Archive for the ‘american society’ category

Length and Strength

April 25th, 2008 | In american society, ruminations 

If you’ll indulge me, I’m going to try something. I’ll present the same argument three different ways. I hope that by the end, you’ll understand why.
First
The length of an argument is directly proportional to it’s strength.
Second
Generally, the length of an argument is proportional to it’s strength. Barring excessively and pointlessly wordy arguments, five words are […]

What’s Wrong With Talking?

March 26th, 2008 | In american society, politics 

NYTimes.com
A character like William Kristol is often caricatured by America’s left. Since he joined the New York Times’s Op-Ed staff, he’s provoked even more ire for both invading what’s usually seen as “home court” as well as being, well, not spectacular (even if no columnist is). His huge factual error of last week deserved the […]

On Privilege

January 31st, 2008 | In american society, big ideas, personal 

White privilege, as you may know,
is a sociological concept describing the advantages enjoyed by white persons beyond what is commonly experienced by the non-white people in those same social spaces (nation, community, workplace, etc.). It differs from racism or prejudice by the fact that a person benefiting from white privilege need not hold racist beliefs […]

Signal, Noise, and Lou Dobbs

January 17th, 2008 | In american society, big ideas, ruminations 

Jarrod Trainque (flickr)
Signal to noise ratios are something most people are at least mildly familiar with. They’re the reason that you either turn off the radio or change the station as you drive out of the range of the station you were listening to.
But where radio on road trips is the obvious place to begin […]

Watching America’s Game

January 9th, 2008 | In USA, american society, politics 

IowaPolitics.com
It’s chaos. It’s a circus. It’s a money parade. It’s undemocratic. It’s pointless. It’s cheap drama. It’s the real American Idol.
That’s right everyone, it’s the middle of America’s presidential politicking season.
I could make a list, but I doubt I need to. You know that many people — in America, but especially in stable parliamentary systems — find this whole […]