As America’s latest long hot summer drags into autumn, politicians and pundits are getting louder and more shrill in their denunciations of political violence. Considering the sources, those denunciations smack of hypocrisy.
Tag: history
Trump Regime vs. the ICC: The Wrong Side of “Sovereignty”
In June, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order providing for sanctions against persons who “have directly engaged in any effort by the [International Criminal Court] to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any United States personnel without the consent of the United States.”
Facebook’s Violence Standards Make for a Bad Business Plan
“Facebook Employees Are Outraged At Mark Zuckerberg’s Explanations Of How It Handled The Kenosha Violence,” reads the headline at Buzzfeed. One such employee asks “[a]t what point do we take responsibility for enabling hate filled bile to spread across our services?”
Nick Sandmann: GOP’s Poster Child for Fake Victimhood
Grievance-based politics is nothing new, nor does America’s political “left” enjoy a monopoly on it. For proof of that latter claim, one need look no further than the case of Nick Sandmann.
History as the Red Pill
It’s a meme now to call any radical mind-changing moment or idea a “red pill,” hearkening back to the red pill which awakens Neo to the nature of his machine slavery in The Matrix. Everybody has their own version of the red pill, and their own idea of what is being revealed when it is taken. I think studying history – and particularly studying the history of thought – is one such red pill.
Michael Huemer: The Psychology of Authority (1h17m)
This episode features a talk by philosophy professor Michael Huemer from 2013. Evidence from psychology and history teaches two main lessons about authority: (a) that human beings have a variety of strong, pro-authority biases, and (b) that socially recognized authority is an extremely dangerous phenomenon.
With Remote Learning, Schools Are Watching and Reporting Parents at Alarming Rates
As remote learning creates more distance between school districts and students, school and state officials are clinging to control however they can. From sending Child Protective Services (CPS) agents to investigate charges of neglect in homes where children missed Zoom classes last spring, to proposing “child wellbeing checks” in homes this fall, government schools and related agencies are panicking over parents having increased influence over their children’s care and education during the pandemic.
Five Rules for Studying History
“History” is a product of human beings. History of the same events and people may be done (will be done) differently from generation to generation. Sometimes, due to advances in archaeology or new discoveries of old texts, history done 500 years after the fact will be better than history done 100 years later. Similarly, changes in dominant ideology might make later history less reliable than earlier historical works. Best to read histories from multiple perspectives and times.
Kamala Harris’s Problem Isn’t Her Identity; It’s Her Character
As you no doubt know by now, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has chosen US Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate. You’ve probably also noticed the first salvo of Republican attacks on Harris: She’s “not really black,” and she may not even be a “natural born citizen” as required by the Constitution to hold the office of president or vice president. No one sane or intelligent finds either of these attacks convincing.
“Prussian” Indoctrination – The Other Side
In doing a little searching for “The Prussian model” of schooling, I ran across an essay that claims to expose “The Invented History of ‘The Factory Model of Education’”. It’s important to get the other side, so I read it and I’ll give you my thoughts here.