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Tag Archives: freedom
Whips Used to Break-Up Pussy Riot Protest of Vladimir Putin at Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
Those wielding the whips are Cossack militia. These are some brave women activists: ___________
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Tagged democracy, freedom, Olympics, Pussy Riot, Russia, Sochi
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In Light of Kiev, Will Vladimir Putin Be Tightening the Screws Even Further on Russian Dissidents?
Julia Ioffe, at The New Republic, thinks so: Moscow’s liberals are watching Kiev with a mix of horror, envy, and admiration: they’re just like us, but look at what they’ve been able to do against a president they didn’t like. … Continue reading
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Tagged democracy, freedom, Kiev, Moscow, protest, Russia, Ukraine, vladimir putin, women's rights
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With Marijuana Legalization In Colorado, The End Of The Drug War Has Begun
Social progress in the United States displays a decisive pattern: the right panics and presses every emotional button surrounding the horrible things that will ensue if x becomes law; x becomes law; nothing particularly bad happens (and if it does, … Continue reading
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Tagged America, drug war, freedom, marijuana, pot, reefer madness, values
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Our Collective Existential Situation in a Nutshell (In Case You Missed It)
Here’s the two-fold problem: (1) each of us is limited to a body we did not choose and that dies, and (2) science since Darwin has revealed living things to be machines that evolve by competition (the proteins in cells, … Continue reading
A Pretty Awesome Disruption of Business as Usual
Speaking truth to power and standing up for the stigmatized and persecuted.
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Tagged dignity, freedom, gay equality, gay rights, Russia, women's rights
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Celebrating Beardage
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Tagged beards, comedy, freedom, happiness, humor, joy, life, music
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Assert Yourself
The below video is a nice introduction to existentialism. And so is this brief passage written by historian Carlin Barton in her great book, Roman Honor: The Fire in the Bones (University of California Press 2001, 31-32): On the morning of … Continue reading
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Tagged cheating, choices, existentialism, freedom, life, Sartre, work
1 Comment
Billionaire Russian Roman Abramovich’s Yacht in New York
The biggest yacht in the world, owned by a Russian billionaire, came down the Hudson River today: __________ Here’s more footage of it: __________ It will be docked in New York for perhaps a month or more, establishing temporary residency. … Continue reading
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Tagged America, billionaires, freedom, liberty, patriotism, Statue of Liberty, yachts
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Rick Warren: Gay Orientation Is Natural, Like Arsenic
Rick Warren recently said on CNN that, if you’re gay and act on your orientation, you’re doing something akin to punching a person in the nose or cheating on your spouse! Oh, and being gay is like arsenic. Here’s his … Continue reading
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Tagged bigotry, freedom, gay equality, homophobia, Jesus, liberty, rick warren, women's rights
10 Comments
Zeev Sternhell’s Question: What Is To Be Done About The Anglo-French Enlightenment?
In The Anti-Enlightenment Tradition (Yale 2009), Israeli historian Zeev Sternhell (b. 1935) sees a fault line running through much of contemporary global culture: what to do about the Anglo-French Enlightenment. By the Anglo-French Enlightenment, he means the intellectual movement initiated in 17th … Continue reading
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Tagged Communism, critical theory, freedom, herder, individualism, philosophy, reason, Socialism, the Enlightenment
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Zygmunt Bauman On What Made The Holocaust Possible (And Whether Something Like It Could Happen Again)
In Modernity and the Holocaust (2000 edition), sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (b. 1925) explores the question of responsibility: who or what is responsible for the direction of the modern world? He explores this question via the prism of the Holocaust and has a provocative thesis: … Continue reading
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Tagged activism, freedom, moloch, rage against the machine, sociology, the Holocaust, thoreau, zygmunt bauman
3 Comments
Evolution’s Eccentricity: Head Injury Savants And The Right Way To Organize Society
Imagine banging your head and suddenly having a talent for piano playing (or oil painting, or doing complex mathematics). It’s a real phenomenon. Here’s an example: __________ To my mind, this suggests that individuals are a lot like birds. Birds … Continue reading
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Tagged compulsion, determinism, freedom, intelligence, obsession, philosophy, slavery, talent
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Jerry Coyne: Free Will Is Also A Delusion
It’s not just God that’s a delusion. Free will is also. And our language should change to reflect it. That, at any rate, is University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne’s opinion. Here’s his recommendation, from his blog today, of what … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, Ayn Rand, Calvinism, determinism, existentialism, feminism, free will, freedom, God, jerry coyne, Jesus, Richard Dawkins
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A Better Angel of Our Nature: Democracy and the Way of Bees
If alpha-male behavior (dominating, hierarchical, authoritarian) is, at some level, natural, it’s also possible that democracy too is natural. These contending impulses—the authoritarian personality and the democratic personality—may be competing evolutionary strategies that, in fact, take up habitation in different … Continue reading
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Tagged bees, chimps, Darwin, democracy, evolution, freedom, high RWAs, Nietzsche, rush limbaugh, steven pinker, the authoritarian personality
2 Comments
