racism

What is it to be “Woke”?

Not long ago, I read a piece in Forbes advising white people to stop using the word “woke”, since to do so is an act of cultural appropriation. I could hardly have been more amazed. To think that a concept espoused by Diogenes and Socrates, the Golden Dawn, and the whole school of the Stoics could become the sole property of members of the unwilling African diaspora beggars belief. And yet, the writer, evidently well-educated, seemed completely sincere.

And so the question naturally arises: What is it to be “Woke”?

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Debunking Ukraine

Surrounding every conflict are rumors, innuendo, and error — and that’s not even considering deliberate disinformation along the lines of what we’re now seeing in the Ukraine conflict. Putin is a past master at this; leading up to the war were so many denials that it was going to happen, announcements of withdrawal, and so on that, for many of us, the waters were effectively muddied. And Zelensky himself is a consummate performer, a trained and experienced actor playing the greatest role of all time.

So what’s real, and what’s not? What’s worth worrying about and what’s worth forgetting? Above all: What’s about to happen?

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FAKE NEWS: Voter Suppression In Kentucky?

There have been several versions of this going around.  Trouble is, it’s completely absurd, a patently evident attempt to propagandize.

This is important for two reasons:  One, it’s apt to backfire because it’s so transparently wrong.  Two, everyone, even (more…)

No Lives Matter

Protesters are marching under a banner that reads “Black Lives Matter”.  They do this because it seems pretty evident some folks disagree, judging only based on the number of peaceful arrests for what are usually non-crimes that turn into black people being dead.

It’s a slogan that begs (more…)

F&L: Tulsi Gabbard Suspends Campaign

I thought it would never happen.  Either Gabbard or Yang was going to stay in way too long and then endorse Sanders, was my prediction.  And now they’ve both let me down.

I mean, yeah, sure, nobody could have predicted the election would pivot to be about the Coronavirus.  Taking down Trump I can see, and I even anticipated that the Democratic establishment would fear a Sanders presidency even more than a Trump (more…)

Resist Honestly

President Donald J. Trump:  The words are painful for many of us.  This is understandable; his persona is not one that engenders trust and comfort, and we’ve had it easy for eight years.  Obama was quietly charismatic and sought bipartisanship; Trump is almost diametrically opposite.  So yes, it’s a bit of a shock.

Since the inauguration, Mr. Trump’s opponents both in the (more…)

You’re All Wrong!

NOTE:  This article was written as a response to another, originally published in “The Bollard” on April 5th.  It can be read here.

A guy wrote once that, although debate and compromise are valuable things in the right place, there are some positions that are completely, flatly wrong. These, because they’re just so obviously invalid, are no longer worth discussing, and compromise with them is plain dumb. (more…)

There Is No Such Thing As Racism.

OK; I’ll admit it:  That was a cheap trick to get you to read this — but there’s a good reason.  It’s because there really is no such thing as “racism”, and saying there is makes things worse.

No; I’m not some idiot Polyanna revisionist nutjob.

I may be nuts; that’s up to you to decide — but at least I’m not an idiot.  The following will sound like it’s just a simple trick of words, but stick with me to the end:  I promise it’s worth it. (more…)

The Application of Relativity to Social Issues: A Thought Experiment On Racism In The Criminal Justice System

Between the years 1905 and 1915, Albert Einstein worked continuously on certain abstruse mathematical frameworks within which the great puzzles of the universe could be solved — for it was impossible to solve them without something of the sort.  From his work arose his Special and General Theories of Relativity, which redefined science’s approach to such problems as travel at the speed of light, whether gravity has waves, and what spacetime’s shape is like.

I’m not going to explore the full ramifications here:  first, because we don’t need them for our purposes, and second, because the full ramifications make my brain hurt.

But I would like to present the concept of the Special Theory in simple terms (in order to apply it in ways that the designer never intended, but that’s not at all a bad thing.  Stick with me; it’ll be a ride.) (more…)