Other People’s Rights

Other People’s Rights

When it comes to individual rights, some, to paraphrase Orwell, are ‘more equal than others.’ In private life and free discourse, it should not alarm us all that much that a political writer prioritizes free speech, a churchgoer prioritizes religious...
We Know Better

We Know Better

I had dinner with a group of friends last night, and in typical fashion, much of the conversation was political. One friend put forth a surprising (to me) assertion: that it was a proper function of government to provide health care to everyone. He called it a...

Banning Ignorance

A current, virally popular Internet meme template is “Woman Yelling At A Cat,” which depicts Real Housewife of Beverly Hills Taylor Armstrong crying and pointing at a smug-looking (aren’t they all?) white cat, with a caption that mocks the woman for...

Can Ignorance Be Excused?

Consider the word “ignorance.” Ignorance is, simply put, lack of knowledge or information. It differs from stupidity, or idiocy, or foolishness, in that it’s not a descriptor of a person, but merely of the information that a person possesses. As...

Chasing Your Tail To Death

aka, The Polypharma Syndrome The latest phase of America’s opioid epidemic has killed more Americans than the Vietnam war. By all accounts it is spreading A new study looks at why: partly, and paradoxically, it’s because we have more access to the...