Category Archives: Philosophy

Casting Your Shadow Online

Occasionally I’ll migrate a post from Facebook to here because I think it’s worth keeping. This is one of those. —- Every few months or so, I try to communicate how the Shadow works, and why we shouldn’t unfriend people … Continue reading

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Thoughts on Discursive Modes and Critical Thinking

I have been a guest lecturer twice now for an undergraduate critical-thinking class at University of Wyoming, and these are among the notes I gave out, minus the last paragraph, which is a late addition.

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All Us Zombies

Lucius and I had a disagreement about zombies. I thought they had become popular for some deep psychological reason. He thought zombies were just a fad perpetuated by unimaginative hacks. Granted that there are many valid ways to look at … Continue reading

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Our Viral Moment

When will we get back to normal? Never. We’ll achieve a new normal, but it won’t be the old one. This is our Red Pill viral moment. In 1999, The Matrix explored our condition metaphorically: the machines would have given … Continue reading

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Happy liberal New Year!

I have been on Facebook for over ten years now, and my interactions have brought me to a couple points of emphasis in political discussions. 1. Properly defined, as opposed to how it’s commonly misunderstood, liberalism is the fearless pursuit … Continue reading

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Religion and Endgame

So three things occasion this post: I watched Avengers: Endgame last night, Will Shetterly posted an observation about fandom and its religious nature, and I stumbled upon an article in my feed from a left-ish site about how new studies … Continue reading

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A Poisonous Idea

“Every categorical statement is political” — I keep coming back to this proposition by my critical theory professor. It’s such a stupid, poisonous idea. It discounts science, art, and the dialectical process. And I see it has caught on like … Continue reading

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The Polluted Well of Social Media Discourse

These days, I mostly indulge myself with meta-political posts rather than get in the weeds on a specific issue, and when I do get specifically political on Facebook, I see much more clearly now how stupid I’m being. I cannot … Continue reading

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When identity politics trumps all

In a recent Facebook thread on identity politics, I made the following contribution, with some redaction here. I see a dozen online memes an hour speaking to Trump’s “misogyny” and “racism.” These terms have suffered scope creep. They no longer … Continue reading

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Feminism Dialog, Part 1

My friend Kristin King and I have had several tense but mutually respectful conversations on Facebook where evolution intersects gender politics. We’ve decided to hold a series of conversations about feminism by introducing a subtopic as a post and then … Continue reading

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