Most people reflexively believe the federal government protects the interests of minorities. After all, the feds gave us the Civil Rights Acts and ended segregation – so the narrative goes. But in truth, the federal government has a pretty abysmal record when it comes to its treatment of minority communities and has often implemented policies..
Read moreThoughts from Maharrey Head #65: What Is Equality?
"10 Minutes Closer to Freedom" In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I talk about the insidious nature of identity politics, and the Lockean conception of equality. Virtually every political issue today eventually gets framed in terms of race or some other group identity. How useful is this? Can we really legitimately lump individuals..
Read moreThoughts from Maharrey Head #26: Seeing the Individual
"10 Minutes Closer to Freedom" In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I talk about why we should fight our impulse to look at people in terms of groups and instead focus on them as individuals. We tend to look people in terms of groups - blacks, immigrants, gays, refugees, white men, liberals, conservatives,..
Read moreBlack Churches Burning: Beware of False Narrative
Over the last few days, I've seen a number of stories in national media reporting on fires at black churches, predominantly in southern states. (Some reports include a fire at an Ohio church, but many don't.) Graphics like this one push the narrative. In fact, many readers will draw their conclusions on the map alone...
Read morePodcast: Pushing Beyond the Confederate Flag Soundbites
In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I try to push beyond the simple soundbites in the Confederate flag debate. After listening to the Confederate flag debate for several days, I was left feeling like neither "side" of the issue really captures the crux of the matter. One side screams racism. One side screams..
Read more133 Words or Less: Illogical Conclusions
It is perfectly congruent to simultaneously support people's right to do something and oppose their reasons for doing it. For instance, I can support the right of the southern secession, but emphatically reject slavery, even though it was undeniably a factor in the decision to leave the union. To assert, or even imply, that I..
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