RMWMTMBM Archive

“Somehow Philosophy Got Left Behind”

There’s a really great essay by Eugene Sun Park entitled “Why I Left Academia: Philosophy’s Homogeneity Needs Rethinking”  that appeared yesterday on HIPPO Reads.  Stop whatever you’re doing and go read it now. I’ve posted a fair bit of material on this blog addressing the racial and gender disparity in professional Philosophy, which remains truly embarrassing, but…

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American Apartheid

For they know they are not animals. And at the very moment when they discover their humanity, they begin to sharpen their weapons to secure its victory. –Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth America has always been and remains an apartheid state.  The latter part of that sad but increasingly undeniable fact was made apparent last night in…

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The CIA Report Is The Purloined Letter and Obama Is The Prefect: My Break-Up Letter to President Obama

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some  things that were wrong.  We did a whole lot of things  that were right, but we tortured some folks. — President Barack Obama, Press Conference (Aug 1, 2014) “That is another of your odd notions,” said the Prefect,  who had a fashion of calling everything “odd”…

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Join, or Die: Neoliberalism, Epistemontology, Social Harmony and the (Invisible) Invisible Hand

There’s been a good bit conversation recently about the merits and demerits of “public philosophy” and, as someone who considers herself committed to public philosophy (whatever that is). I’m always happy to stumble across a piece of remarkably insightful philosophical work in the public realm.  Case in point:  Robin James (Philosophy, UNC-Charlotte) posted a really…

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On Trigger Warnings, Codes of Conduct and Self-Policing in Philosophy

The blogosphere has been all abuzz with commentary on the merits and demerits of “trigger warnings” (henceforth, TWs) of late, which has sparked an interesting conversation not only about what sorts of norms we ought to strive for in the Academy but also how we can or ought police those norms. With regard to TWs…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 27: A Song You Make Fun Of

I’m just going to go ahead and concede that I am also guilty of all the things I make fun of in this post. My pick for today is the song that everyone loves to ridicule while also acting ridiculous.  I don’t know if there is an official organization for professional wedding/reunion/conference DJ’s– if not,…

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AMERICA! F*CK YEAH!… or, Dinesh D’Souza and the Chocolate Factory

It is indeed difficult to imagine the world without America, which is what the one-sheet movie poster for Dinesh D’Souza’s America dares us to imagine. After all, America is every bit as much a symbol, an aspiration and an idea as it is a nation-state. However, it is not difficult to imagine the world without D’Souza’s “America” or…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 17: A Song That Annoys You

I’ll go ahead and concede, right here at the beginning, that I’m probably being more than a little unfair to my song-pick for today.  For the most part, I actually think it’s a good song: catchy, peppy, eminently danceable, and with a winning hook. And yet, alas, it annoys the ever-living crap out of me….

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 28: A Song That Reminds You of Your Boyfriend/Girlfriend (if you don’t have one, make one up)

The official prompt for today asks for “a song that reminds you of your boyfriend/girlfriend” but also hilariously includes the parenthetical stipulation “(if you don’t have one, make one up)”.  Let’s all just take a second to guffaw out loud at that one. I don’t currently have a boyfriend or girlfriend, but I’ve had both…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 26: A Song By Your Favorite Band

My choice for a favorite band will come as no surprise to readers of this blog.  I’m an unapologetic, unrepentant, unreserved and incorrigible Rolling Stones fan, through and through.  I wrote a longish post here on this blog a few years ago about my love for the Stones (for a contest sponsored by No Depression magazine) entitled “Why…

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