politics

Naturalistic Fallacy, Schmaturalistic Schmallacy

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Philosophy, Weak Humanism 4 Comments

Guess what this post is about? No, seriously, you’ll never guess. Think “dead things that I like to keep on kicking”…. Yeah, that’s right, it’s another installment in my weak humanism series. ‘Cause there’s something about being atop this particular soapbox that I find just so damn edifying. There may be some concern that I…

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From ressentiment to rights?

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Human Rights, Philosophy, Politics, Weak Humanism 5 Comments

It has occurred to me that I need to say a lot more about what I mean by “weak” in the formulation “weak humanism,” about which I posted a short while ago (here) and which has sparked a very interesting and productive discussion. My clarifications herein are in part attempts to sharpen my own sense…

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How We Got Here

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics Comments Off on How We Got Here

In other election-related news, check out the dubious decision on the part of supposedly left-leaning German magazine Die Tageszeitung editors to run a picture of the White House with the headline “Onkel Baracks Hütte” (“Uncle Barack’s Cabin”). Wessen dumme Entscheidung war das?

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Mama, trains, trucks, prison, gettin’ drunk… and Obama

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

There’s a very famous country song, made popular by David Allan Coe, called “You Never Even Called Me By My Name.” (NOTE: That link is to a YouTube rendering of the song, which might be one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen.) As Coe explains in the song, it was actually written by Steve…

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International human rights v. Multinational corporate money

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Human Rights, Politics 2 Comments

About a month ago, the U.S. Supreme Court almost heard a case from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in which the plaintiffs, South African citizens, sought damages from several American and multi-national corporations for their role in (and profiting from) the perpetuation of apartheid in violation of international law. The Circuit Court had…

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30% ? Really?

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 7 Comments

The Washington Post reported this weekend that “3 in 10 Americans Admit to Race Bias.” It’s fairly amusing to watch this little piece cycle through the news channels today. Some of the reporters are saying “30% of Americans admit to race bias” like this: “Oh. My. God. There are RACISTS in this country! This is…

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You think your job is tough?

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Weak Humanism 1 Comment

Since it first premiered on the Discovery Channel 3 years ago, I have been addicted to the show Deadliest Catch, which follows some of the heartiest devil-may-care boats and fisherman during the Alaskan Crab fishing season on the Bering Sea. Crab fishing ranks as one of the top ten deadliest jobs (hence, the title) and,…

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Tightening the Democratic Belt

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 1 Comment

Now that Barack Obama is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, it’s time to officially move to the next stage in the Party’s game plan to take back the White House. Among other things, this means that we will (finally!) get a break from all of the intra-family fighting and the supporters of both…

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Healthy Blogging

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature 2 Comments

This is a very happy day in the blogosphere! I woke up this morning to discover that three of my favorite fellow-bloggers, who had let their pages lapse for quite a while, are back in business with new posts. Petya, Ideas Man,PhD and Professor KGrady… welcome back! You may be interested to read about a…

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Celebrity Colonialism

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature 8 Comments

In a recent article for the Mail and Guardian, Brendan O’Neill suggests that adoptions of African children by the likes of Madonna and Brangelina may show us that “having a black baby is the new black.” O’Neill calls this phenomenon the “White Madonna’s Burden” (in not-so-thinly-veiled reference to the famous poem by Rudyard Kipling, “The…

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