For most of human history young men were expected to go to war at about the same age that young women were expected to become mothers, probably within about a year of their first period. Were our ancestors just mistaken? And if so, about what? Or is it that twelve-year-olds today aren’t as mature as … Continue reading STATUTORY RAPE AND CHILD SOLDIERS
THE HARMS RACE
According to John Stuart Mill, in a liberal democracy all is permitted save what is prohibited. And what can be prohibited must be demonstrably harmful. But what’s meant by harm? It can’t be just a setback of interests. Your opening a coffee shop across the street from mine might set my interests back considerably, and … Continue reading THE HARMS RACE
THE MSSING SUBJECT ARGUMENT
Let me repeat, for the 108th time, that I’m not pro-Life. As I‘ve labored to make clear, I’m anti-Life. I want a world consisting of nothing but inanimate objects. But I have to admit that pro-Lifers have at least one argument going for them, were they savvy enough to deploy it. And that’s the oddity … Continue reading THE MSSING SUBJECT ARGUMENT
QASEM SOLEIMANI AND 2020
I’m beginning to suspect that, given who he’s likely to be up against in November, Trump is going to be re-elected in 2020. But as one of his advisers – and I guess in a sense I am, since I know he’s an avid follower of this blog – just to be on the safe … Continue reading QASEM SOLEIMANI AND 2020
INDIGENIZATION
George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm that “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” He could’ve written as readily that we’re all victims, but some of us are more victims than others. Your ancestors were placed in residential schools. Mine were gassed there. A thousand of your mothers and sisters … Continue reading INDIGENIZATION
TRUTH versus RECONCILIATION
The truth-value of an utterance – for example that I’m going to die on such and such a date – is very often at odds with (what J.L. Austin called) its perlocutionary value – what it does for the speaker and/or listener. As it happens my affairs are in order, so if you happen to … Continue reading TRUTH versus RECONCILIATION
INTER-GENERATIONAL JUSTICE
Dr. Doolittle can talk with all the animals. I can only talk with my dog. Still, I can testify - because she’s assured me of this - that she doesn’t think of me as belonging to a different species. She thinks of me, and of my wife, and of our two cats, as belonging to … Continue reading INTER-GENERATIONAL JUSTICE
GENOCIDE
We’re told that the meaning of a word is its use. Alright then, let’s see how the word is used. By genocide is meant the killing of a people. Well, not quite. Suppose a plague had killed off the Amalekites before the Israelites had got to them. Would that have been a genocide? Clearly not. … Continue reading GENOCIDE
THE PLIGHT OF THE ANTI-SEMITIC SEMITE
Down the hall in the English Department, we have an otherwise highly respected colleague who believes, and I quote, that “Any criticism of the State of Israel is anti-Semitism.” I take this to mean that if the Israelis decided to empty the Gaza Strip the way the Nazis emptied the Warsaw Ghetto, she would have … Continue reading THE PLIGHT OF THE ANTI-SEMITIC SEMITE
BLACKFACE
Should there be a statute of limitations? For some crimes, yes, for others no, and we can argue about which is which. But should there be a statute of limitations on purely moral accountability for saying and doing stupid things? No doubt US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh cracked some no-longer-acceptable jokes back when he … Continue reading BLACKFACE
