Peter Nohrnberg, Author at Public Seminar

Politics

Yevgeny Prigozhin: Act III, Scene II

A criminal turned caterer turned patriot

September 11, 2023 • by Peter Nohrnberg

I come to bury Prigozhin, not to praise him, nor dwell upon his three medals “For Merit to the Fatherland” awarded by the Kremlin....

Uncategorized

Paradoxes of Free Speech

How the amplification of limitless speech acts can silence others

February 21, 2023 • by Peter Nohrnberg

Our culture’s fetishizing of self-expression, apparently without any limits, is paradoxically undermining free speech....

Sex & Gender

What Unenumerated Rights Are Guaranteed in Samuel Alito’s World?

The Supreme Court’s majority may abort the right to privacy—but we’ll always have the right to secrecy and shame

June 13, 2022 • by Peter Nohrnberg

Like abortion, contraception has always existed in some form. And like abortion, contraception was also left unmentioned by the authors of the Constitution, who relied upon high infant mortality rates to take care of family planning....

What Unenumerated Rights Are Guaranteed in Samuel Alito’s World?

Politics

How Can MAGA Nation Believe the Unbelievable?

When facts fail to explain the present, belief and faith take over

March 14, 2022 • by Peter Nohrnberg

How have Republican office holders ignored a crucial contradiction of fact: that they ran, and won, on the same 2020 ballot, including in states where Biden was declared the winner?...

How Can MAGA Nation Believe the Unbelievable?

North America

Everything Associated with January 6 Is a Performance

Televised government hearings are political theater: make Americans watch by assembling a star-studded cast

January 6, 2022 • by Peter Nohrnberg

January 6 was broadcast on live TV, bringing the performativity of Trump partisans to many Americans who had never experienced their theatrical quality. The costumes, the flags, the signage, and the face-paint compelled and stunned many viewers....

Everything Associated with January 6 Is a Performance

Politics

All the Political World’s a Stage

Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will put Republicans, Democrats, and the idea of justice on trial too

February 9, 2021 • by Peter Nohrnberg

On the 9th of February, the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will begin: the outcome is all but assured. Although Trump himself will likely be exonerated, neither political party will be easily freed from the burden brought upon them by his presidency. The trial will be a test and ...