The abortion conversation has been stuck in the language of rights for some time. One person argues they have a right to abortion, and another argues a child has a right to life. Unfortunately for the pro-life movement, as soon as we get into a discussion of rights, we’ve already lost. The way Americans talk about “rights” has no place in the abortion debate. Rights are a negative claim. They…
Is Inequality Unjust? This one could get me in trouble. Bear with me. Part of my journey into post-liberalism has been a process of reevaluation. Certain values intrinsic to American liberalism do not fit what I have come to understand as the first principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Recently, one of those reexamined values has been equality. When I was a kid, “equality under the law” was touted as an…
If you listen to my podcast or have had the displeasure of speaking to me about politics in the past year, you may have heard me use the term “post-liberalism.” I think the time has come I actually say what that is. When I was in college, I encountered Catholic Social Teaching for the first time. I learned there were a few basic principles: subsidiarity, solidarity, a preferential option for…
When it comes to Facebook, I lean more towards the “burn it all down” camp. Based on reactions to the Facebook Papers, I’m not alone. Several scandals have broken out in the past year regarding Facebook and every time, I shake my head thinking that maybe we would be better off without it. However, I’m coming to realize that perspective reflects my Western privilege. I live in a country where…
The Fall of Robespierre In the second year of the first French Republic on the evening of the ninth day of a month they called Thermidor (July 27, 1794, to use our calendar) the revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre was named a fugitive by his own government. The day before, Robespierre gave a speech to the National Convention threatening his enemies and defending his actions during what we now call “the…
If you have read my blog once or twice, you may know social media, particularly Twitter, is a favored scapegoat of mine. I often worry that, despite my age, I come off as an old man yelling at kids on my front lawn. Hopefully I am yelling some salient points. A few months ago, I was halfway through my usual rant about social media with a friend who works on…
Last Monday at 3:00 pm EDT, an airplane fell out of the sky. Channel 13, a local news network brought on Michael Howard, an Acme engineer, and Sandra Till, a former gate agent from the Pittsburgh International Airport, to comment. The transcript is as follows: Anchor: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to this special news bulletin. Of course, you know the tragic crash that occurred last Monday…
We think of social media as a level playing field. A place where everyone’s voice matters. But when you look below the surface, social media has become a false democracy. You may remember this news story from 2015: “Red Starbucks Cup Brews Controversy on Social Media.” If you don’t remember this news story, congratulations. You must’ve had a very peaceful November. You couldn’t go on Twitter that month without seeing…
I’m going to have to do my best to not rant during this post. There’s been a running joke on The Crunch that I mention Cal Newport too much. It’s a fair assessment. I like him because he writes books with concrete and actionable steps to take against problems facing the information age. There’s no need to list all the problems and it’s impossible to list all their sources. But…
I received an interesting reply from a reader yesterday about my post on phone addiction. She mentioned she was worried adopting the tool mindset would make her hard to reach. “One thing I really struggle with is how as a college student we are expected to text back really quickly and use our phones to make plans with people…I would love to be able to keep my phone in a…
