On The Roots Of The Concept Of “Privilege”

Back in 1988, the concept of privilege did little to challenge racism or sexism. It reinvented discrimination as a fixed condition rooted within the biological differences between individuals rather than a social problem. The solutions proposed were therapeutic rather than political. Dominant . . . Continue reading →

Roseanne, Gender Bending, And The War Against Nature

Roseanne is back on television and to great success. The pilot for the renewal of the twenty-year old series did so well in the overnight ratings that season 2 has already been picked up. Most of the attention has focused on the . . . Continue reading →

How We Got Here

In virtually every class, I was told that all scientific knowledge, and even science itself was founded on Western cultural constructions and was to be regarded as hegemonic. And since each of the world’s various cultural viewpoints were enmeshed in their own . . . Continue reading →

Grammar Guerilla: Conversations, Discussions, And Arguments

Guerilla-Gorilla

For the better part of the last decade I have been hearing and reading the expression, “I do not like that conversation” or “I do not like that discussion.” If, in this context, the nouns discussion and conversation mean “the exchange of . . . Continue reading →

Who Is anti-Science?

Using the authority of “scientific consensus” to stifle heterodox hypotheses and alternative fields of research: Science is never truly settled. Indeed, challenging seemingly incontrovertible facts and continually retesting long-accepted theories are crucial components of the scientific method. Examples of perceived truths overturned . . . Continue reading →

Boy Scouts 1948 Versus Boy Scouts 2017

One of the books I loved most as a boy was my uncle’s copy of the Boy Scout, Handbook for Boys (1948). I loved it because it connected me with my Dad, to my uncle (a lifeguard and a marine), and to . . . Continue reading →