Nebraska is the only good album by Bruce Springsteen. But that’s not the point of this post. This post is about death. For something good to happen, something has to die. Harsh but true.
Tag: death
This Is What Peace Looks Like
This – here, now, concretely, in front of me- is a small vision of what I and all of my idealistic friends and forebears talk about when we talk about the world we want. This is what people have fought and died for. This is it. Peace becomes far more interesting and compelling when it has a face. And that face is far more beautiful than any of the allure of war and conflict.
9/11 Every Month — Where’s the Outrage?
The TL;DR: “Many Americans die every year because they need kidney transplants, in large part due to federal laws banning organ sales. … [A]n average of over 30,000 Americans have died each year, because the ban prevented them from getting transplants in time.” My preferred version of the headline: “The US government, as a matter of policy, kills 30,000 Americans annually.”
Capital Punishment Isn’t Unconstitutional; We Should End it Anyway
The claim of inherent jurisdiction over life and death — the claim of a “legitimate” power to kill disarmed prisoners, in cold blood and with impunity (as opposed to the currently violent, in defense of self or others, subject to requirement to justify the deed) — is the very definition of totalitarianism. You can have limited government or you can have capital punishment. You can’t have both.
Statism = Nihilism = Statism
I’m a personal pessimist, but a long-term optimist. My own life may never be what I wish, but in the long term– maybe longer than several human lifespans– I think things will keep getting better. I am sad when I think how much horror and tyranny will probably have to pass between now and then.
Theft and Coercion Shouldn’t Be Your Default
There are paths to solving “climate change”, if it needs to be solved, which don’t give government additional power. Paths using economic means rather than political means. Why are they not promoting those paths?
If Dogs Did Data
“Look Fido, everyone knows food is caused by the ringing of bells. This chart shows the instance of bell ringing and the instance of dinner. It’s definitive proof that if you want to obtain food for yourself as you go out into the world, you need to learn to ring bells.”
Reflections on The Sopranos
I just finished re-watching the entirety of The Sopranos, HBO’s classic Mafia drama. I saw it season-by-season when it originally aired (1999-2007), and I still hew to the allegedly philistine view that the ending was not only bad, but insulting. Overall, though the show’s reputation is well-deserved. Here are the top social science insights I take away.
The Small Death in First Steps
Take the smallest possible step. Get it right. Take the next. Do this as fast as possible as many times as possible adjusting to bad steps as ruthlessly as possible. That’s the way. There’s no cheating the small steps.
Suppressing Discussion Doesn’t Solve the Problem; It is the Problem
Everywhere one looks these days, the world seems to be moving away from debate on contentious subjects and toward demands that those who have unpopular opinions — or even just ask impertinent questions — be forcibly silenced.