Creatively Advancing into Novelty
“Richard Hill, history professor at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, explains that New Zealand police were disarmed for routine work in 1886, following the principle of the British police that: “Constables are placed in authority to protect, not to oppress, the public.” For officers to carry guns would not just be unnecessary, he…
“Difference is endless, and so we are endlessly—infinitely—tangled in it.” –Catherine Keller It struck me recently that All Lives Matter, the defiant, pious, racist push-back to the very important Black Lives Matter movement, should also be filed under the fallacy of misplaced concreteness. The fallacy of misplaced concreteness is one of my favorite Whiteheadian theories;…
“The government is the only power structure that’s even partially accountable to the population, so naturally the business sectors want to make that the enemy–not the corporate system, which is totally unaccountable. After decades of intensive business propaganda, people feel that the government is some kind of enemy and that they have to defend themselves…
“Either God is identified with the oppressed to the point that their experience becomes God’s experience, or God is a God of racism.” —James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation I’ve recently been thinking about the connections between beliefs about God, guns/killing, and privilege/power. My views on guns/non-violence/killing humans have changed quite a bit over…
“If a political party receives a tenth of all votes but no representation in government, can we claim the system is democratic and people’s voices are being heard? Should an international political body, bank or committee be able to decide the destiny of a country and its government? It is clear that democracy is struggling,…
“One of the problems with capitalism is that it produces mediocrity but also renders that mediocrity unsustainable: capitalism needs average workers, but capitalist ideology insists that only the exceptional deserve the rewards that would allow them to live a decent life. We see this in almost parodic form in Silicon Valley tech boosterism, where every…
“There is, in other words, a common sense that inspires the best definition of culture: culture embodies the grand narrative that allows the merging of the conditions of possibility of individuation and of socialization. When a philosophical school demands renunciation of common sense, it undermines solidarity. When it doubts sense-perception, it puts a damper on…
“The existence of quasi-sovereign states also perpetuates the original sins of our nation. State-level autonomy is part of a centuries-old compromise to keep slaveholders in the union — a compromise that, when push came to shove, didn’t even keep slaveholders in the Union! Hence the model is a failure even in terms of its shockingly…
“I don’t believe in God but I’m very interested in her.” –Arthur C. Clarke I recently listened to another great interview with theologian/philosopher, LeRon Shults. Every time I listen to LeRon he challenges me and gets me thinking. I really appreciate this about him. Reflecting back, though, every time I hear LeRon talk about his…
A wolf came upon a lamb who had wondered too far away from the security of the fold. Instead of simply attacking, the wolf resolved to justify to the lamb why it was that it should be eaten. ‘Last year, you grossly insulted me’, said the wolf. ‘Impossible’ cried the lamb, ‘I was only born…