Classical liberals and social justice: "many defenders of private economic liberty suffer from a malady that I shall call social justicitis. Social justicitis, as I use that term, refers to a strongly negative, even allergic, reaction to the idea of social or distributive justice." John Tomasi, Free Market Fairness (early draft chapter available online).
Free market fairness – an online symposium: "Bleeding Heart Libertarians will be running a symposium on John Tomasi’s new book, Free Market Fairness, from June 11-15, 2012. Scheduled participants include Elizabeth Anderson, Richard Arneson, Samuel Freeman, Deirdre McCloskey, and Will Wilkinson." Matt Zwolinski, Bleeding Heart Libertarians.
Tim Andrews doesn’t want to abolish government: He just wants to shrink it a little. At Menzies House Andrews announces the creation of the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, an organisation dedicated to mobilising Australians against high taxes, wasteful spending and crippling red tape.
"Welcome to the anti-carbon-tax alliance", writes Catallaxy commenter Gavin R Putland. "Right-wing astroturfing good. Left-wing astroturfing bad."
How racist do you have to be to get fired from the National Review Online? After years of offensive commentary NRO’s John Derbyshire finally stepped over the line with a piece on black white relations in Taki’s Magazine. Cutting Derbyshire loose, NRO’s Rich Lowry wrote that the piece was "so outlandish it constitutes a kind of letter of resignation".
What effect with this public shaming have? Not much according to David Sessions at The American Scene: "those who think Derbyshire-type thoughts, the episode only confirms the alternative-universe narrative that truth-telling white people are always victims of political correctness."
Competitive victimhood: "Nowadays whenever a political group is accused of unjustly harming another group, it will invariably play some kind of victim card" Eric Horowitz, Peer-reviewed by my Neurons.
Political difference inhibits empathy: A new study shows how political difference inhibits empathy. As Will Wilkinson puts it: "It turns out politics not only makes us stupid. It also makes us callous."
Journalists side with their employers: "I’m convinced that so much of the reactionary response to attempts to make journalism more democratically responsive – like Finkelstein – stem from a paranoid, Luddite and protectionist urge among employees of mainstream media companies to keep non-tithed operatives off their front lawn." Mr Denmore, The Failed Estate.
The human penis is a puzzler, no bones about it: Unlike humans, the males in most mammal species have a bone in their penis. At the Conversation Lauren Reid asks why.
I guess the problem with “justice” is that it means whatever you want it to mean, but err… there are limits.
Am I missing something obvious? How does the penis link to social justice?
Tel – You’re not missing anything. Although I’m sure you could find a link if you wanted to.
Apparently one of the courses offered by the Critical Theory and Social Justice department at Occidental College is The Phallus. Students read work by Freud, Riviere, Lacan, Irigaray, Kristeva, Grosz, Gallop, Silverman, de Laurentis, and Butler.
I was asking myself the same thing as Tel.. I was reading down the blog post, then I hit the end and said to myself… whaaaaa? Trying to figure out what that had to do with a radical centrist perspective. Not that I’m offended, just curious as to why it was included.
They should be reading Dick.
The justness/fairness of evolution? Perhaps we are really missing out as humans, since we can only have a metaphorical bone, but evidentally a fair chunk of the rest of the animal kingdom doesn’t need metaphors at all.
Isn’t it interesting that the minority, the incomplete version is presented as being the normal one? Anyone with even a poor ability in critical analysis could correct this. It should read, “Unlike all other male mammals, humans males lack part of the normal anatomy”.
Yes, the penis without a bone.
I had a girlfriend who used to think penii had bones in them until one day she made the mistake of advancing this proposition in my presence. She was a beautiful lass, but I collapsed laughing, and could never resist the chance to remind her of this naivety for quite some years after, much to her chagrin.
“How does the penis link to social justice”
Well, if you’re getting heaps and I’m not then that must be a failure of distributive justice. I hope they make Kate Ellis the responsible minister.
And there’s a course on Stupidity
Of course.
They are not stupid, merely “thoughtful”, or “benign”.
To propose otherwise is to exhibit class arrogance. We haven’t “dumbed down”, merely “mellowed”.
Mark Scott, with your watery pastel ghost of a smile, where are you?