Assumption of Risk, Where Art Thou?

One of the major lessons we learn growing up is understanding the concept of risk, that is, the possibility of getting hurt. Different activities have more or less risk as it concerns our physical safety. When we join a gym, our assumption of risk is explicit in the form of a written and signed waiver. This protects the gym from being sued when we injure ourselves. Does this concept have any place in the current discussion on sexual harassment and sexual assault?

How Game of Thrones Made Me Appreciate Family Values

Graphic violence. Excessive sexuality. Drunken brawling. Betrayal. Deception. Incest. Most people know Game of Thrones for these unsavory plot elements. You wouldn’t think a show like this would teach you to appreciate family values. But for me, Game of Thrones has probably done more to make me appreciate my teetotalling, conservative upbringing than anything produced by the purveyors of “family friendly” entertainment.

The Liberal Spirit and Its Opposite, Alt-Rightism

Maybe a few self-described libertarians cling to the idea that property is essentially about exclusion, but they are fated to hit a wall: liberalism is a spirit as well as a set of ideas, and it cannot be turned against itself. It fosters human solidarity, not separation. Libertarianism, like its precursor, is an answer to the question: under what conditions do reasoning social animals best flourish?  In answering that question the way it has, liberalism offers no home to sowers of division.