Recently, it seems that everywhere I turn in the news, someone is talking about wokeness or woke people. Sometimes the term is used positively, i.e. “I got woke”, to describe a type of awareness someone gains in his or her life about issues pertaining to justice, fairness, and equality. Specifically, becoming woke often refers to… Continue reading About Wokeness: Should You Get Woke?
“To be human is to engage in relationships with others and with the world.” Paulo Freire[1] Recently I have been thinking about something I call “People First Politics”. I’m pretty excited about it. People First Politics is a name I came up with, but the ideas behind it have a long and noble heritage. (You… Continue reading People First Politics: Something to Get Excited About
This semester, I have been teaching an independent study on African philosophy with two young women. And I have experienced some painful and joyful emotional growth in the process. This was our anthology, which I highly recommend. They have taught me so much. We finished our independent study the other day by watching the movie… Continue reading What I Learned Teaching African Philosophy This Semester
Today we celebrate Mother’s Day, and I have been thinking a lot about the feminine. When I refer to the feminine in this context, I don’t refer to gender or biological sex. Rather I refer to a caring, relational, and life-giving way of being in the world. Philosopher Audre Lorde suggests this feminine is, at… Continue reading Do We Honor the Feminine?
Over the years, I have heard a lot of people ask this same question in various forms: Should we tolerate everything? And this is certainly an important question. One of the hallmarks of the U.S.[1], ideally, is that we tolerate diversity of ideas.[2] Because of this, we have a long-standing tradition of tolerating a variety… Continue reading Should We Tolerate Everything?
Did people steal the election from Donald Trump? The U.S. recently held its presidential election. By now, almost everyone in the U.S. knows these two things: 1) Joe Biden has been declared the winner. 2) President Trump and at least some people believe that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. Does the evidence actually indicate… Continue reading Did People Steal the Election from Donald Trump?
I have a confession. In my young adult life, conspiracy theories were my hobby. One of my all-time favorite shows is the X-Files. The premise of the show is that there is a government conspiracy to hide the existence of extraterrestrials. Adventures with Conspiracy Theories I am still not totally sure if I believe in… Continue reading Do You Tend Towards Conspiracy Theories?
Recently people have raised concerns about possible mail-in voter fraud during the recent election. Are concerns about mail-in voting legitimate? In this post, I will argue that such concerns are unnecessary. This is the third post in a series about the elections and whether concerns over their legitimacy are valid concerns. Other Posts in This… Continue reading Are Concerns about Mail-In Voting Legitimate?
Here is a brief, tragic, and important history lesson. It's about the Irish Potato Famine and weird rumors, and it relates to the recent elections. A Bit about the Potato Famine In the mid-1800s, Ireland was struck by the now-infamous potato blight. It had devastating consequences on the Irish population. (You can find all of… Continue reading The Irish, Weird Rumors, and Recent Elections
This post is about something I call a My Guy Bias, which is a thinking problem anyone can develop personally or politically. It's really common and causes a lot of suffering. Our Attachments Human beings form strong emotional attachments to people. This trait can be good because it often helps us develop loving and loyal… Continue reading Do You Have a “My Guy Bias”? Is it Harming You?
