politics

Torture Reading

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Human Rights, Philosophy, Politics, Teaching, Torture Comments Off on Torture Reading

Just 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…

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Solitary

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Human Rights, Philosophy, Politics, Torture, Weak Humanism 4 Comments

Several months ago, there was a story in the New York Times entitled “Two Decades in Solitary” recounting the story of Willie Bosket, who has spent 23 hours a day for the last 20 years in a 9×6 cell… all alone. I had intended to write a post about that story then, because I was…

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I See London, I See France…

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, Women and Gender Issues 4 Comments

I 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…

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Social Networking, the Ivory Tower, and “Friend”-ly Disagreement

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature 9 Comments

There 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…

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Tell 3 (Philosophers)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, Women and Gender Issues 3 Comments

There’s quite a bit of chatter going on in the American Philosophical Association right now concerning that organization’s antidiscrimination policy– more specifically, it’s policy forbidding institutions from discriminating against homosexuals in hiring. Professor Charles Hermes (University of Texas- Arlington) authored a petition, which now has over 1300 signatures, calling for the APA to either (1)…

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Science v. Values

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics 5 Comments

According to President Obama, I was solidly within the majority American opinion last Monday when I breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing his decision to lift the ban on federal funding for stem-cell research using destroyed human embryos. In his trademark careful and conscientious rhetoric, Obama acknowledged the deep moral difficulties this issue poses,…

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Communists

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, Teaching 8 Comments

I forgot to mention that Angela Davis visited my institution a couple of weekends ago and delivered the keynote address for the Women’s and Gender Studies Conference that we hosted. (Aside: I’m not generally inclined to be star-struck, but I definitely was a little around Dr. Davis. I was charged with taking care of her…

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God Plays Laser Tag

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 5 Comments

One of the true crazies of the religious Right in this country is the Reverend Fred Phelps, bona fide hatemonger and pastor of the Westboro (Kansas) Baptist Church. He’s the man who claimed that 9/11 was God’s payback to America for its tolerance of feminists and homosexuals, as was Hurricane Katrina, and he regularly drags…

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When NOT To Compromise

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics 1 Comment

As compromises go, this doesn’t seem to be a good one: the State Board of Education in Texas recently approved its science curriculum standards, which Board members describe as “a compromise between those who are critical of teaching evolutionary theories without scrutiny and those who feared attacks on evolution would lead to the teaching of…

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Jeremiah Wright, in his own words

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Politics 1 Comment

I attended Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s lecture “Some Through the Fire! Some Through the Flood!” last night at the University of Memphis as part of the conference “The Obama Phenomenon: Race and Political Discourse in the United States Today.” I have to admit that I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Like most Americans, the only…

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