“Cancel Culture,” Hobbies, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302

Past Present Episode 171

In this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss “cancel culture,” the lost art of hobbies, and the tragic Ethiopian Air crash. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Young Adult literature is the latest arena for controversies over “cancel culture.” Neil recommended Jennifer Senior’s New York Times article on the perils ...
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“Cancel Culture,” Hobbies, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302

Pulwama and the Battle of Optics

Political opportunism in the escalating standoff between India and Pakistan

“No universal history leads from savagery to humanitarianism, but there is one leading from the slingshot to the megaton bomb. It ends in the total menace which organized mankind poses to organized men...” Adorno’s caution against the possible realization of the barbaric principle of “mutually assured destruction” is not a triviality when ...
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Pulwama and the Battle of Optics

Finding Franco’s Victims

Felipa Peinado, 89, is still searching for her murdered family

On a cold October morning last year, I stood in Casillas, a village in the forested hills outside of Madrid, and watched a truck methodically excavate a dirt footpath extending out from the road. A dozen people stood beside me, all of us gathered due to the efforts of one ...
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Finding Franco’s Victims

The East in You Never Leaves

We self-censored. We followed the rules. We complied.

There is a certain type of post-Soviet anxiety that manifests itself in fear of state authorities, border controls or even doormen. The memory of 1989 may have largely faded, but the feeling of being ‘eastern’ has stayed with many – not least those who have built up lives and careers ...
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The East in You Never Leaves

The All Too Human Behavioral Geneticists

A review of Aaron Panofsky’s Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a social theorist of our generation, possessed of rich data and much sociological insight, must be in want of Bourdieu. In what follows, I will try to explicate why I think the ironic meaning of this statement is as true as its literal ...
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The All Too Human Behavioral Geneticists

Can Behavior Genetics Free Itself From Racial Supremacy?

An excerpt from “Misbehaving Science”

Behavior genetics has always been a breeding ground for controversies. From the “criminal chromosome” to the “gay gene,” claims about the influence of genes like these have led to often vitriolic national debates about race, class, and inequality. In Misbehaving Science, Aaron Panofsky traces the field of behavior genetics back to its ...
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Can Behavior Genetics Free Itself From Racial Supremacy?

Statues for Predators

Poland struggles with the entanglements of the Catholic Church and Solidarity

Less than two years ago, the Charlottesville alt-right march and various other white nationalist rallies threw into renewed spotlight the racist aspects of the politics of commemoration in the United States. Communities across the country, from Baltimore to New Orleans, began to assess more openly and more critically the value ...
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Statues for Predators

“Finding Neverland,” Luke Perry, and the United Methodist Church and LGBTQ Christians

Past Present Episode 170

In this episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss “Leaving Neverland,” a new documentary about Michael Jackson’s alleged child abuse, the legacy of late “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Luke Perry, and the United Methodist Church’s decision to tighten its restrictions on same-sex marriage and gay clergy. Here are some links and references ...
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“Finding Neverland,” Luke Perry, and the United Methodist Church and LGBTQ Christians

What To Do About Racial Supremacy in Behavior Genetics?

An interview with Aaron Panofsky

Behavior genetics has always been a breeding ground for controversies. From the “criminal chromosome” to the “gay gene,” claims about the influence of genes like these have led to often vitriolic national debates about race, class, and inequality. In Misbehaving Science, Aaron Panofsky traces the field of behavior genetics back to its ...
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What To Do About Racial Supremacy in Behavior Genetics?

We Must Stop Using Hyperbole that Foments Needless Anger and Division Among Progressives

Defeating Trump Politically Part 7

The tag line on Facebook poses the question: “Is Diane Feinstein a Bigger Climate Threat Than Trump?” The headline of the actual article in The New Republic is less curious: “Diane Feinstein is a Bigger Climate Threat Than Trump.” The actual article, and the author who wrote it, is done a great injustice ...
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We Must Stop Using Hyperbole that Foments Needless Anger and Division Among Progressives

Dear Rep. Omar: Can We Talk About Anti-Semitism?

Her words enter a public sphere that is already populated with ideas and agendas and history

Over the past two weeks my newsfeed has been taken over by Ilhan Omar stories. And just as it has divided the left of the political spectrum, it has also divided my carefully curated cohort of lefty friends. But something about the back and forth has felt very off to ...
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Dear Rep. Omar: Can We Talk About Anti-Semitism?