What Do They Mean When They Tell Us the Economy Was “Good?”Part of the narrative to which the “It’s Not the Economy, Stupid” crowd is sticking in regard to the U.S. national election of 2024 is that…4d ago4d ago
Ten Tips for Staying Sane While Following the NewsFollowing the news is stressful, and often pointlessly so, not only because of the undeniably terrible things going on in a world that is…4d ago4d ago
The Age of Austerity and the Assault on Britain’s LibrariesReading United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Professor Philip Alston’s report on his visit to Britain and…Nov 8, 2024Nov 8, 2024
James Ponsoldt’s The Circle and the Tyranny of Generic ClassificationI missed James Ponsoldt’s The Circle when it first came out back in 2017 but caught it on streaming some years later. As I had largely…Nov 7, 2024Nov 7, 2024
What Do We Mean by “Freedom of Speech?” And the Defense of the Right to That Freedom?The remark “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is famously attributed to the eighteenth…Nov 7, 2024Nov 7, 2024
Why Are We Always Being Told to “Be Grateful?”It is the conventional view that the feeling and expression of gratitude — of thankfulness — is a great virtue, and its lack a great…Nov 7, 2024Nov 7, 2024
“Traditional vs. Self-Publishing”Back when there was more talk about the phenomenon of self-publishing than we hear now due to the comparative novelty of e-book readers…Nov 7, 2024Nov 7, 2024
Where Do People Get the Idea That They Are Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaires?In Slaughter-house Five Kurt Vonnegut’s narrator presents a lengthy passage from a (fictional) monograph about America intended to help…Nov 7, 2024Nov 7, 2024
Of Generalizations, Sweeping Generalizations, and the Idiots Who Refuse to Respect the Difference…The word “generalization” may be defined as “a general proposition about the world, typically obtained from observation of the world, and…Nov 7, 2024Nov 7, 2024
Stanley Kubrick and the “F” WordSome time ago I looked over those charges and countercharges about the politics of A Clockwork Orange between its director Stanley Kubrick…Nov 7, 2024Nov 7, 2024