Well, America, it looks like you need another lesson in authoritarianism after all. To my fellow Canadians who supported Trump, I guess you need that lesson too. But you would have been wise to consider history… Now, following the results of Tuesday’s election, we will watch as rights and freedoms are rolled back further (including …
The late civil rights leader Bayard Rustin said, “We are all one, and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way.” Our world is divided, I’m sure you will agree. Whether in the rise of far-right extremism, the resurgence of anti-immigrant sentiments, or the widening reach of conspiracy theories, conflict and …
If this world has taught me anything, it’s that things don’t always unfold the way we expect. And hate doesn’t just go away, even when we think it’s been beat and buried. The year I was born was the same year that the AIDS epidemic began, a health crisis for which there was little immediate …
It is often said that science and religion are two different paths to truth. Religion and spirituality offer a sense of personal truth (what I will refer to as knowing) through faith and subjective experiences of meaning and transcendence. Science, on the other hand, offers an objective sense of the world—knowledge of how things exist …
The Reconciliation of Personal and Collective Truth Read More »
Fate whispers to the warrior, “You can not withstand the storm.”The warrior whispers back, “I am the storm.” —Jake Remington To call life the storm would be tempting but not quite right. It is the world that is the storm; the thing we struggle to navigate; the situations and environments that try us, and break …
For all the climate change deniers and doubters among us, the following three points warrant some further deliberation. (And if you’re already convinced, they may prove helpful in future debates.) 1. Climate change science IS good science. What makes good science? The ability to make reliable predictions, for one. Contrary to what you may have …
Narcissism, egotism, aggression, dishonesty, far-right extremism, xenophobia, and white nationalism—all elements of the growing sociocultural phenomenon known as Trumpism—are on the rise around the world, affecting citizens and politicians alike, and compromising our efforts to promote and uphold the common good. This is how to stop it… What follows is a slightly revised, late-night train …
Disabling Trumpism: Target the Followers, Not their Leader Read More »
What is tolerance? What does it mean to be tolerant? And what exactly is it that should be tolerated? On the surface, tolerance seems like a fairly simple and straightforward concept. But one need only read the comment section of any news story or social media post on human rights to see that in application, …
What is it going to take to make this work? This is a question I often ask in my final lecture of Personality Psychology, a class that is both advanced degree fulfillment and crash course in human nature. The question is a reflection on just that—our nature. But it it is an increasingly difficult question …
The future is not as I imagined it would be. In the seventh grade, I submitted a science report entitled Will the Earth Ever End? I admit that I’ve been fascinated with apocalyptic scenarios since I was very young. My science report mentioned everything from environmental collapse to a large-scale alien invasion. In hindsight, I …