A friend and colleague of mine invited me to come speak to his class about torture last week. The class was a writing seminar, organized around the theme of “citizenship,” and my colleague was feeling (understandably) frustrated because– in his words– he “just didn’t feel like [he] had the tools or the knowledge to counter…
Read MoreLest you think that the “author” is really “dead,” here’s a term I stumbled across recently that you might find interesting: redactional fatigue. Our friends at Wikipedia define it thus: When making changes to a large text, a redactor may occasionally overlook a piece of text that conflicts with the redactional goals. Since many important…
Read MoreDid I mention that I don’t care about cheating? Check. Did that already. Of course, if you read the earlier post, you know it’s not so much that I don’t care about cheating as it is that I don’t care about policing cheaters. (Read linked blog-post for my amazing argument in support of said apathy.)…
Read MoreHey, did you hear our President is FUNNY? Here is the video from his gig at the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner. Targets of Obama’s barbs: Dick Cheney, Larry Summers, FOXNews, Arlen Specter, Hillary Clinton, swine flu, Somali pirates, Joe Biden, the First Dog (Bo), and of course, himself, himself, himself. What a nice change…
Read MoreAs you no doubt have heard by now, President Obama announced last week his decision to block the release of photos depicting the use of “harsh interrogation techniques” (read: “torture”) on detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq. This decision marks a strange reversal of the Pentagon’s previous decision to release the photos (after the ACLU prevailed…
Read MoreThere’s a debate ensuing over on The Leiter Report (which, for all intents and purposes, serves as the internet bulletin board and agora for professional philosophers) over whether or not the pensive-looking woman to your left, Hannah Arendt, is a “philosopher.” The question that started the debate, posed by Jason Stanley, is articulated in his…
Read MoreJust a couple of quick recommendations for those of you keeping up with the current scandal over the so-called “torture memos.” I’ve been doing a lot of reading on this stuff over the course of the past year as a part of my research, and I plan to include both of these texts in my…
Read MoreI hope you’re not one of those people who already felt vulnerable and exposed by having to remove your shoes and belt in the airport security check, because things are about to get a lot worse for you. According to William Saletan over at Slate, the Transportation and Safety Administration (TSA) has revised its position…
Read MoreThere is an old, well-worn and tired stereotype of academics that figures them/us as people who restrict their/our lives to the Ivory Tower, engaged in intellectual pursuits and disengaged from the practical concerns of everyday life. (Incidentally, the “tower” pictured to the left really is one of the towers on my campus.) I suppose that…
Read More
Recent Comments