I have been a fan of the hockey comedian/commentator Down Goes Brown for some time. I don’t remember when I became aware of him, but it was before he started writing for Grantland. I have appreciated both his comedic takes on what is a very silly league and also his perspective, which often seems to …
Category: Society
Infinity Mirrors by Yayoi Kusama
I do not normally write about art. I go to art exhibits at least a few times a year (more when I travel) but I never write about them. One reason is that I have long felt I do not have the education to find the language to discuss paintings or art installations, at least …
Predictably Irrational (2008) by Dan Ariely
This is a fascinating and sometimes amusing exploration of behavioural economics through descriptions of experiments that the author has conducted, and some he’s read about. It’s a pretty good introduction to behaviourial economics and social psychology. A number of these experiments were unfamiliar to me and some of them are really illuminating. I’m particularly interested …
How Does Donald Trump Have Friends?
This morning, I read an excerpt from the new book about Donald Trump’s first year in office as President of the United States of America. It was a fascinating read, confirming many things I believed and giving me much more of an in depth portrait into the madness that is the White House currently. But …
2017 was The Worst
2016 was The Worst Year. But somehow, 2017 was so much worse.
White Privilege
Yesterday on Quora, I found perhaps the best short summary of what white privilege is that I, as a white male Canadian, have ever read in my life. I have embedded it here for your perusal because I really do think it captures this concept better than anything else I’ve read on the subject. Also, …
In Praise of Cultural Appropriation
This article is about the accusation of “cultural appropriation” being thrown around at works of art. I may not be entitled to write this.
Diesel and Dust (1987) by Midnight Oil
My whole life I’ve sort of wondered why “Beds are Burning” was a hit. (It topped our chart when I was 6.) I never liked the song but I never listened to lyrics.
The Existence of God
To the best of our knowledge, the universe is 13,799,000,000 years old, plus or minus 21,000,000 years and, at the very least, 154,000,0000,000 light years wide (though many believe it to be much larger) and, to the best of our knowledge, it took this long to get this big. To the best of our knowledge, …
The Nano-Fabricator Will Solve All Our Problems
The nano-fabricator (or molecular assembler, if you prefer) is coming in about half a century. It will totally transform our world. Are you ready?
Western Philosophy Caused Alternative Facts
We are told that so-called “alternative facts” are a new threat to us as a society; to how we view and understand the world and how we make decisions about the world (policies etc). But I think the idea of an “alternative” fact is far older and, worse, rooted in the very basic ideas most …
Graham Greene and McCarthyism
In 1952 the British Catholic novelist Graham Greene attempted to visit the United States to meet with his American publisher, among other things. Greene had visited the US multiple times before and had even put a play on in Boston (an adaptation of his The Heart of the Matter, it was a disaster). He applied …
Fascism is Alive and Well in the United States of America
I must admit that I have been somewhat of a “Trump optimist” these last few months. I believed in his obvious, demonstrable incompetence at just about everything he does – except branding and self-promotion, obviously. (He’s been abetted in this incompetence by untold numbers of people if you’re wondering why someone who is generally incompetent …
Well that was Stupid
Regardless of how you feel about last night’s US general election, why did that take 18 months? Why does it take 18 months to make a decision about who should be president? 18 months! This is not normal. No other democracy in the world takes this long to pick its head of state. None. This …
Detective School
If I have learned one thing from immersing myself in too many true crime podcasts, TV series and movies, it’s this: most police detectives have never been taught to think. There seems to be an obsession with relying on instinct and (supposed) “known knowns” and nothing else; no rigorous investigation techniques, no awareness of the …
The Tragically Hip Live at the K-Rock Centre, August 20, 2016
I wasn’t going to watch this show. The cynic in me found the sudden outpouring of interest in The Hip weird. I felt like people I’d never heard mention this band previously were now obsessed with getting tickets to shows, all because someone (Canadian) famous is dying of cancer. Instead, I was going to watch …
Is Trump the Greatest Con Man in American History?
Sorry for the clickbaity headline. What I really mean to ask is “Is Donald Trump trying to become the Greatest American Con Man of All Time?” because only if he wins the Presidential election will he achieve this feat.
We do not want to know what we do not want to know
People say we’re rational. Human beings may be animals, but we are animals who have overcome our animal natures to make calculated decisions about our choices. I mean, look at all we’ve accomplished with our big brains. We tell each other we think rationally, even logically. And we want rational explanations for what is happening …
Informing the News (2013) by Thomas E. Patterson
This book was written to make the case for “knowledge-based” journalism. It was sponsored by an initiative that is trying to establish that kind of journalism. The author believes strongly in the cause and has been a crucial part of the initiative that sponsored his work here.
The Peep Diaries (2009) by Hal Niedzviecki
This book is a relatively interesting and amusing book about how modern technology and modern culture have created a brave new world that we don’t really understand how to navigate – and which could have all sorts of unintended consequences for us. However, the book suffers from a number of problems which make it not …
Better This World (2011, Kelly Duane, Katie Galloway)
This is an important film that is really, really worth your time. What starts off seemingly as a portrait of some well-intentioned youths that got into some bad shit – and feels, perhaps, like an apology for such behaviour – soon reveals itself to be the story of something so much worse. Though it’s weird …
An Open Letter to His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston
Your Excellency, I don’t need to tell you that as the Queen’s representative in Canada you are essentially our Head of State. Regardless of the massive changes that have occurred since the position of Governor General was created, you remain in a position of actual authority even if the weight of the office has diminished …
Abolish the Canadian Senate?
A lot of people are calling for the abolition of the Canadian Senate lately (spring of 2015), and these calls will increase if the chamber dose what everyone expects, and passes C-51 this week; C-51 being the anti-terrorism legislation that basically every legal expert in the country is opposed to. At the same time, the …
My Message to Senator Yonah Martin
Dear Ms. Martin, I would like to express my deep disappointment with you and your fellow Senators regarding Bill C-51, a bill that is unconstitutional – and will be found so, I have no doubt. The idea of the Senate is that is a place to reevaluate government legislation. Ostensibly this duty should be above …
It’s not just C-51 that’s the problem, it’s the System
I haven’t posted anything original in this space since February, in part because I am writing a new book, but in part because I have been a little depressed about the seeming inevitably of the government passing the worst piece of Federal legislation I have seen in my lifetime. (If you don’t know what C-51 …
Family Day and Fair Stat Holidays
Today is Family Day in Ontario, as it is in Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, PEI and Saskatchewan. BC celebrates it one week earlier. We came a little late to this party and, if you remember, it was very controversial at the time.
The belief in Justice is probably the breeding ground for injustice
I have long identified myself as an atheist – even though I’m an agnostic – in religion, an existentialist in philosophy and “anti-apocalyptic” or “anti-ideological” person in politics (i.e. a pragmatist). I have long struggled with this last definition, not because I don’t know what I am – I know exactly what I am, politically …
Everything is and should be mockable
I would just like to take this opportunity to express my dismay that this is happening yet again and that I fully support any and all publication’s right to satirize anything.
Please, everyone, just calm down
Please, everyone, let’s just calm down a little. Let’s try to have a sense of perspective. Let’s try to think about the big picture. I know that’s very difficult when someone you never met dies, but let’s try to be bigger than knee-jerk reactions this one time.
The Poverty of Ideology
This article on libertarianism says pretty much what I was trying to say in my book, only more rigorously (and with zero sense of humour). However, I think the general point of this article – that something like libertarianism is empty theory ignorant of human behaviour and human history – is actually a point that …