see also:
- chronology of all blog posts and audiovisual channels
- complete cross-site chronology (blogs, poetry, photography, music etc.)
- site search
- posts in German at philkneis.de
2023
- #241: The War Against Israel
- µ#11: Symphony 5, Movement I
- #240: Hope, Duty & the Future
- #239: Is History Helpful for Solving Conflicts?
- #238: Kristallnacht, 85 Years Later
- #237: No, Israel is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza
- #236: Things are Not OK. We Should Be Able to Admit It
- #235: Rumors of Putin’s Death
- Photos: Berlin, 2001
- Photos: Pergamon Museum, 2003/05
- #234: Israel is Neither Colonizer Nor Apartheid State
- #233: On Equity and Equality of Opportunity
- #232: The Downside of the Emotional Appeal
- #231: Centrism Is a Methodology, Not Primarily an Ideology
- #230: Against Hamas, Against Antisemitism, Against Antizionism
- #229: Fighting for Love in Times of War
- #228: Hamas Attacked Israel
- #227: Whatever Your Politics, There is No Reason to Support Putin
- #226: We Must Not Give Up on Global Democracy
- #225: Religion, Transcendence & Nature
- #224: The Individual and Society
- µ#10: More Content on Erratic Attempts YouTube Channel
- Φ: Poem: Life Is A Wake
- Φ: Poem: Qaddish, Part 2.4
- #223: Should Ukraine Be More Thankful and Less Demanding?
- #222: Science Fiction and Comics Have Always Been Woke, or: Of Course Women and Minorities Can Be Heroes!
- #221: Does Putin Want to Negotiate?
- #220: Russia’s Only Interests Are Terror and Destruction. It Must Be Defeated
- #219: Some Reflections on Fukuyama and the End of History
- #218: The West Is Not in Decline
- #217: Thoughts on June 17: The GDR Was an Inhumane Dictatorship
- #216: What to Make of Recent UFO Revelations by David Grusch
- #215: Commonsense Diversity
- #214: “Race” as the Experience of Dehumanization
- #212: We Need to Build the Future Now: Spaceflight is not Optional
- #211: Is the Pandemic Over?
- #210: Why (Some Degree of) Identity Politics is Necessary
- #209: We Need to Control Artificial Intelligence
- #208: The Perversion of Everything Russian: From Leningrad to Mariupol
- #207: Democracy Only Works with a Strong Separation of Powers
- #206: The Importance of Being Political
- #205: If You Want Peace: Why We Must Help Ukraine
2022
- #204: Poem: Путин, идиот (Putin, You Idiot)
- #203: The Puzzling Resistance Against Anti-Racism
- #202: Fear Not: Why We Need to be Optimistic About the Future
- #201: Adventures in Artificial Intelligence: An Evening with ChatGBT
- #200: The Nature Around Us
- #199: Why Positionality Matters
- #198: LGBTQ Rights are Human Rights
- #197: We Have Good Reasons for Hope
- #196: Poem: I Need to Believe
- #195: Fake “Referenda” Prove that Putin Doesn’t Want to Negotiate
- #194: No, the Pandemic is Not Yet Over
- #193: De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bene: We Owe Respect to the Dead
- #192: Biden Needs to Unite, not Demonize: In a Democracy, the “Other Side” Is Not the Enemy
- #191: Remembering Mikhail Gorbachev
- #190: On the Ability of Russians to Suffer their Government
- #189: Soviet Monuments Need To Go
- #188: What Is “The West” Today? From “Civilization” to Cooperation
- #187: Words Are Not Violence
- #186: Salman Rushdie and the Case for Free Speech
- #185: Poem: Sometimes, There’s Nothing To Say
- #184: Anecdotal Thinking, Science, Religion, and Policy
- #183: What Are Russians Thinking?
- #182: Reflections on Identity, Purpose, and the Active Life
- #181: Are We too Stupid for the Internet?
- #180: Let Biden Be Biden
- #179: Ecce Homo: Wokeness Beyond Caricatures
- #178: Russia Deserves Better
- #177: Thinking Beyond Caricatures
- #176: Get Brexit Undone
- #175: The Metaverse Is Not The Solution
- #174: Climate Change Can Only Be Countered With Technological Innovation
- #173: Putin and Lavrov Demonstrate the Weakness of Today’s Russia
- #172: Poem: The Fleeting Self
- #171: Writing as Witnessing
- #170: Sanctions Against Russia Are Working – And Need to Be Even Stronger
- #169: What Russia Claims to Want Is Irrelevant Now
- #168: Why Must Ukraine Win?
- #167: The Pseudo-Problem of Theodicy and the Nature of Divinity
- #166: Reflections on Memorial Day
- #165: Realpolitik Is About Appeasing Power, not Reality or Morality
- #164: The Answer to Death is Life
- #163: Putin’s Russia Celebrates Its Own Fascism
- #162: Seize the Day
- #161: Poem: We All
- µ#9: Erratic Attempts YouTube Channel
- #160: Victim Blaming Par Excellence: Russia Complains About Those Helping Ukraine
- #159: Stop the Ukrainian Genocide
- µ#8: Will Smith Apologized; Let It Go
- #158: Russia’s Entire “Special Operation” Is a War Crime
- #157: Liars Lie. Stop Believing Putin and Lavrov
- #156: Politics, Arts and Sports: Some Erratic Reflections
- #155: Dear Russia: Make It Stop
- #154: Against Putin: Yes. Against Russia: No.
- #153: The Monstrosity of Vladimir Putin: We Have Learned Nothing From History
- #152: Democracy vs. Tyranny, or: How Does It Feel to Live in a Dictatorship?
- #151: Putin Is a Fascist per Definition
- #150: Poem: Nunc Est
- #149: As Putin Is Orchestrating to Commit Genocide…
- #148: Putin Does Not Care About Russia. It’s a Russian Leader’s Tradition
- #147: Why Should We Care About Ukraine? A Pragmatic Answer
- #146: The Fall of the Soviet Union Was the Greatest Event of the Late 20th Century
- #145: Putin Has Never Been Threatened By NATO
- #144: Putin’s War Against Ukraine Is a War Against All of Us
- #143: The Madness of the Czar: Putin’s Incoherent Speech
- #142: Oh, Canada…
- #141: Is Wearing a Star of David Labeled “Unvaccinated” Anti-Semitic?
- #140: We Need Vaccine Mandates After All
- #139: Nature Demands Humility: Lessons from Jurassic Park World
- #138: The West Is not Weak, But It Has Lacked Commitment
- #137: Live Every Day in Love
- #135: Conspiracy Belief, Science, Ego and Humility
- #134: If People Apologize for Their Mistake, They Should Not Be Cancelled
- #133: Am I Really Not Paying Attention If I Am Not Outraged?
- #132: My Tablet Told Me to Try a Bedtime Alarm to Get More Sleep
- #131: Please Stop this Fascination with End-Times Rhetoric
- #130: German Hypocrisy: How to Claim to be a Moral Leader While Acting like an International Free-Loader. A Polemic
- #129: Pets Teach Empathy and How to Live
- #128: Russia Is Part of the West
- #127: We Cannot Overcome Racism If We Talk About “Race” all the Time
- #126: NATO Is Not Threatening Russia, and Putin Knows It. Some Thoughts on Solutions.
- #125: Eliminating the Filibuster Is Political Stupidity
- #124: Happy New Year 2022!
2021
- #123: Poem: Pretend We
- #122: Only a Zero Covid Strategy Will Bring Success
- #121: Outrage Is Not a Successful Communication Strategy
- #120: Differential Treatment of Vaccination Opponents Is not Discrimination
- #119: Thoughts on Covid Vaccine Mandates
- µ#7: Can Cats Have Restless Tail Syndrome?
- µ#6: We Are Ignoring Covid Again
- #118: The Voter is Always Right: The Meaning of Democracy
- #117: It’s Not About Trump. It’s About the Issues
- Photos: Finley Wildlife Reserve, OR
- #116: Religion Is Trust in the Universe
- #115: Are We Anthropomorphizing Human Beings?
- #114: Be Quiet Sometimes
- #113: The Protagonist Trap: Why Bond Cannot be “Woke”
- #112: The Normality of Not Knowing
- µ#5: Symphony 4 Is Finished
- #111: Faith, the Pandemic, and the Drowning Man
- #110: Poem: To Understand the World
- #109: We Cannot Lose Hope
- #108: Carefulness Is Not Fear
- #107: How (Not) to Be Unhappy
- #106: How to Be Happy
- #105: We May Think We’re Done with the Virus, but the Virus is not Done with Us
- µ#4: We Need Animals
- #103: The Story About the Lone Renegate Scientist Showing That Everyone Else Is Wrong
- µ#3: Tired
- #102: Brexit Means Brexit
- µ#2: Why the Posturing as if Pandemic was Over?
- µ#1: Fleeting Micro-Thoughts
- #101: The Mask Does not just Protect You but Others as Well
- #100: Poem: One Moment in Time
- #99: Anti-Zionism Is Anti-Semitism
- #98: The Populist Attack on Democracy During the Pandemic
- #97: Are We Prepared for Extraterrestrial Life?
- #96: We Need Neutral News Media
- #95: For Israel, For Palestine, For Peace
- #94: What Is Political Extremism Today?
- #93: Don’t Picture This: The Trouble With Selfies
- #92: The Impact of Brexit on Trade
- #91: The Transatlantic Perspective Needs to be Global
- #90: In Defense of “Wokeness”
- #89: Tragedy Is the Nature of Life, and That Is OK
- #88: Nature Is the Best Meditation
- #87: Stargate as Classical Science Fiction
- #86: Nature Is Stronger than Us: The Pandemic, not the Lockdown, Is the Problem
- #85: Anti-Asian Hate and the Human Capacity for Divisiveness
- Photos: Year of Pain, 2020-21
- #84: Panicking Is Not a Good Strategy
- #83: The Purpose of History, or, We Need to Explain Democracy Better
- Photos: The Many Seasons of Oregon, March 2021
- #82: Only Logic Will Help Us Out of the Pandemic
- #81: Do Not Expect Normality in Non-Normal Times
- #80: There Is No Alternative to Dialog and Debate
- #79: The Need for the Public Understanding of Humanities and Social Science Theory
- #78: What Is Social Justice – and What Isn’t
- #77: Animal Personalities
- #76: We Need No Saviors
- #75: There Are No “Internal Matters”
- #74: On the Difference Between Scientific and Mythological Thinking
- #73: The Destruction of Creativity through “Social” Media
- #72: Can We Trust The Media?
- #71: The Improvement of Society Never Ends
- #70: Poem: Wake for a World out of Balance
- #69: No, American Democracy Is Not Dead
- #68: We Do Not Need Enemies
2020
- #136: Is Putin the Aggressor?
- #67: This Perfect Virus Exploits Our Weaknesses
- #66: Democracy Needs Well-Educated Citizens
- #65: Sine Ira et Studio: The Strength of Dispassionate Criticism
- #64: The Illusion of Brexit
- #63: Doubt and Faith in Religion
- #62: Democracy is a Consensus-Creation Machine
- #61: We All Need to Appreciate Each Other
- #60: How We Know that the New Coronavirus Is a Real Threat
- #59: Why Really Big Conspiracies Cannot Exist
- #58: Question Everything; But Also Yourself
- #57: What Is Science?
- #56: Disentangling Race and Ethnicity
- #55: It’s The Uncertainty That Makes Us Worry
- #54: The Dictator as False Messiah: A Belated Review of Game Of Thrones Season 8
- #53: What Is “Left”? A Very Erratic Attempt
- #52: Crisis Fatigue
- #51: The Politics of Division Cannot Work
- #50: The Value of the Musical Long Form
- #49: Nature Demands Humility
- #48: Moderation is Strength; Radicality is Weakness
- #47: And Soon, For Something Completely Different…
- #46: We Need to Move Beyond the Left/Right Paradigm
- #45: Benefit of the Doubt
- #44: There is Too Much “Now” Today
- #43: “Worst Persons” in the World: Hate Is the New Normal
- #42: Be the World You Want It to Be
- #41: Corona Funk
- #40: Enabling Free Speech, or, the Problem of the Public Sphere
- #39: Free Speech is Absolute
- #38: Radical Empathy
- #37: Coronavirus, the Amfortas Wound?
- #36: Diversity Is Democracy, and It Is Not a Zero-Sum Game
- #35: What Is Social Constructivism?
- #34: What is White Privilege?
- #33: Race Does Not Exist. But Racism Does
- #32: Guilt vs. (Historical) Responsibility
- #31: What Is Systemic Racism?
- #30: What Is Racism?
- #29: Black Lives Do Matter
- #28: Violent Protest Does Not Work
- #27: What is Peace?
- #26: Coronavirus is a Thief
- #25: Legitimate and Illegitimate Arguments Regarding the Coronavirus Shutdown
- #24: Conspiracy Thinking is Not Critical Thinking
- #23: We Need to Take the Virus Seriously
- #22: There Are No “Alternative” News Sources
- #21: Media: Don’t Tell People What To Think
- #20: Exiled
- #19: “Believe all Women”
- #18: What’s Left: Communism, Socialism, Progressivism, Social Democracy, and the Value of Dissent
- #17: Coronavirus: This is the Apocalypse
- #16: Coronavirus and Democracy
- #15: Happiness
- #14: The European Project Needs Both Unity and Disunity
- #13: Poem: Passover
- #12: We Are All Just Human Beings, and We Are All Predictably Stupid
- #11: Authoritarian Governments Must Lie, and Democracies are Grown-Up Systems
- #10: Corona, or, Nothing Important Is Happening Today
- #9: Dialectical Thinking
- #8: Poem: At the Hour of the Wolf
- #7: We’re Headed in the Wrong Direction: Retirement Policy
- #6: Star Trek Discovery: Mea Culpa
- #5: Democracy Means Humility
- #4: How We Win
2019
2015
1998-2010
122 entries on philjohn.com in the diary archive
Erratic Attempts 