with moral complexities, which are not reducible to cost-benefit analysis.”
Taking Science Fiction Seriously
“Today, it is science fiction that often carried the torch of the utopian aspiration.”
Orwell: the Best Student of the Left
“The typical socialist often had very little concrete experience with the actual conditions facing those they purported to care about. They were often middle class, well educated, and highly resentful of the rich.”
Where Hayek and Marx Part Ways
“The most committed liberal would believe that perfection is unattainable, while the socialist would contend that it is not only possible but necessary.”
Where Tolstoy Departs from Dostoevsky
“Tolstoy was not naïve in thinking that social and political reform would end all forms of evil in human life. Like Dostoevsky, he was very well aware that much wickedness flowed from the pride and vanity of men like Napoleon or the Russian tsars.”
“Frozen Desire” By James Buchan: As Relevant Now As Ever
“The Romanticism of the 19th century was a direct response to not only the materialist underpinnings of the Enlightenment but also the increasingly monetary-centric worldview that subsumed all human relations.”
Rep. Seth Moulton: Mental Health in America
“When he went to the VA to get help, they told him that their next mental health appointment was in 3 months—even though he was thinking of committing suicide that very night. That’s unacceptable.”
A Different Take on “El Chapo”
“Modern society has always had a secret love affair with the criminal.”
The American Approach to College Is the Winning One
“Although many of us may still be encouraged at family dinner tables to pursue stable and lucrative careers in high-paying industries, such as finance, consulting, and medicine, perhaps the curriculum of a general education can help some find their true interests.”
Kevin Williamson, “The Bard of Anti-Socialism”
“Perhaps Williamson’s own ability to overcome those obstacles has led him to underestimate how formidable a challenge they can pose, a clear example of upward mobility hardening the hearts of the precious few it bestows itself upon.”
Slavoj Žižek, Music, and the End of Capitalism
“The basic thought is that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.”
On the Issues: Presidential Candidate Joe Sestak
“That’s where I think it’s a real difference, that you actually have somebody running that can actually win a Republican district nearly 2 to 1 without spending a dime on a campaign.”
Dostoevsky’s Extremely Thoughtful Critique of the Left
“People do not truly want an end to suffering in all cases…They need challenges in order to feel the thrill of victory, guilt over their actions to have a chance at redemption, and the possibility of rejection and hatred to feel any deep form of love.”
On Brexit: In Reply to Clive Pinder
“Given Pinder’s distaste for academia, I don’t imagine he would be fond of this kind of Platonic utopia.”
Jordan Peterson’s Thinkspot and Public Utilities
“Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms are much more like churches or clubs than they are like a public plaza, regardless of their size.”
NATO: 70 Years On
“Hence, NATO should devise a strategy to address President Trump’s visions about the alliance in order to maintain (as much as possible) its stability.”
The Shallowness of the Intellectual Dark Web
“Edmund Burke’s arguments against the French Revolutionaries resonate because he understood the revolutionaries’ position quite well.”
“Ban the Box” Falls Short of Its Goals
“While BTB is the most visible approach to signal support for reintegration, it is perhaps not the most effective way to bring about substantial criminal justice reform and truly help ex-felons build a new life.”
Preview: Human Dignity and the Law
“If individuals are able to become authors of their lives in a substantive way, we can say they have lived a dignified life.”
Social Democracy and Capitalism: A Reply To Richard Burcik
“If capitalism doesn’t work for us all, it doesn’t work at all.”
When We Debate “Biological Differences”
“The framing of these arguments, I believe, is largely misguided. Right and Left are, after all, moral and political positions and not scientific ones.”
One-on-One with Rep. Dwight Evans (Part II)
“I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, because you don’t understand, I’m not your typical Democrat.”
Interview: Rep. Madeleine Dean at Border Detention Facilities
“They slid a note, children with a note under the door and said, ‘How can we help you?’”
Review: Kevin O’Rourke’s “A Short History of Brexit: From Brentry to Backstop”
“Importantly, he notes that it was initially the Conservative party that embraced European integration and the Labour Party which vehemently opposed it.”
A Preview of “The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism”
“Perhaps it would be a great Christmas present for the depressed Leftist in one’s life?”
Jordan Peterson’s Thinkspot Probably Isn’t about “Free Speech”
“It makes sense to frame the issue as being about free speech, however, because it is likely seen as a much more worthwhile cause.”
Was the Supreme Court Missing the Big Picture When It Comes to Tech?
“Private companies like Facebook and Twitter are the focal points of more political debate now than any physical space controlled by the government.”
Trump’s Tariffs: Did Mexico Have a Choice?
“This may sound as if Mexico were evil and did not want to help others, but this is not the case. If we become a safe third country, we would be biting off more than we can chew by condemning migrants to hellish conditions—mainly due to organized crime and lack of resources—and becoming the U.S. bac
One-on-One with Rep. Dwight Evans
“I have no differences when people produce outcomes.”
Why Canada Needs to Ditch the First-Past-the-Post System
“Democratic legitimacy should not be a partisan issue; we, as Canadians, should all be taking this opportunity to discern how to make the country a more inclusive and participatory place.”
The False Binary Between Freedom and Equality (Part II)
“What constitutes a sufficiently high level of education and intelligence to participate in politics is unclear, and advocates of these elitist positions are suspiciously prone to announcing the cut-off point lies with individuals roughly as capable and qualified as themselves.”
Wayne Messam, The Florida Mayor Running for President
“And some talk is floating around right now about merit-based immigration. Individuals like my parents would have been at the bottom, the end of the line, and would perhaps never have had an opportunity, and yet they helped build the agriculture sector.”
Where Conservatives Go From Here
“While it may seem strange to some to see people on the Right express skepticism—and even disdain—for the free market, it is increasingly common.”
“Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left”
“Doing that mental exercise of seeing if you could rephrase somebody else’s argument in your own words—that alone might be one of the single most useful things that you can do to reason better and to respond to people’s arguments better.”
One-on-One with Howard Dean
“So I’m going to answer your question, but I want to preface it by saying most people do not vote on policies. They think they do, but they don’t. Even smart, educated people who think they do even more so don’t.”
The False Binary Between Freedom and Equality (Part I)
“It is not hard to infer that Locke may have been concerned that universal suffrage would result in concerted efforts to establish a more egalitarian society.”
Is the Intellectual Dark Web as “Reasonable” As It Claims?
“Once one actually delves into the positions put forward by many of members of the Intellectual Dark Web, it becomes clear they are just as fallible as their intellectual opponents.”
Nationalism: No Longer a Dirty Word, But Complicated as Ever
“If it is possible to have symbols and narratives that bind an imagined community of 300 million people or of one billion, it should be equally possible to imagine a community of seven billion and to construct a coherent narrative around it and create appropriate symbolisms.”
Interview with Mike Gravel: His Priorities in Running for President
“So Buttegieg, in what that reveals of him, is that he’s a classic puppet of the military industrial complex.”
When David Harvey Writes on Marx
“While I do not always agree with Harvey’s appraisals of Marx’s arguments, there is no better secondary source to learn what that argument happens to be.”
Is “Western Civilization” a Worthwhile Conceptual Framework?
“This exposes a basic problem of the conservative idealization of the Western tradition; it relies on an artificial, if not arbitrary construction that only makes sense in retrospect.”
“Classical Liberals” and the Alt-Right
Do some classical liberals and libertarians have more in common ideologically with the alt-right than they’d like to believe?
Who Was Joseph de Maistre (And Why He Matters) Part II
“Maistre is a fascinating thinker not so much due to the quality of his arguments themselves but instead what they represent and anticipate.”
Jordan Peterson and Equality
An investigation of how Jordan Peterson engages with the idea of “equality.”
Who Was Joseph de Maistre? (And Why He Matters)
“Notice how Maistre does not consider the actions of the people valid because they committed a crime against the nation by undermining its sovereign.”
A Mexican Perspective: The Three Options for Venezuela
“I know several Latin American brothers and sisters who have fled their country. Some were born in the era of Chavismo and have not known anything new, until now.”
The Enduring Relevance of Philip K. Dick
“We turned to technology as a substitute for our inability to deal with the persistent riddles of existence and the lack of meaning in our life in a post-God era.”
“Democracy” and the Language of the Founders
“A republic that moves too close to an oligarchy would require democratization.”
Conservatives Can’t Hide Behind the Trope of “Common Sense”
“Simply invoking ‘realism’ or ‘common sense’ doesn’t add up to anything resembling an argument.”
Book Preview: Making Human Dignity Central to International Human Rights Law
“Analyzing the relationship is important because, as we all know, oftentimes law is not a medium for justice. Rather it is one that operates to repress, marginalize, and even tyrannize under the right circumstances.”
Roger Waters Has a Point: Foreign Aid Is Flawed
“In the end, whether it is rich businesspeople donating their money for the reconstruction of a national monument or ‘average Joe’s’ trying to help others in need, foreign aid is, and always will be, flawed.”
Slavoj Žižek’s Concept of Rupture—and Post-Truth
“In the matter of politics, our society has become a consumer of emotions, constructed values, and ambiguous promises.”
Has Ben Shapiro Outgrown Being a Polemicist?
“But there are times in every polemicist’s career when he must take a genuine stab at intellectual respectability, put away sloganeering and manic hyperbole and see not through the dark lens of partisanship, but grasp the complex world as it truly is.”
Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Žižek Ended Up with Much in Common
“Despite these contrasts, one of the striking things about the debate was how frequently Zizek and Peterson seemed to agree with one another.”
Lincoln Chafee Joins Erich Prince: Lessons from Running for President
“In my opening statement I said, ‘In thirty years of public service, I never had a scandal.’ The murmur of boos in the audience—I guess they saw that as a dig at the other candidates.”
Liberalism and Relativism (Part II)
“The argument that people should value ideals beyond the pursuit of their self-interest and subjective opinion was an elitist way of looking at things, and De Tocqueville’s Americans would have none of it.”
Interview: Vice President Mondale Comments on Today’s Democratic Party
“I told one of the other senators, ‘You’re a very pleasant, sweet person. But deep down, the public wants a son-of-a-gun. You’ve got to get stuff done.’”
Mexico Demands Apology from Spain as Trump Bears Down
“The ‘Spain Affair’ is not a foreign policy strategy, but a national strategy to achieve López Obrador’s political goals. At 7 am tomorrow, we are convinced a new controversy regarding Mexico’s foreign policy will arise. This is not over yet.”
Interview: One-on-One with Congresswoman Susan Wild
“Most of all, I just want my constituents back home to know that I’m working for them, and that I’m not thinking about contributions from a big corporation when I’m in a committee hearing and questioning witnesses and when we’re voting on matters that are important to the working families in my dist
Liberalism and Relativism (Part I)
“The point of politics can, therefore, never be to try and make individuals act well. Indeed, for Hobbes the very idea that there is any good or evil beyond our subjective desires is vainglorious and foolish.”
The Modernity Project Can Create Confusion
“For some, the possibilities for self-creation and emancipation promised by modernity were exhilarating. For others, it has proven to be a serious social problem.”
Is Elizabeth Holmes an Outlier: Women in STEM (Part II)
“We know a lot of cases of corrupt and fraudulent men, but we are not used to seeing female names associated with this type of behavior. One of the main reasons is because the percentage of women in leadership and influential positions is quite low.”
Is Elizabeth Holmes An Outlier: Women in STEM (Part I)
“There are more men named John running large companies than women.”
Reps. Madeleine Dean and Mike Thompson Comment on Gun Violence
“It’s hard to point to me as an anti-gun person. I’ve got a gun safe full of them! Every year, when we have the competition for skeet, trap, and sporting clays, Democrats vs. Republicans, I always walk away with the trophy.”
McManus: A Preview of My Forthcoming Book
“Neoliberal society and post-modern culture emerged together on the promise that they could provide greater economic prosperity and opportunities for self-development than any other social form.”
Interview: One-on-One with Congressman Andy Kim
“I am, first and foremost, a public servant to my district—not a Democrat or anything else.“
Politics and Nihilism
“Because the youth of today are primarily taught that the point of life is simply to achieve satisfaction, they are prone to a kind of easy relativism which seeks to not judge between superior or inferior ways of life.”
The Splits in Anglo-Saxon Conservatism
Emre Kazim and Matt McManus discuss the differences between the British and American brands of conservatism and how they come to bear on current political debates, including “Brexit.”
A Review of Bash Bash Revolution by Douglas Lain
“Lain’s novel Bash Bash Revolution is not just a very funny work of science fiction (though it is). It is also very much a piece of engaged leftism; its irony and satire are never declaratory or moralistic…”
Emotion and Conservatism: Edmund Burke vs. Jordan Peterson
“Similar to Peterson’s argument that happiness is not the sole purpose of life, Burke claims that the ‘pain’ the sublime instills in us is extremely helpful.”
Standing Up to Machismo
“Just being a woman in politics has not necessarily meant supporting policies in favor of other women. For example, a deputy in Veracruz proposed establishing a 10pm curfew for women to avoid more femicides in her state.”
The Decline and Fall of Neoliberal Hegemony
“Another problem of Friedman’s analysis is the way that he, like many neoliberals, condemns government intervention, yet is nevertheless willing to take credit for all of the positive gains it has accrued.”
Douglas Lain Joins Erich Prince: Running a Boutique Publishing Label
“Around that time, there was the 2008 financial crisis. A lot of people in New York publishing were let go, and my contract with Macmillan seemed to be in jeopardy.”
On Winners, Losers, and Tribalism
“This means conservatives are actually quite willing to engage in radical social change, but only if they feel that it is necessary to counter efforts by the Left to destroy these hierarchies.”
The Failure of Nations: A Reply to Henry George
“So claiming that the Nazi’s nationalism and imperialism were exceptional strikes me as untrue. Almost all of the modern nation-states held up as examples made exceptions of Westphalian principles for themselves, often invoking national glory or superiority as an excuse.”
Interview: Rep. Madeleine Dean—On the Issues
“In the Democratic caucus, we elected more new women than men. Think of that statement!”
Does Anti-Semitism Run Concurrent with the BDS Movement?
“I can tell you that many protesters who advocate for ‘Palestine’ would find themselves not so welcome in its territories. The outspoken feminists at the National Women’s Studies Association who endorse BDS and attack the Jewish state would not be so loud on the streets of Hebron.”
Roberto Unger is the Philosopher the Left Needs
“Whether one buys into his system, the Left needs more thinkers with Unger’s courage and intellectual ambition.”
The Intellectual Dark Web: An Analysis from the Left
“Strangely enough, for all its notoriety, the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ has few of the characteristics of a unified movement oriented around concrete goals.”
Sisterhood and Solidarity: A Feminist Utopia
“Intra-sexual competitive behavior remains a major barrier to women’s full inclusion in the university workplace, and we would be wise to break it down.”
A Review of “Too Fat to Go to the Moon” by Rob McCleary
“Like any good satirist, McLeary directs a lot of his vitriol against the powers that be. He condemns the wealthy families and politicos that encouraged the country to give into its worst impulses, and then fled into space when the inevitable decline set in.”
The Case for Humanity (Part IV)
“A technologically-advanced species with the capacity to destroy itself had better learn how to work together.”
The Case for Humanity (Part III)
“Rather than emphasizing abstract duty like Kant—or God, as Kierkegaard did—Nussbaum maintains that we become who we are through the people we interact with and the projects we are capable of pursuing.”
The Case for Humanity (Part II)
“And this is the rub of Kant’s political critique of nationalist-type arguments. If the nationalist allows too much deviation from the shared identity of the nation, then his society risks becoming one of liberal individuals.”
The Case For Humanity (Part I)
“We needn’t regard internationalism as a failed or misguided project, which the 20th century demonstrated was destined for the ash heap of history. Rather we should regard it as our first, clumsy, and tentative steps towards establishing a more complete global union.”
Book Review: “Fashionable Nonsense” 20 Years Later
“Moreover, this also implies postmodern writers should be far more modest and careful when criticizing the virtues of science and reason, since it is not clear that they fully appreciate what it is that scientists actually do and believe.”
Why the Left Needs to Think About Religion (And Other Big Questions)
“The political right has long been better at playing the Nietzschian game of values than the political left.”
The Rebirth of History: Part II
While post-modern conservatism is not doomed to failure due to some immanent dialectical process, it is utterly unable to rectify the social and political problems of the day.
A Reply to Henry George: “The Virtue of Nationalism”
“Unless there are certain universal mores, then a preference for the national values of the United Kingdom over those of Iran seem purely aesthetic, not moral.”
The Rebirth of History: Part I
“Proponents of identity politics tended to push for these historically marginalized groups, in all their intersectional complexity, to have a greater say in the cultural and political dynamics of the day.”
What the Left Can Learn From Søren Kierkegaard
“I believe the Left has a great deal that is can learn from these arguments. For too long we have left problems of meaning to the Right, while largely focusing on issues of material equality and political participation.”
Is Jordan Peterson More Postmodern Than He Thinks?
“Peterson is aligned with the alt-right not because he is a card-carrying member but because both he and the alt-right are nostalgic for previous paradigms. They yearn for the America of yesteryear—the same time period Trump and his supporters envision when they call to ‘Make America Great Again.’”
On Critical Legal Studies and the Limits of Critique
“While the task of critique is always important, it is not sufficient if the expectation is simply that deconstructing regimes of marginalization will immanently lead to the emergence of some vaguely conceived egalitarian society.”
Forget “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” Suffering Can Be Good for You
“We are constantly told to free ourselves from our traumas and pain, but what if we just accepted them?”
Susan Wild: Why I’m Running for Congress
“I have taken a pledge not to accept any corporate tax money. One of the first and most important reasons I took that pledge is because I think that the influence of ‘Big Pharma’ is far too great in our legislative body in Washington.”
A Year and a Half After Mark Fisher’s Death, His Thinking Rings True
“It is easier to imagine Emperor Palpatine of the Sith falling than to imagine a politician effectively challenging the power of Wall Street.”
It’s Nostalgia That’s Driving Modern Politics
“If the present seems increasingly like nothing more than a depressing prelude to a dark and unchanging future, it is unsurprising that individuals may look to past for answers to their personal problems.”
On Antonin Scalia and the Problems With Originalism
“It is the appealing but ultimately confusing conflation of textualism with Constitutional conservatism, of facts and norms, which gives textualism its ideological power.”
Jordan Peterson and God
“After my most recent piece on Jordan Peterson, a string of correspondents contacted me with further questions and comments about my opinions about the controversial Canadian Professor (not words one usually sees strung together).”
Standing By My Criticism of “Canada in Decay”
“One wonders what Socrates, that foul destroyer of Western civilization, might say about appealing to book sales and public opinion as an argument for the correctness of one’s views.”
Immigration, Technology, and the Winding Road to Trump
“Neoliberal economic policies have deepened the anxiety of many rural conservatives, who felt they were gradually being ‘replaced’ or outdated by an economic system which no longer prioritized the resource, industrial, and agricultural sectors.”
What I Learned from Corresponding with Jordan Peterson’s Supporters
“I very much understand why Jordan Peterson might appeal to many who feel attracted to the kinds of questions he is asking. My problem is with the specific answers he gives at a political level.”
A Critique of Ricardo Duchesne’s “Canada in Decay”
“Wouldn’t the French-speaking Quebecois have more in common with, say, francophone Roman Catholics from Haiti who happen to be black? To avoid this conclusion, Duchesne shows a truly ugly side by just biting the bullet and claiming that skin color and race matters.”
Does Marijuana Have Medical Benefits? Sitting Down with an Advocate
Bernadette Scarduzio, who lives with a rare neurological disease, argues that medical marijuana has helped normalize her life and has the potential to help reduce opiate overuse in the disabled community.
Nietzsche Might Have Something to Say about Politics Today
“The right has clearly learned how to deploy the language of values, while recognizing that we have entered an era where blatantly contradictory positions can be a strength rather than a weakness.”
What is Post-Modernism? (Part Two)
“The world is not becoming meaningless; it is becoming so saturated with symbolism that meaning itself no longer means anything.“
The Man Who Chronicled the Abuses at Holmesburg Prison
“So unless you are Seymour Hersh, who has The New York Times backing him, or some young activists or aspiring journalist who’s willing to work an issue, [thorny issues such as these medical experiments] can fall through the floorboards.”
“Extra Time” in School Is Just Another Way the Wealthy Game the System
Families with money are using doctors and psychologists to get their kids a leg up, at the expense of those playing by the rules.
What is Post-Modernism? (Part One)
“My point, and the point of the post-modern philosophers, was to demonstrate that even a simple word like apple can beget numerous interpretations, let alone words like justice, equality and so on.”
Manchin Needs to Vote His Conscience, Regardless of What That Means for November
“Signs point to another yes vote from Manchin. Yet, for all this posturing, voting out of fear of losing an election is not any more morally commendable than being whipped.”
The Age of Anxiety and the Rise of the “Postmodern Conservative”
“While we should note the absurdity of simultaneously blaming global elites and destitute refugees for the collapse of tradition and order, we also recognize that this confluence is the transference of a real but unsignified fear.”
“Purity Politics” Is Ruining Progressivism
The American Left needs to spend less time hitting the pavements criticizing government and institutions outright. Instead, they must do the less glamorous: study the policies that best help working people and then go to the polls and vote that way.
Civil Liberties in a Polarized Time: An Interview with Nadine Strossen
“In Congress, no matter how strongly I agree with somebody on some issues, I’m going to strongly disagree on others. But, it is this stance that has enabled the ACLU to work in odd bedfellow coalitions to advance our agenda.”
All Good Things Must Come to an End: An Overview of “Why Liberalism Failed.”
“So is Deneen right? Has liberalism failed? I think in the long run nothing wrought by the hand of man lasts forever. This includes political ideologies. We have a tendency to naturalize the world as it is and assume that things can never change.”
The Troubling Effort to Silence Animal Rights Activists
Last year, The Intercept published an article following the dollars, tracing a link between campaign contributions by big agriculture and laws meant to silence animal rights activists. But what’s happened since?
Who Was Martin Heidegger? (And Should Progressives Care?)
“This is especially true in large urban areas. Forces beyond our control compel us to focus on the now “yolo?” and live fragmented lives of needs and satisfaction. In these contexts, we focus on being like animals rather than selves, and become increasingly homogenous and indistinguishable.”
What is Human Dignity? Kant Sheds Light
“We are not just material objects in a value-free universe. Kant makes the radical and highly innovative argument that autonomy of the individual is the enabling condition of moral philosophy.”
What is a “Post-Modern Conservative”?
“As Harry Frankfurt of On Bullshit indicated, a liar is someone who still has some tangential sense of what the truth is. They are aware of what is true and choose to dishonestly present the opposite. This is not true of Mr. Trump and his acolytes.”
Lawyer, Photographer, and Activist Sara Bennett Talks Prison System and Life after Parole
“…after you’ve been away for 25 or 30 years, the likelihood of your having a family is pretty slim. A lot of people’s parents die while they’re in prison. Women don’t have the same support network as men do in prison which I think people find surprising.”
Jordan Peterson and Conservative Critiques of Modernity
“If we value our heritage, conservative intellectuals like Peterson need to stop pandering to their followers, and instead start motivating them to be more reflective about the culpability of complex social forces.”
Jim Martin: Being a “Red State” Democrat
“True patriotism is the guy, man or woman, who shows up at the post office every day to be a postal clerk… I dislike and disapprove of those people who wrap themselves in the flag claiming to be patriots when they’ve…done nothing to help move this country forward.”
The Left-Leaning Media is Following the Money. Not the Issues that Matter
“As newscasters reported in painstaking detail about the intricacies of a politician’s body language or outfit, 3.2 million Americans lost health insurance in 2017. Only 39 percent of Americans can afford a $1k emergency. And 41 million Americans are hungry.”
Political Profile: An Interview with Lincoln Chafee
“There are more wedge issues that divert our attention from the real issues. That’s what I found during my time in the Senate…But the Republicans wanted to send their Republican candidates out to campaign about gay marriage and abortion and flag burning. It’s all about control of the Senate.”
On Bias and Truth in the Public Sphere
“The unceasing accusations of bias are no longer used to promote dialogue and bridge interpretive frameworks. Instead, they are used to seal ourselves off inside bubbles that allow us to preserve the integrity of our world view, free from contamination by the views of others.”
Carl Schmitt, Liberalism, and Post-Modern Conservatism
“The practice of politics is always a form of violence, whether literal or figurative, as different groups of friends and enemies attempt to overcome one another and seize control of the state.”
Colorado Today: An Interview with Gov. Hickenlooper
“The negative ads we’ve kind of moved into, starting in the nineties, have gotten worse and worse. You never see businesses do attack ads, right? If Coke did an attack ad against Pepsi, Pepsi would have to attack Coke…. You could suppress down an entire product category.”
Glitz: The Problem Goes Deeper than the Cake
“When it comes down to it, most of us realize the cake a Christian baker refuses to bake for a gay couple isn’t just a cake—it stands for so much more.”
Part Two: The Argument Against Jordan Peterson
“My suspicion is that many of Peterson’s readers feel an affinity to the advice he offers and so don’t look to question his political commitments that deeply. This is problematic because it leads to deep inconsistencies in doctrine that, if applied as stated, would lead to a rather unusual politics.
Interview: Jenny Wilson Wants to be Utah’s Senator
“People working at the local level are indeed the people who understand how to make the federal government more responsive…”
A Critique of Jordan Peterson
“Why does Peterson get this so wrong? He simply doesn’t care to present a more complex narrative that would problematize his cute and hyperbolic story about the left.”
A Brief Critique of Originalist Constitutional Histories
The problem for originalists is that there is little truth or historical validity to their argument, which amounts to just a feel-good story of the Constitution’s natural legitimacy.
I Support Affirmative Action, Even Though It May Hurt Me
“As a person of Indian heritage, I’m willing to lower my odds in November’s game of chance if it makes the admissions process, as a whole, more inclusive.”
Interview with Andrew Yang, 2020 Presidential Candidate
“It is my conviction that we are going through the greatest technological and economic shift in human history, and our political class is completely asleep at the switch.”
From Theater Major to NYC Council: An Interview with Jumaane Williams
“I changed my major from theater to film because, in many of my auditions, I was typecast as a drug dealer or a murderer, and that changed my perception of what people thought a black man was.”
Public Schools Need Not Crash
We may need to tap into music, sports, video games and even some street talents to reach some students.
The Importance of Transgender Representation in Politics
The election of transgender politicians to public office can effectively mobilize transgender individuals to become more politically active and engaged in the political process.
In Defense of the Term “Resistance”
“Far from being a detriment to democracy, resistance to a dictator-lite like President Trump is essential to saving it.”
Conservative Reactions to Professor’s Autism Comments Are Hypocritical
Conservative students display the very immaturity they accuse liberal students of. Duke University conservatives, the same people frequently advocating on behalf of “free speech,” demand a professor be punished for using language they find offensive.
Harvard Economist: The Stunning Cost of the War on Drugs
Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron argues that prohibition is among the worst policies for curbing “irrational” drug use.
Left-Leaning Voice: Trump Is Right About VA Reform
President Trump may be wrong on many things, but he is absolutely correct about reforming the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Here’s why.
The Culture of Machismo in Mexico Harms Women
I was twelve years old, and a man on the street was already verbally harassing me. He looked at me as if I were a juicy steak instead of an innocent child.
Tobacco Use Is Holding Back the Developing World
Tobacco use is the leading single cause of preventable death worldwide.
Incentivizing Sick People to Come to Work Spreads Illness
People should support labor policies such as paid time off based on nothing but concern for their own health and well-being.
Political Engagement Is Key to “Climate Justice”
“Engaging with domestic politics is crucial to our collective response to global environmental change and other social justice issues.”
What Is the Difference between ISIS and al-Qaeda?
Must ISIS be treated differently from the terrorist organizations of the past?
In the War on Poverty, Human Mobility is a Key Weapon
Some enthusiasts speculate that eliminating immigration restrictions could double global GDP.
The Limits of Legislating Morality
Yes, it is acceptable to legislate morality. But simply passing a law is not the end of the story.
The Hypocrisy of Conservatives Opposing “the Dreamers”
For Christian Trump voters, the decision must be at least a little awkward, as faith leaders across the country came out strongly against the decision to rescind DACA protections.
Conservatives Also Have a Responsibility to Free Speech
Conservatives are as much of a threat to free speech as radical progressives.
The Truth about the Google Memo
James Damore’s memo is far from what the mainstream media has made it out to be. That said, alternative media sources are not necessarily right about it either.
Where to Go from Here: Russian Interference
Look no further than events in Europe to see how far Russia will go to upset the democratic process in other nations.
Green Party Presidential Candidate: What Made Citizens United Inevitable
Green Party Presidential candidate William Kreml describes the evolution of the 2010 Citizens United ruling.