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…
Tag: identity
Why School Vouchers are a Terrible Idea
My own opposition comes from a very different direction: I’m against vouchers not because they might damage, or fail to replicate, the existing system, but because they threaten to make “private” alternatives more LIKE that system.
President Trump, Please Free Ross Ulbricht
There is no universe in which life without the possibility of parole is a reasonable penalty for the crime of running a web site. Especially a web site which arguably reduced both drug-related street crime and death by drug overdose.
Cultural Marxism’s Fundamental Flaw
Cultural Marxists would argue that cisgendered “white” heterosexual males have, at least in the Western world (and for heterosexual males, the entire world), been the group that has oppressed all others, those who identify with groups such as women, “people of color”, homosexuals, and transgenders. Seems inarguable as we survey the history of the West, does it not? And as oppressors, they have enjoyed political and legal privileges not afforded these other groups. This also seems inarguable as we survey history. But there seems to me to be something wrong with this so-called “critical theory” approach to topics of oppression and privilege.
We Are All Bigots
I strongly believe that the current language and concepts we use to discuss issues of race and gender lead to vastly more bigotry and it largely explains the growth of white nationalism from a couple of losers to a couple more losers. It seems impossible to believe that the shift in language has done anything productive towards getting better treatment for anyone.
Encouragement as Bad as Discouragement
In our society, we commonly and appropriately demonize discouragement because we see it as someone interjecting themselves into this exploration. Discouragement is a tool to distort the exploration of a child in favor of the insecurities and self-interest of the discourager. It is a means of the adult trying to live through their child. Discouragement is someone trying to tip and distort the scales within the ecosystem of a child’s discovery process. The last paragraph also perfectly describes the problems of encouragement.
Szasz and the Statistics of Rare Events
Do the statistics of rare events prove Szasz right? No, but they do tip the evidentiary scales further in his favor. If X almost never happens, basic numeracy urges us to question whether the few purported cases of X are genuine – especially if many of us feel a temptation to claim X regardless of the truth.
Ice Cream Shops, Saturday Night, and Peace
It’s a radical experience in human history for people to have the financial means and the freedom to go out to see a movie, to take the children out for an ice cream, to walk through a welcoming, light-strewn outdoor mall. But that’s what a Saturday night in Atlantic Station is for all of these people. It’s more impressive when I consider that some of these people from minority cultures are likely immigrants. This Saturday night may have been someone’s first night around all of this extravagance.
Friends are Individuals, Enemies are Collective
Foreigners, far-away peoples, threats, enemies, or those we fear get labelled as a giant unified collective. In reality, only individual humans act. “The Russians” cannot do or say anything, only individuals can. But it’s too complicated and nuanced when you’re telling yourself a simple us/them, good/evil story.
Don’t Self-Identify As Something You Don’t Respect
When you find ourselves in the middle of doing something you don’t respect, it’s all too easy to identify as a person with things you don’t respect: flakiness, klutziness, cowardice, dishonesty. You might even go so far as to label yourself. Stop doing this.