politics

Underdogmatism

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Sports, Weak Humanism 8 Comments

I’m a total sucker for the underdog. I don’t even care what the domain is– sports, politics, games, academics, business, love, war– if there is an odds-on favorite, I’m pretty much guaranteed to root for his opponent. As many people have noted, 2010 is shaping up to be the Year of the Underdog, beginning with…

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Here’s My “Top 25 Books” List, Now Build Me A Park

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Dr. J's Lists, Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 6 Comments

Inspired by Brooke Foy’s project for UrbanArt at Brent Ferguson Park, where she is building a maze of huge, concrete books as a public art installation, I tried to figure out which books I would choose for such a project. Here, I’ve listed my Top 25 Books. I don’t think Brooke Foy reads this blog,…

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The Political

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 2 Comments

When I was in graduate school, I had a professor who regularly bemoaned the habit, common among philosophers, of referring to (questions, theories, problems and issues of) “the political” or “the ethical.” His objection, as I understood it, was not to engaging political and ethical questions qua philosophical questions, but rather to the use of…

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Tempest In A Tea Party

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 3 Comments

Rather than simply dismiss the burgeoning Tea Party Movement (like I have done on this blog), some people out there are actually trying to understand it. Fellow-blogger and eminently reasonable political philosopher, Anotherpanacea, recently helped out by trying to put a face on the Tea Party movement. AnPan’s suggestion is that the “meaning” of the…

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Ask Doctor J

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Just Ask, RMWMTMBM Archive Comments Off on Ask Doctor J

Fellow bloggers Petya and Ideas Man, PhD have turned me on to a great new site called FormSpring, which allows blog-readers to submit questions for their favorite blog-authors to answer and then posts the Q&A’s onto the blog. From time to time I find myself at a loss for exciting new topics to post about…

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Change I Can Believe In

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 5 Comments
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Dirt-Cheap Ideas

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 12 Comments

In his seminal text Fear and Trembling, Soren Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous narrator, Johannes de Silentio, remarks: Not just in commerce but in the world of ideas too our age is putting on a veritable clearance sale. Everything can be had so dirt cheap that one begins to wonder whether in the end anyone will want to…

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Hypocrisy, Hyperbole, Historical Inaccuracy and Hatred

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 3 Comments

I highly recommend Russell King’s “Open Letter to Conservatives,” which lays out a well-argued and well-documented case for how the American Right has gone so terribly, terribly wrong.

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Yes, Mr. Vice-President, This IS A “Big F**king Deal”

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive Comments Off on Yes, Mr. Vice-President, This IS A “Big F**king Deal”

Nobody’s ever going to accuse Joe Biden of mincing words. Sometimes that mouth gets him into trouble… but you gotta love his uncensored enthusiam when introducing the President as he turns to Obama and says: “This is a big f**king deal.” Priceless.

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It’s Something In Our Souls That Makes Us Memphians… And “Miserable” Is Not A Part Of It

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 5 Comments

Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton recently released an “Open Letter to Steve Forbes” contesting the ranking of Memphis as the 3rd of America’s “Most Miserable Cities” in Forbes Magazine. I reproduce Wharton’s letter here in its entirety, without comment, because the Truth speaks for itself. I have, however, added links for Mr. Forbes, so that he…

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