Since I’m old enough to remember the Peloponnesian Wars, I can certainly remember that it wasn’t Canadians refusing to buy South African wine that brought an end to Apartheid. It was that Apartheid was no longer sustainable on its own terms. I suspect the same is true today with the hope that the Boycott-Divest-Sanction (BDS) … Continue reading THE BDS MOVEMENT AND THE SHUNNER’S DILEMMA
BAD THOUGHTS
There’s nothing praiseworthy about someone who never has to transcend the ‘worser’ angels of her nature. So if you’ve never had to wrestle with the guy with the horns and pitchfork sitting on your shoulder, I really don’t want to know you. Acting on your bad thoughts can make you scary. But just having them … Continue reading BAD THOUGHTS
WOMEN AND GENDER STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE
Not unlike the Indigenous Studies Department, Women and Gender Studies at the University of Lethbridge makes no bones about its commitment to social justice. But on its website it also promises that its students “will develop critical thinking skills”. By this I take it to mean the skill required to critique patriarchy. Fair enough. But … Continue reading WOMEN AND GENDER STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE
INDIGENOUS STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE
The social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has argued that a university can task itself to seeking the truth, or to promoting social justice, but not both. Why? Because the truth is sometimes incompatible with the promotion of social justice. A university that tries to have it both ways is going to fail at both, and as … Continue reading INDIGENOUS STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE
The #MeToo Movement’s Brave New World
It used to be that in the absence of saying no she’s saying yes; that by saying no she’s saying convince me; and that by convince me she’s saying yes. And so, much to the delight of us ardent men, she was pretty much guaranteed to be always saying yes. Then it was that no … Continue reading The #MeToo Movement’s Brave New World
MY BEGRUDGING RESPECT FOR STEVE KING
Iowa Representative Steve King is being pilloried in the press for pointing out that, were it not for rape and incest, none of us would be here. “Considering all the wars and all the rape and pillage that has taken place,” notes King, “I know I can’t certify that I was not a part of … Continue reading MY BEGRUDGING RESPECT FOR STEVE KING
DOMESTIC TERRORISM
From the beaches of Normandy to the German surrender ten months later, my father’s job was to align the turrets of hundreds of artillery pieces for the saturation shelling of the stretch about a kilometer to about three kilometers still held by the enemy. If he didn’t end up killing any Germans, it would have … Continue reading DOMESTIC TERRORISM
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
I was born in 1950, and came to (albeit nascent) political consciousness about the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, by which all I mean is I knew some of what was going on in the world, the names of some of the players, and at least a superficial understanding of some of the … Continue reading FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
THE CAMPAIGN AS OF AUGUST 2019
Donald Trump may be an idiot, but even an idiot can accidentally hit on the right strategy. He knows that his so-called base, about 40%, isn’t enough to get him re-elected. And there’s nothing he can do to add to it. So his only hope is to discourage enough of the other 60% from voting … Continue reading THE CAMPAIGN AS OF AUGUST 2019
MASS SHOOTINGS AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT
In the wake of the El Paso and Dayton shootings, Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has just taken her turn at the now-obligatory think-of-the-children bleat. It’s almost, but not quite, as obligatory as our-hearts-go-out-to. Politicians have simply got to hire some new writers! In any event, according to Harris, and in a scene reminiscent of the … Continue reading MASS SHOOTINGS AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT
