What do Edward Sapir, Benjamin Lee Whorf, George Orwell, and post-modern feminists have in common? They all triangulate on the fact that we think in words. And so if you can control what can be said, you can control what can be thought. And since, as Thomas Hobbes observed, “a man’s [sic] actions proceedeth from … Continue reading HOW TO SURRENDER IN THE LANGUAGE WAR
NOTES ON THE CULTURE WAR
The Cancel Culture War that’s been on high simmer for several years now has heated up considerably since the death of George Floyd on May 25th. That’s probably a good thing, insofar as the conflict is finally revealing what it’s not about. It’s not about ideas. Nor is it about whether it should be about … Continue reading NOTES ON THE CULTURE WAR
THE MEANING OF BLACK LIVES MATTER
Had Rudolf Carnap been around today, he’d have pointed out that “x lives matter” is not a well-formed formula. Well-formedness requires that “x lives matter to some y”. And at that, perhaps only at some time t, and only under some set of circumstances c. Moreover, “all lives matter” is ambiguous between a) for every … Continue reading THE MEANING OF BLACK LIVES MATTER
THE RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE STORY
Here’s another entry in the ongoing saga of news that isn’t. Some of my followers and even more of my readers live in the United States. Does that mean I’m trying to interfere in their upcoming presidential election? Well, I’m sure I’m not the least bit successful, but that’s certainly my intent. No doubt Russia … Continue reading THE RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE STORY
POLICING 101
Poor people don’t have a lot. If they did, they wouldn’t be poor. As a result, their need to protect what little they have is greater than the need of those who have more to protect what they have. This is because those who have more can afford to lose, though they'd rather not, a … Continue reading POLICING 101
THE BOUNTY STORY
During the 1980s, the U.S. financed, armed, and trained the Mujahideen in what proved to be their successful campaign to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. In other words, they paid the Mujahideen to kill Soviet soldiers. The Taliban, which held the country during the 90s, was removed in 2001 by the U.S. and its … Continue reading THE BOUNTY STORY
THE NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE MANTRA
I wouldn’t have thought it necessary to weigh in on the civil unrest sweeping across the U.S., and now across the entire western world. I’d have thought it almost analytic that people who are pissed off, and are taking their pissed off-edness to the streets, have good reasons to be pissed off. So I see … Continue reading THE NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE MANTRA
GENDER DYSPHORIA
A few years back the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia published a paper by Rebecca Tuvel in which she wondered, if one can be trans-gendered, why not trans-racial? So one has to either deny one can be trans-gendered, or else deny that the two cases are analogous. Why? Because if I can be trans-racial, why can’t I … Continue reading GENDER DYSPHORIA
DOGWHISTLING
If I ask whether the blind date you’re setting me up with is good looking, and you answer that she has a wonderful personality, you’re not just saying something about her personality. Likewise, then, no one denies that all lives matter. But to say it, in the present context, is to say that black lives … Continue reading DOGWHISTLING
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE
Let me give you a heads up. Whatever you’re most sensitive about, I’m probably going to be insensitive to it. This is regrettable, by which is meant it’s able to be regretted, but apparently not by me. Here I offer just a representative sampling of my myriad insensitivities. From it, others of my aseninities you can … Continue reading HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE
