A popular saying, often used when discussing the uncertainties of the past, is that “history is written by winners.” The implication is that the powerful create our narratives of the past, and the point of view of the various “losers” in history is unknowable. This truism is not, however, particularly
It is very important that I am banned from weightlifting. Very important that I never compete in mixed martial arts, very important that I never win a swimming competition, very important that I never win a footrace. I am a trans woman, you see, and we are too strong, too
In opposing US imperialism, progressives often emphasize US power. The logic here is straightforward; if the United States has great power to affect international events, it also has great culpability. The problem, though, is that the focus on US actions and US capacity can lead to the conclusion that the
Discourse studies is an interdisciplinary method used to unpack how we use language to organize and express ideas in the most convincing possible way, even up to the point of misleading our audience. To illustrate how useful Discourse Studies can be for getting a deeper understanding of the messages around
…The tradition of associational socialism can contribute to the deepening of the pluralism that is constitutive of liberal democracy. But this requires a rejection of the atomistic liberal vision of an individual that could exist with her rights and interests prior to and independently of her inscription in a community.
Many self-proclaimed capitalists and free marketeers see recent advances in space exploration as an opportunity to hail the kinds of fruit borne from markets and competition. In this way, one sees rockets soaring away from their launchpads as heartwarming symbols of entrepreneurship—a display of technological progress and human capability
Recently New York magazine published a long interview with Joss Whedon in which the film director and television showrunner attempted to defend himself from charges of abuse, harassment, sexism, and racism. Charisma Carpenter, an actor on Whedon’s shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel in the late 1990s and
Liberalism at Large is an intellectual biography of The Economist with a special emphasis on how the ideology of the 175+ year old liberal newspaper has evolved—and failed to evolve—with the times. Alexander Zevin argues that this history provides a special insight into liberalism itself, as The Economist
Liberals love to tell their creation story. It begins in the 17th century. Liberalism arose from the political competition between Catholics and Protestants in Western Europe. Pre-liberal and liberal philosophers fought to end religious wars, and they defended religious toleration as a moral principle. Prominent figures include Pierre Bayle, Roger
As we face another uncertain year, and struggle with challenges to our personal and collective physical and mental health, a long fight for dignity is taking an important turn in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Bills S.1127 and H.1822 seek to ban discrimination based on body size. If passed, Massachusetts would
The creation, proliferation, and persistence of liberal democracy in the last century is a triumph which we should neither underestimate nor take for granted. For liberals, the protection of liberties, the strengthening of democratic accountability, the quest for lawfulness, the fostering of new capabilities and proliferation of old ones, as
“The Great Era of Sanction Diplomacy” is nothing more than a ruse. The extreme use of sanctions is not diplomacy at all, though they begin with diplomats, include multinational agreements and negotiations, and ostensibly seeks to avoid the death that is wrought by conventional warfare. Rather, sanctions are, like conventional