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American politics

Red Pills and Rallying Lies: Conspiracy Theories, Skepticism, and Collective Action

Red Pills and Rallying Lies: Conspiracy Theories, Skepticism, and Collective Action

Posted on 12 December 2022 by

“Most of the things that we take to be a fact in our lives are told to us through our stories, or the news that we hear. So, my question […]

Normalization—Practices Make It So

Normalization—Practices Make It So

Posted on 23 September 2019 by

Rising nationalism and nativism around the world generate a toxic brew of arrogance and xenophobia that pits people against one another in often frightening ways. Understanding some discursive mechanisms that […]

SHOULD WE PUBLICLY EXPRESS ANGER?

SHOULD WE PUBLICLY EXPRESS ANGER?

Posted on 15 July 2019 by

Anger is a red mist, which blinds us. It blinds us to the good in other human beings, and to the danger in violent or uncompromising action. Accordingly, expressing anger […]

Academic participation in social movements: A call for ethical review

Academic participation in social movements: A call for ethical review

Posted on 31 December 2018 by

I’ve been an academic for some 35 years. Since 1991, I have been a (first assistant, then associate, then full) professor at Georgetown University in the philosophy department and since […]

Lyrical Politics: Reflections on the Role of Grief in Political Life

Lyrical Politics: Reflections on the Role of Grief in Political Life

Posted on 17 December 2018 by

It’s said that Mamie Till Mobley helped to catalyze the civil rights movement. When people say this what they have in mind, principally, is her decision to present her son’s […]

Coming to Grief: Violence, Mourning, and Interracial Intimacy

Coming to Grief: Violence, Mourning, and Interracial Intimacy

Posted on 3 December 2018 by

In my last piece, I defended two claims regarding the relationship of Dana Schutz to Mamie Till Mobley. The first concerned Schutz’s statement that Open Casket was undertaken through empathy […]

‘Implicit Bias’ in public discourse

‘Implicit Bias’ in public discourse

Posted on 7 May 2018 by

The news has been awash with discussion of implicit bias, and the role it seems to have played in the discriminatory treatment of two black men in a Philadelphia branch […]