Certainty and Social Justice
As you may know from the numerous threads in which I’ve gone about it ad nauseum, I’m a skeptic (an Academic, existentialist skeptic to be precise). Without boring you to death, here’s the short version. I don’t think you can know things. I mean know them, know them. Not feel them, not experience them…but KNOW them. We (humans) cannot (probably) be absolutely certain of anything.
There are a lot of reasons that Certainty, or at least certainty of the world outside ourselves, doesn’t work. There are the limits of human cognition. The limits of human perception. The unbridled arrogance of dogmatism. The centrality of certitude in the oppression of many, many people. But the one I want to talk about today is Mr. Kristen’s favorite rationale in favor of skepticism: Dogma means that you stop learning, you stop listening to other people. In that sense I see certitude as antithetical to social justice.
Let me explain.
...read moreReturning to the scene of the class war
Aggravated today by a New York Times story in which striking Verizon workers were forced to argue that their wages weren’t, in fact, “too high”–seeing them make the very valid point that living in the New York area and raising a family on $40,000-$70,000 a year doesn’t actually make them rich–I tweeted angrily: “How the [...]
...read moreYou know what’s a bad idea?
Disallowing states from investigating or even keeping track of homes for “troubled teens” if the homes are “faith-based.” And yes, that is one of the most disturbing articles you will read all day.
...read moreThat’s an interesting definition of “victim” you’ve got there
Well this is a new level of apologism and fuckery: The brother of the man who likely murdered his daughter before taking his own life tells FOX40 that his brother, Mourad “Moni” Samaan, was the victim of a broken family court system. Nabil Samaan, a lawyer and father, claims his brother’s ex-wife waged a brutal [...]
...read moreFat and healthy – not an oxymoron.
Hey there! I know you’re all like “didn’t she say adieu (and spell it incorrectly, too) awhile ago?” Well, I did, but the delightful Powers That Be at Feministe are allowing me to another quick visit, in order to drop some new science on y’all. So I’m just going to leave this here (along with [...]
...read more
Recent Comments