The toppling of statues of persons whose stature has been recently reversed raises the interesting but unpalatable possibility that the same could happen to those we’ve just recently pedestaled. For example, imagine a hundred years from now it’s been decided… Read More ›
Social and Political Philosophy
THE MOUNT ROYAL LEAD
It was bound to happen, and now it has. Right across the country there has long since been, and rightly so, lower admission standards for indigenous students. But Mount Royal University is currently in the process of drawing up a… Read More ›
STUPID IDEA # 416
There are some million and a half people in Canada – about 5% of the population – who, in my own lifetime, have been named, renamed, and renamed again, first as Indians, then natives, then First Nations, and now indigenous…. Read More ›
THE ONTOLOGY OF PEOPLES AND THEIR DECOLONISATION
Once upon a time there were peoples living in North America who were as different from one another as were the peoples living in Europe from one another at the same time. As in Europe, these peoples spoke different languages,… Read More ›
HELP!
Could someone please tell me what ‘decolonisation’ means? Anyone? ANYONE? The dictionary tells me it’s the process of withdrawing from a former colony, leaving it independent. So if I’m being asked to decolonise my classroom, I’m guessing I – or… Read More ›
THE DEAN’S LETTER
On Monday, May 31, 2021, Matt Letts, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Lethbridge, sent the following missive to all members of the Faculty. Statement on Residential School News – *trigger warning* Dear… Read More ›
OF DISCOMFORT AND VULNERABILITY
I think if I were Jewish – which, come to think of it, I am – I’d be far more comforted being assured the Holocaust didn’t happen than being constantly reminded that it did. So I’m not sure how so… Read More ›
RETALIATORY DEPLATFORMING
So here’s what I’m proposing. We create a data base of anyone who’s participated in a deplatforming. Anyone who’s signed a deplatforming petition. Anyone who’s publicly lobbied for such a deplatforming. Any administrator who’s caved to any such deplatforming campaign. … Read More ›
CHOICE FOR WOMEN, BUT NONE TO BE ONE
What we might call the weak pro-Lifer believes that 1) the foetus is a person, 2) it’s wrong to kill persons, and so 3) it’s wrong to have an abortion. Is this incompatible with the pro-Choice position? Not at all…. Read More ›
MYANMAR, BELARUS, XINJIANG, AND ALABAMA
I can’t help wondering what Americans would do if Alabama decided to reinstate black slavery. People who are about to do something the international community is bound to regard as beyond the rights of sovereignty – the military coup in… Read More ›
