Lately it seems everything has to be described in a superlative manner. Natural disaster. War. Police violence. Political craziness. You name it, we just can’t seem to accept that it’s part of a continuum. Everything absolutely, positively must be the mostest or the worstest of its kind, ever.
Tag: war
“How Can I Fail Today?”
That may seem a defeatist way to think, but it actually spurs me to action.
Cambridge Study: Children’s Mental Health Has Deteriorated ‘Substantially’ During Lockdown
The new University of Cambridge paper is the first longitudinal study to trace the mental health effects of lockdowns and social isolation on younger children.
Yes, the Election Was Rigged. No, Not Like That.
It wasn’t rigged to benefit a particular person. It was rigged to preserve a system: The post-World-War-Two, military-industrial complex-centered “consensus” system.
The Truly Educated & This is The Way (24m) – Episode 048
Episode 048 looks at two Stoic topics: the first from Epictetus who wrote, “The beautiful and good person neither fights with anyone nor, as much as they are able, permits others to fight . . . this is the meaning of getting an education—learning what is your own affair and what is not. If a person carries themselves so, where is there any room for fighting?”; and the second from artwork by mjhiblenart involving a character from The Mandalorian, a television series on Disney+. The episode begins with sad news about Carl Watner (RIP), the person who introduced Skyler to Stoicism.
Herbert Spencer and Prejudice
Herbert Spencer’s “From Freedom to Bondage” famously claims that “[T]he more things improve the louder become the exclamations about their badness.” And he offered a bunch of great examples. Inspired by Spencer’s insight, I recently turned to Google Ngram to look at long-run trends for six oft-named expressions of prejudice.
Don’t Believe the Hype About ‘Socially Responsible’ Investing
Want to make money and help the world, too? Wall Street says you can!
There Ain’t No Such Thing As a “Must-Pass” Bill
“Congress,” The Hill reports, “is barreling toward a veto showdown with President Trump over the mammoth must-pass annual defense policy bill.” At issue: The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which as usual has little to do with actual defense.
Managing the Emotions of Children
I think modern parenting is often too focused on avoiding conflict and managing the emotions of children. I am working to set certain cultural trends away from this in my family.
Private Charity Beats One-Size-Fits-All Government
Charities are free to help people who truly need help.