I live in Brooklyn, in New York City, but I don’t live in ‘real’ America. I’m surrounded by artifice and fantasy; specters and ghosts walk the streets. The sidewalks beneath my feet are insubstantial; it is a miracle they are able to sustain my corporeal weight. The buildings around me have been plucked straight fromContinue reading “On Not Living In The ‘Real’ America”
Tag Archives: rhetoric
Paul Ryan’s ‘Mea Culpa’ Speech: Anatomy of Political Bad Faith
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a significant subset of the demographic consisting of American liberals and progressives and centrists are among the most gullible political subjects of all: throw them a bone or two–i.e., a substantive or purely rhetorical political concession–and they’ll immediately drop previously held convictions. The visible reaction to Paul Ryan‘sContinue reading “Paul Ryan’s ‘Mea Culpa’ Speech: Anatomy of Political Bad Faith”
The ‘Real World’: The Corporate Workplace
Dear Reader, do you know where the ‘real world’ is? Do you live in it? Do you work in it? Corporate recruiters and CEOs can tell you. If you are attending a school or a university of any kind, you do not live in the ‘real world.’ If you are a child, you are notContinue reading “The ‘Real World’: The Corporate Workplace”
Mark Bennett Is A Sexist Tool
Over at the blog Defending People, Mark Bennett, a Houston-based criminal defense lawyer, writes a long, technical, closely argued post critiquing Danielle Citron‘s putative rebuttals of arguments–based on First Amendment concerns–against her proposals for ‘revenge porn’ laws. Bennett titles his post ‘F**ing Danielle Citron’ and at the end signs off thusly: P.S. “F**king” is fisking.Continue reading “Mark Bennett Is A Sexist Tool”
That Guy, The One Who Picks Fights With Your Facebook Friends
Like many Facebook users, I have defriended ‘friends.’ Enough was enough, and the ‘Unfriend’ option got selected. Sometimes, it was because I was sick and tired of seeing their posts in my newsfeed–for whatever reason, perhaps they were politically or personally offensive, or just too silly to put up with anymore. (Pompous, self-inflated, pretentious, bonContinue reading “That Guy, The One Who Picks Fights With Your Facebook Friends”
The Only Apparent Easiness Of Meta-Protest
Finding fault with the form and content of political critique or protest comes easily to some: You chose a mode of protest that was inappropriate–it was too loud, it was violent, it was not inclusive enough; your protest is hypocritical–you do not protest injustices relevantly similar to the ones you protest currently; and lastly, andContinue reading “The Only Apparent Easiness Of Meta-Protest”
Sanctimony, Hypocrisy, Nuclear Weapons, and Drones
A couple of days ago, on this blog, I wrote a post attempting to refute the charge of ‘selective outrage’ that is often leveled against critics of Israeli policies in the current conflict in Gaza. In it, I pointed out how the accusation of hypocrisy made against the proponent of a claim does not affectContinue reading “Sanctimony, Hypocrisy, Nuclear Weapons, and Drones”
My Imagined Interlocutors
Sometimes I find myself conducting arguments with myself; ‘in my head’, as it were. I walk along the streets, running their premises and conclusions through my mind; I refine their rhetorical pitch, I rehearse them; sometimes, I find myself overcome by the emotion associated with their content; indeed, one of the reasons I write hereContinue reading “My Imagined Interlocutors”
Zoë Heller on the ‘Shocking’ Role of ‘Aesthetic Grounds’ in Moral Judgments:
I quite enjoyed reading Zoë Heller‘s review of Janet Malcolm‘s Forty-One False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers but I’m not inclined to join her in all the hosannas she sends Malcolm’s way. Consider for instance, the assessment she makes of a judgement offered by Malcolm: In the absence of moral certainty, Malcolm suggests, our sympathies areContinue reading “Zoë Heller on the ‘Shocking’ Role of ‘Aesthetic Grounds’ in Moral Judgments:”
A Friendly Amendent to Nina Strohminger’s McGinn Review
Nina Strohminger–a post-doctoral fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics–recently wrote a scathing review of Colin McGinn‘s book The Meaning of Disgust. Thanks to Strohminger’s flamboyant cuffing of McGinn around the ears, her review earned her some well-deserved ‘net fame. I have not read the book so I cannot comment on it but the review doesContinue reading “A Friendly Amendent to Nina Strohminger’s McGinn Review”
Samir Chopra 