Politics and Society
Posted on October 28, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: evolution, Movement, politics, society, Sterling Lynch, understanding behavior, understanding people, understanding society |
In the 200,000 years since Homo sapiens first appeared on the planet, our ability to use and create resources has improved dramatically and our population has exploded.
When I reflect on the tremendous technological, demographical, and social changes of the past ten, fifty, and hundred years, it seems to me the most significant change concerns how [...]
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Posted on October 22, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: behavior, control, exchange, human behavior, power, resource, resources, Richard Rorty, Rorty, understanding behavior, understanding people, understanding society |
Richard Rorty, a contemporary and recently deceased philosopher I admire, once quipped that philosophical debates are won by whomever is best able to come up with clever distinctions. The essence of his point is that philosophical debates are won and lost in the battle over the definitions employed to define the debate. Whomever sets, controls, [...]
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Posted on October 7, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: feminism, Fashion, social justice, What does fashion mean, How To Get Hot Chicks, Sarah Haskins, Target Women, fashionista, hot chicks, cute girls |
I am always perplexed by the fact that the question of what a woman should or should not wear remains a hotly contested battle ground, especially among women. I’ve been struggling to find a way to articulate this confusion and then the quick-witted Adorkeable Thespian tweeted me this very funny Sarah Haskins clip:
[...]
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Posted on October 7, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politics, democratic politics, politics, political leaders, Sterling Lynch, Movement, women, power, voting patterns, political dreams |
Women have a huge sway in politics, especially democratic politics. The female voting demographic is closely examined and catered to whenever possible. Yet, rarely are there a proportionate number of duly elected female representatives, even when political parties set specific targets. Why? Studies show, women tend not to vote for women.
In a recent Globe and [...]
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Posted on July 23, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: poverty, policy, consumption tax, absolute poverty, relative poverty, pollution tax, Sterling Lynch, Movement, tax policy, estate tax, inheritance tax, social policy, open borders, The Daily Show |
It’s been a long time since I dropped a political post because the utter predicability of it all is both shocking and boring. Politics is bad theatre and I’d much rather spend my energy thinking and talking about good theatre.
Moreover, I know, because I’ve peaked behind the curtain, that policy — what really matters — [...]
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Posted on May 4, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: analysis, Canadian politics, commentary, Ignatieff, Liberal Leader, Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, Torture |
Michael Ignatieff was finally coronated leader of the Federal Liberal Party this weekend. Let’s hope that Mr. Ignatieff, and the backroom boys that orchestrated his coronation, never end up running the Federal Government. I say this because all indications are that Mr. Ignatieff is an intellectual yes-man, especially for the guys with the guns.
To illustrate this point, consider [...]
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Posted on April 9, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: aid, charity, choice overload, communications, foreign aid, non-profit organizations, poverty, social justice, volunteers, world poverty |
Some background assumptions:
Most people are good, well-meaning, want to improve the well-being of others (especially the worse-off), and can in fact improve the well-being of others (especially the worse-off).
The problem:
Most persons could do more than they are presently doing to improve the well-being of others (especially the worse-off) and could do so at very [...]
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Posted on April 6, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: best solutions, democracy, economics, How best to solve society's problems, human judgment, judgment, market, market solutions, money system, politics, relationship between the person and society, society, solutions |
With respect to many of society’s problems, challenges and disagreements, I am a great believer in market solutions and, at the same time, I hate the expression, “market solutions.” I hate the expression because it is a very misleading description of the underlying mechanism at work and often obscures what an effective “market solution” actually [...]
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Posted on April 1, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: analysis, April Fool's Day, April Fools, commentary, criticism, financial bail out, financial crisis, financial system, G20, How best to solve society's problems, meaning of april fool's day, media, opinion leaders, political commentary, political leaders, politics |
So, this is April Fool’s Day. And what have you done? Another year over. A new one just begun.
As far as I can tell, there is no genuine consensus on the origin of April’s annual day of pranks. Even so, there is a dominant theme that runs through many of the educated guesses I’ve come [...]
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Posted on March 31, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: Canadian identity, Canadian politics, civic participation, Conservatives, cross-cultural understanding, Harper, integration, Jason Kenney, Kenney, Liberals, melting pot, multiculturalism, politics, Reform Party |
Jason Kenney, our present Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism, wants to reinvent Canadian multiculturalism. For some fawning National Post coverage, click here. This should comes as no surprise really, since both Mr. Harper and Mr. Kenney began their political careers in the Reform Party of Canada which had as one of its founding principles the goal of abolishing [...]
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The Liberals Finally Have Their King: Here’s Hoping He Never Becomes Our King
Posted on May 4, 2009. Filed under: Politics and Society | Tags: analysis, Canadian politics, commentary, Ignatieff, Liberal Leader, Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, Torture |
Michael Ignatieff was finally coronated leader of the Federal Liberal Party this weekend. Let’s hope that Mr. Ignatieff, and the backroom boys that orchestrated his coronation, never end up running the Federal Government. I say this because all indications are that Mr. Ignatieff is an intellectual yes-man, especially for the guys with the guns.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 7 so far )To illustrate this point, consider [...]