Depopulating Palestine, Dehumanizing the Palestinians

One might have thought that, in the wake of the Nazi regime’s systematic crimes against humanity last century, dehumanization would have become unthinkable once and for all. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. It has shamefully continued unabated, the assorted perpetrators including, with tragic irony, those who themselves were victims of Nazi dehumanization. Dehumanization is…

Leadership, Ennoblement, and Why We Still Love Monarchies

We tend to view leadership in a hierarchical way, with leaders and followers. But our actual experience of good leadership is different. We tend to notice quickly when a leader is keeping the people around them down. The best leaders we see are surrounded by competent, able, confident, and free people – not servants. Good leadership does not keep people down – it pulls them up.

Stop Locking People in Cages!

So, the good news from this week is that immigrant families are not being kidnapped, separated, and thrown in cages anymore. They’re just being kidnapped and thrown in cages. But together, so that’s an improvement, I guess. The ludicrous nature of what passes for progress in a fascistic society is on display once again as we’re supposed to consider it a victory that peaceful people now get to go to the gulag as a family unit. Color me unimpressed.

White People Should Call Each Other “Nigga”

I’m a big believer in the idea that people give words their power. If “fuck” is said often by a three-year-old (which in my house, it is) then it loses its power. It’s just a fun thing to say, and when used non-playfully, it just doesn’t have as much bite. And isn’t that a good thing? Don’t we disarm pricks just a little bit by softening the meaning of the words they want to use against us?

Markets aren’t Miraculous; God Bless the World

I was wrong to ever describe anything the market does as a miracle or as miraculous. Why? Because the positive effects of markets broadly described above do not depend on any sort of divine intervention, and its totally ridiculous to say that they do. Rather, they are the natural result of individuals and groups engaging in market action. No divine explanation necessary.