Loneliness among Americans has been growing in recent years, but the policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically exacerbated the problem. A new report by Harvard University researchers finds that 36 percent of Americans are experiencing “serious loneliness,” and some groups, such as young adults and mothers with small children, are especially isolated.
Tag: order
Bioethics: Tuskegee vs. COVID
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Bioethics is to ethics as astrology is to astronomy. If bioethicists had previously prevented a hundred Tuskegees from happening, COVID would still have turned the existence of their entire profession into a net negative for humanity. Verily, we would be better off if their field had never existed.
Relaxing with Chaos
There’s a big part of us that doesn’t like chaos: we want order and simplicity and feeling like we’re on top of things and doing things the “right” way.
Same as the Old Boss, Julian Assange Edition
On February 9, the US Justice Department announced that US President Joe Biden, as in so many other areas, intends to serve Donald Trump’s second term when it comes to persecuting heroes guilty of exposing US war crimes and embarrassing American politicians.
Socialism Doesn’t Work
Last week, I reported on two myths about socialism. My new video covers three more.
Teachers Unions Continue To Block School Reopenings Across America
Research has found that “reopening decisions have more to do with influence from teachers’ unions than safety concerns.”
A Little Bit of Good Doesn’t Justify Evil
Responsible people who have worthwhile principles have to accept that they have no right to violate others just because they have (or believe they have) a good goal in mind.
Can Do without Biden’s ‘Unity’
(My Eastern New Mexico News column for February 3, 2021)
Politics has a strange effect on people.
I’m stunned at how many people can’t let go of Donald Trump. They cling to him like a life raft in an ocean of uncertainty.
I’m not talking about Trump’…
Roderick Long: An Anarchist Legal Order (1h30m)
This episode features a lecture by philosopher Roderick Long from 2006. A legal system is an institution to provide dispute resolution through judicial, legislative and executive functions. The state is that which maintains in large part a monopoly over force, geography and the legal system. What’s wrong with a forcible monopoly? You are saying that you are the only one who has this right. Under anarchy there is equality of authority. No one has monopolies of force or jurisdiction. Dispute resolutions are referred to arbitration. Anarchy is founded when one bypasses the state into voluntary system and the state withers away.
Youth Depression, Suicide Increasing During Pandemic Response
As data on the unintended consequences of pandemic policy becomes gloomier, policy makers are beginning to acknowledge tradeoffs.