Category Archives: Culture

Book Censorship, Swivel-Eyed Loons, and Declining Millennial Religion

Posted on Tuesday 2 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Three items today. Why book censorship doesn’t work, and how conservatives don’t learn this. Cory Doctorow on how the objections to the “15-minute city” reflect a genuine concern about corporate influence over the government. How the current generation (unlike past … Continue reading →

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Gun Violence and Mental Illness

Posted on Saturday 29 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Observations about gun violence in the US and its relationship to mental illness. Last month Washington Post published results of a survey, asking AR-15 owners why they bought and owned them. Washington Post, 27 Mar 2023: Why do Americans own … Continue reading →

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The Continued Deadly Consequences of the Obsolete Second Amendment

Posted on Sunday 23 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The latest in the endless commentary about gun violence in the US: items about how America fails the civilization test; how gun violence is worse in Red States (despite what the Republicans say about big Blue cities); and how the … Continue reading →

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They Have Always Been With Us

Posted on Sunday 16 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a clever graphic I saw two or three times on Facebook.

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Conservative Ideology Over Evidence: The Abortion Pills

Posted on Thursday 13 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Several links today to articles on the same topic.

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Wokeness and History

Posted on Sunday 26 March 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today: some better descriptions of wokeism; how wokeness undermines the idea of eternal conservative values; and if so many other books are banned from public schools, why not the Bible? Today’s NY Times website has this letter column: A Conservative’s … Continue reading →

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Another Chatbot Shoe Drops

Posted on Saturday 25 March 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The latest about chatbots, why they would be biased one way or another, and how there is now a conservative version of them; and recalling Conservapedia. Our story so far:

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Harari on the Dangers of AI

Posted on Friday 24 March 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Also: reflecting on Arthur C. Clarke and John Brockman, wondering if there is a permanent limit to human cultural education. NY Times, Yuval Noah Harari, Tristan Harris, and Aza Raskin, 24 March 2023: You Can Have the Blue Pill or … Continue reading →

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A Literary Break

Posted on Friday 17 March 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Read last week: six short literary novels in five days. Three by Steinbeck; one each by Henry James and James Joyce and Leo Tolstoy. A break from my routine of reading science fiction and current nonfiction.

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To Conservatives, Woke Seems to Mean Whatever They Don’t Like

Posted on Thursday 16 March 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

So my take on wokeness, a couple weeks ago, as a “perhaps exaggerated respect for the sensitivities of others,” is not what most others mean by “woke.” To some conservatives, it means anything they don’t like or want to acknowledge, … Continue reading →

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