politics

The Peter Principle

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 2 Comments

I just read an article in NewScientist about the “Peter Principle” (based on the theory put forth by Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1998 book The Peter Principle: Why things always go wrong). The Peter Principle is a fundamental law of “Hierarchiology” that states: In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to…

Read More

Mulligan?

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

One of my favorite stories ever was told to me by a colleague of mine in the Psychology Department, Dr. Julie Steel. Frustrated with end-of-the-semester appeals for better grades by wayward students, she figured there must be a better rejoinder than simply sighing in exasperation and staring-back with incredulity. So, when students ask that oh-so-familiar…

Read More

Dr. J’s Top Stories of 2009

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Dr. J's Lists, Human Rights, Memphis, Music, Obama, Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 7 Comments

What a long, strange trip it’s been! It’s almost time to bid adieu to the last year of the first decade of the new millineum. In case you weren’t paying attention, here are a dozen of the highlights (and lowlights) of 2009: 12. Sarah Palin Goes “Rogue” The Grand Dame of the Illiterati wrote a…

Read More

Friendly Fire

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Weak Humanism 3 Comments

The disagreement between AnPan and I that has been taking place on our blogs (here and here) has reminded me of why I feel fortunate to have good friends like him. As it just so happens, this also is the time in the semester (at my instiution) when most of the first-years are deep into…

Read More

Right, Real, True… and Other Relative Terms

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson AnPan and RMWMTMBM, Philosophy, Relativism, RMWMTMBM Archive, Weak Humanism 2 Comments

Lest I get too comfortable with my tiny, marginally-significant place in the blogosphere, thinking that we’re all friends here and readers of this blog are basically in agreement on the stuff that really matters, all of us interacting virtually in a kind of harmonious echo-chamber of progressive philosophical wonderment… yeah, lest I get too comfortable…

Read More

President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

Text of President Obama’s Inaugural Address: My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout…

Read More

Obama’s 2009 Address to Joint Session of Congress

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States: I’ve come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here. I know that for many Americans watching…

Read More

Heidegger, We Hardly Knew Ya…

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

The brainy parts of the internet are all a-buzz recently about philosopher Martin Heidegger and his student Hannah Arendt, largely as a result of the publication of a series of provoctaive reviews of Emmanuel Faye’s provocatively titled book Heidegger: The Introduction of Nazism into Philosophy. The most provocative of those reviews was an essay published…

Read More

#Hashtags

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Public Philosophy, Technology and Human Values 0 Comments
Read More

President Obama’s Health Care Speech (9/9/09)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Human Rights, Obama 1 Comment

FULL TEXT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ADDRESS: Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, and the American people: When I spoke here last winter, this nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month. Credit was frozen. And our financial system was on…

Read More