In a reflective moment, George Orwell wrote, “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.” Yet if you actually read his oeuvre, you’ll find a striking disparity: Orwell’s anti-totalitarian writing is massive, but his pro-socialist writing is wafer thin.
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
Hateful Caricatures
At what point did cartoon caricatures automatically become “hate,” or offensive? For example, should white gun-owners be offended by the character Elmer Fudd? Because, as a white gun-owner, I’m not. Cartoons are all about exaggerating characteristics and stereotypes, of pretty much everyone and everything. If I watch The Simpson, am I supposed to then despise and hate all bald, overweight white guys? (Or yellow guys, or whatever.)
Start Getting Prepared for Emergencies
I thought the past year had taught people to be prepared and less dependent on rescue by others. It seems I was wrong.
Every Worker Is an Essential Worker
Politicians have too much power over our lives. Many used the pandemic as another excuse to take more. Early on, politicians declared that they would decide who was “essential.” Everyone else was told to stay home.
Biden’s Foreign Policy: No Joy in Mudville
Well, at least he hasn’t started any NEW wars! For four years, that was the excuse I got from anti-war Donald Trump supporters every time he escalated one of the several wars he inherited from George W. Bush and Barack Obama. I expect to start hearing it from anti-war Joseph Biden supporters soon.
A Tool for Labor Negotiations
The movements against standardized testing has little to do with learning, children, testing, epistemology, or psychology. These movements are predominantly supported by teachers and unions as a means of leveraging school districts, parents and governments into minimizing accountability.
The Wisdom of Knowing When to Keep Quiet
These days it feels like it’s hard for most people to have pleasant social interactions with others who “believe” differently.
Vive Le Difference
The real pandemic is self-labelling. One is first an individual. We should stand on our own two feet, to be an individual.
Capitalizing on Your Insecurity
Most of the time I have observed people promoting their religion/faith, they aren’t selling the virtues of the ideology. It isn’t promoting scripture, showing the wisdom inherent in god’s word, or anything like this. The way most advertising for religion works is merely the same exact way used by con men and cults, they are capitalizing on your insecurity.
Politics Destroys Civility
If you’re going to decry the lack of civility; the anger and division, with one breath, and then call for government violence to be used against other people with the next, I can’t take your concern seriously… but I may still take your threats seriously.