occasional reflections on culture & politics
I. When we speak (or write), does our positionality in this world matter? I recently stumbled upon a video in which someone expressed their ire against people starting a variation of a sentence like “I am speaking as an x person.” The position here – if I may simplify it as follows – is instructive:… Continue reading #199: Why Positionality Matters
Whenever we speak, it is important to be precise. Communication depends on it. Words have a meaning for a reason, and once we change the meaning of words in our society, we risk not being able to describe things accurately. Words are words, violence is violence. Some words may call out for violence directly, but… Continue reading #187: Words Are Not Violence
As I said before, an apology needs to count for something. Will Smith apologized, Chris Rock refused to press charges, even to throw him out of the room. As horrendous as Smith's behavior was, he has recognized that. Can we move on please? Is not everybody allowed a lapse of judgement? Cancel culture is a… Continue reading µ08: Will Smith Apologized; Let It Go
Whoopi Goldberg said something incredibly and shockingly ignorant about the Holocaust. She revealed, in fact, how a very peculiar and narrow understanding of race in America prevents a more thorough and global discussion of difference, discrimination, ethnicity, racism and genocide in the world. It is a wide-spread problem, and it was unfortunate to see it… Continue reading #134: If People Apologize for Their Mistake, They Should Not Be Cancelled
We are conditioned to think in political categories of “right” versus “left”, with an underappreciated center in between. This model has become deeply entrenched in political thinking, no matter how simplistic it actually is. Politically, “left” and “right” derive from seating arrangements of pro- versus anti-monarchist forces in the National Assembly during the French Revolution,… Continue reading #94: What Is Political Extremism Today?
Monument to the Burning of Giordano Bruno at the Campo dei Fiori in Rome."A BRUNO - IL SECOLO DA LUI DIVINATO - QUI DOVE IL ROGO ARSE"("To Bruno - from the age he divined - here where the fire burned"). If a term like Social Justice has to have any meaning, it needs to solve… Continue reading #78: What Is Social Justice – and What Isn’t
Marx famously called for "a ruthless criticism of everything existing" in his 1843 letter to Ruge. Even if you do not agree with Marx in many other things, there is something in here that actually functions as an endorsement of disagreement and skepticism. In the letter it says, in the Original: "Ist die Construction der… Continue reading #53: What Is “Left”? A Very Erratic Attempt
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