Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz: So: what is the active moral question, here? What is the issue before us that has actual ethical valence? Is it “should there be harassment of people online”? Are there a lot of people who are pro-online harassment? No. Instead, a question of actual moral valence is how to oppose […]
Continue reading →Is a truly left-wing, internationalist foreign policy possible? I discuss with the University of Kentucky’s Robert Farley. Had a lot of fun.
Continue reading →Drew Magary: Now 90 percent of all internet thinkpieces are dedicated to explaining why you should have a problem with something you originally had no problem with. OPEN YOUR EYES, SHEEPLE. Don’t you see that keyboard cat is a way of enforcing traditional heteronormative privilege in America today? The cat is wearing a house robe, […]
Continue reading →Here in Lafayette, we have really hard water which leaves a layer of white film on dishes and fixtures, so there’s a water softener in my building. Periodically they have to add more salt to it, which results in super-salty water for a short time. I usually have to let the faucet run for 10-15 […]
Continue reading →One of the principles that I believe in, but struggle to adhere to myself, is simply letting other people like what they like and acknowledging that differing tastes are what makes life worth living. That has nothing to do with not giving things critical evaluation– I’m perfectly happy to write a vicious review of something […]
Continue reading →It pains me to see that as careful a reader as Alan Jacobs, who writes as elegantly and eloquently about reading as he does, apparently has such little faith in reading. Why do I say that? Because he, like many, seems to think that in order to see reading as an activity worth doing, it must […]
Continue reading →Adam Kotsko fears that the Great Lena Dunham Sister’s Vagina Freakout of 2014 may be an irresolvable problem for the left. I have started to notice how often politically-charged online memes open out onto a “no-win vortex.” Take the example of the cat-calling video. On the one hand, it calls attention to street harrassment, which is […]
Continue reading →I really need to thank Alyssa Rosenberg for her sympathetic, helpful review of Kerry Howley’s new book. Because for weeks, I just did not know what to do with this book, guys. I guess I will give you the tl;dr version upfront: this is a project that I admire, in many ways, that I frequently hated reading. […]
Continue reading →So it strikes me that these (utterly ridiculous) allegations that Lena Dunham sexually abused her sister are a good example of what I’m talking about when it comes to argumentative incentives. As I said, argumentative behaviors are like all human behaviors in that they are subject to influence through incentives. What types of arguments do […]
Continue reading →Chin-scratching about the lack of moderates in the Mooooooslim world tends to produce a lot of dopey analysis, so the bar to come across as really stupid is quite high, but Nina Burleigh has cleared it. Here’s a paragraph that a seemingly literate adult wrote: There is truth to the collateral damage accusation. But let’s […]
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