politics

Weak Humanism

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Human Rights, Philosophy, Weak Humanism 24 Comments

Because I was having some technical blogging difficulties last week, I just posted briefly on the Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day. In that post, I urged readers to visit the Tear It Down project website, which is the home of an initiative to tear down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and to call…

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Strategic Misreading

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, Teaching Comments Off on Strategic Misreading

I used to say that one of the things I both loved and hated about philosopher Richard Rorty’s work was that he was a master of what I call “strategic misreading.” If you’ve ever read Rorty’s famous foray into the “Continental” (European) philosophical tradition, Contingency, Irony, Solidarity, you may have some sense of what I…

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Why Hillary Should NOT Drop Out (yet)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 10 Comments

I suppose it was inevitable that, when the results came back from North Carolina and Indiana, people would begin calling for Clinton to drop out of the race. I don’t think she should. I’m not going to appeal to the most obvious reason, which is that many of the superdelegates still remain uncommitted. (In the…

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We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby?

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics Comments Off on We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby?

Consider this a friendly (though not completely unrelated) break from the Clinton/feminism discussion of late on this blog.

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Habeus Corpus

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Human Rights, Politics Comments Off on Habeus Corpus

[Argh! I was having blog problems on the UNITE day, so this post is late (and severely truncated). I think I have things figured out now, though, so more on human rights later…] Bloggers Unite for Human Rights day is a joint venture of Amnesty International and BlogCatalog.com intended “to help elevate human rights by…

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Super Tuesday

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 1 Comment

“Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.” –Barack Obama

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Yes We Can

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Music, Politics 2 Comments

The thing is, I’m really sad that John Edwards dropped out of the Presidential race. As much as I might loathe the idea of rooting for the white guy when there is a woman and an African-American in the race, I think John Edwards was the most right-on about what’s wrong with America. But what’s…

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Gift-Giving Gone Wrong

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature 21 Comments

As much as I love this time of the year, and I genuinely do, I really hate shopping for gifts. I’m not a very enthusiastic or patient shopper, and the malls drive me crazy. Also, I always want to get people the perfect gift, but more often than not find that such gift is either…

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I couldn’t make this up…

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 3 Comments

Last night, just before going to bed, I logged in to my computer to check my email. Imagine my surprise when one of the headlines on the msn.com homepage read: “Liberia’s Gen Butt Naked admits killing thousands” First, this is not a practical joke. The news sites did not get hacked. There really is a…

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The Trouble With Fossils

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics Comments Off on The Trouble With Fossils

First, a caveat: The following post is NOT intended, primarily, to advocate or oppose any particular Presidential candidate. A couple of days ago, NPR correspondent Robert Seigel interviewed Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. (You can read the transcript of the interview here.) Initially, it seemed like the main focus of Seigel’s questions was Romney’s health care…

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