RMWMTMBM Archive

The Problem with Forbidden Knowledge

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive 13 Comments

Over on the NewAPPS blog, which is becoming a more and more excellent philosophy blog by the day, Eric Schliesser has authored a provocative (and provocatively brief) post asking whether or not we need a professional code of ethics for philosophers. Schliesser’s question was prompted by the recent publication of two books– one that condones…

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2011 Year in Pop Culture

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 0 Comments

Doing the end-of-the-year Pop Culture list is definitely something that I look forward to each December. I was worried that last year’s list was going to be hard to top– what with 2010’s introduction of the Facebook “like” button, the Jersey Shore “GTL” mantra, the iPad and the Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear– but…

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2011 Year in Dr. J

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Memphis, Music, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 3 Comments

Before I drop the 2011 Year in Pop Culture, which will be the last of my year-end lists, I thought I’d do one recounting my own year. 2011 began for me with a bit of a rough transition, as I was returning from a semester-long sabbatical, but things eventually smoothed out and stayed running smoothly…

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2011 Year in Politics

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 0 Comments

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here to say that 2011 will likely go down as the most significant Year in Politics in my lifetime. Time magazine named “The Protester” as the 2011 Person of the Year. It was an interesting selection, since Time couldn’t actually photograph The Protester for their cover….

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Good Guy, Bad Guy

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Film, Film Reviews, Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

George Clooney’s 2011 political film The Ides of March is based on Beau Willimon‘s 2008 play “Farragut North,” which is itself based on the 2004 Democratic primary campaign of Howard Dean. That is to say, The Ides of March is a political drama situated squarely in the “now.” It’s story is post-9/11, post-Iraq and -Afghanistan…

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2011 Year in Sports

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, RMWMTMBM Archive, Sports, Year in Review Lists 0 Comments

Oh what a difference a year makes! After the mostly feel-good festival that was the 2010 Year in Sports, I regret to report that much of Sportsdom– athletes, coaches, owners AND fans– found their way onto Team FUBAR in 2011. Sure, there were some Good moments, but they were so overshadowed by the Bad and…

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2011 Year in Music

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 1 Comment

It’s that time again, readers! Time for Dr. J’s retrospective wrap-ups and utterly unscientific evaluations of the year that was 2011. In 2010, I decided to split my year-end lists up into categories– see the 2010 Year in Music, or the 2010 Year in Sports or (my personal favorite) the 2010 Year in Pop Culture—…

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Occupy Aristotle

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Occupy Movement, Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 8 Comments

Recently, I saw that a philosopher friend of mine (Jeffrey Bernstein) posted the following as his status update on Facebook: “For an explanation of (1) why Occupy Wall Street doesn’t need a positive political program and (2) why the Occupy Movement exceeds the designations of Democrats and Republicans, read the first paragraph of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.”…

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The Philosophy Smoker Controversy

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive 7 Comments

For those of you fortunate enough not to know what a “Philosophy Smoker” is, let me begin by saying that it has nothing to do with either “smoking” or “Philosophy.” “Philosophy Smoker” is, rather, the informal term used to reference end-of-the-day receptions held at professional Philosophy conferences. Generally speaking, Philosophy Smokers are garden-variety academic conference…

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First As Tragedy, Then As Farce

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Occupy Movement, Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 1 Comment

We barely had a moment to digest the horror of the incident at UC-Davis, where police pepper-sprayed nonviolent student protesters associated with the Occupy Movement, before the image of the offending policeman (Lt. John Pike) was transformed into an internet meme. Pike’s image was photoshopped into some of the great works of Western art, including…

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