I won't name her, but YouTube decided to hit me with a video the other day about how woke superhero Hollywood was failing women. It begins with an article supporting She-Hulk that drove the talking head into a froth because it included comments from the show creators about how the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has… Continue reading She-Hulk: Is Marvel Failing Feminism?
Category: Social Contract
Make It Make Sense
Trigger warning: everything Born in the 1980s and mostly a child of the 1990s, I remember a distinct vibe echoed in a line from Steve Carell's character Michael Scott: "The US is number one. England is number two. China should be, like, eight." While never something explicit that I encountered, American exceptionalism was everywhere in… Continue reading Make It Make Sense
A Traditionally Masculine Question About Gender
We're doing things a little differently today. Normally with this blog I attempt to share opinion and experience (alongside any expertise that I can). That's why I focus on aspects of mental health (rather than the field broadly) and writing. Today, I want to venture into an area where I have zero qualification. Not only… Continue reading A Traditionally Masculine Question About Gender
Victory Defeated US: How Winning Became the Ultimate American Problem
I am not much of a Republican or a Democrat. My ideology is at times offensive to both party lines and so I could not imagine success representing Americans with either despite sharing plenty in common. Consider, for example, that I support small government and minimal regulation. I differ from the average Republican in what… Continue reading Victory Defeated US: How Winning Became the Ultimate American Problem
Thumbs Up, America
Sorry, friends. I am going to be a downer today. I mean, I'm a downer every day but I try to take measures to conceal that from others. Those closest to me are aware of the fact that my life is a perpetual existential crisis, and that tends to bum other people. Philosophically, I am… Continue reading Thumbs Up, America
My Truth and The Truth
We are currently attending a training through work that discusses multiple aspects of communication. One of the concepts that arose during the training is the need for people to speak their truth and to acknowledge that one's truth is not necessarily the truth. It's a perspective and truth in the sense that it reflects one's… Continue reading My Truth and The Truth
The Fog of War
We face a lot of problems today. Some are holdovers from prior generations, others are unique to the modern world. A major part of me still believes that people, in general, are good and want the same things. We disagree on the means and, to some extent, even on what the end picture looks like,… Continue reading The Fog of War
Definitions and Labels
I felt compelled to write today based on two events. First, the #IStandWithJK hashtag reappeared on social media, and it brought up discussion about one of her tweets in particular: If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans… Continue reading Definitions and Labels
Another Appeal Against Late-Stage Capitalism
In the past I have tried to dance around the language of economics a bit. Any critique of capitalism seems to confirm that the critic is a Marxist/socialist/communist. The philosopher in me loves capitalism and holds it as the superlative economic system, regarding it as the mathematical observation of the fair and natural allocation of… Continue reading Another Appeal Against Late-Stage Capitalism
Dunning-Kruger Is My Middle Name: Empathy, Knowing How Much I Don’t Know, and Struggling in a World of “Experts”
Where even to start? There is the mask requirement debate or the "Karen" response or the even broader state of discourse. There is the snowflake versus the deplorable. There is the stan versus the canceller. The world contains a lot of hostility right now, and many of those hostile actors feel righteous in their anger.… Continue reading Dunning-Kruger Is My Middle Name: Empathy, Knowing How Much I Don’t Know, and Struggling in a World of “Experts”