Jun 22, 2021The Word “Racism” in the DictionarySeveral years ago, I embarked on a project investigating the history of the word “racism.” The project has gotten sidetracked for now, but I wanted to publish some of my findings in the event that they will be helpful to others. One of the things I did was to look…Racism6 min readRacism6 min read
Apr 8, 2021What’s Next for Atheists in a Godless World?Across the globe, religion is in decline. Even in the United States, long an outlier among western countries for the slower pace of secularization, over a quarter of the country is now nonreligious and over half of the country is not a member of a religious community. What does this…Atheism3 min readAtheism3 min read
Published in Arc Digital·Nov 17, 2020Member-onlyBlack AthenaA recent Hollywood casting decision gives us an opportunity to look back at an early skirmish in the Culture Wars — Was Cleopatra black? Israeli actress Gal Gadot was recently cast in the role of Cleopatra, the last ruler of the Ptolemy dynasty in Egypt, in a movie about her life. In response to this casting decision, the question of Cleopatra’s race has come up again. …Society8 min readSociety8 min read
Published in Arc Digital·Sep 29, 2020Member-onlyWhen Racists Called Themselves “Racists”Today, even the most hardened white supremacists are reluctant to use the term for themselves — “I am not a racist. I’m the least racist person you have ever interviewed.” So declared Donald Trump in response to one of his many controversial statements about race — in this case, his query in 2018 as to why so many people from “shithole countries” were coming to the…History8 min readHistory8 min read
Sep 28, 2020How Good are Facebook Algorithms? A Very Unscientific TestI have been reflecting on my own relationship with social media since watching the documentary “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix. …Social Media4 min readSocial Media4 min read
Aug 24, 2020Top 6 Takeaways from “Race in a Godless World”Many people, it seems, like to get their content in the form of “Top Whatever Lists” — and I am no different! …Atheism4 min readAtheism4 min read
Aug 17, 2020New Atheism and Me: Personal Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the MovementThe mid to late 00s were the heyday of what was called “New Atheism,” a very loose intellectual movement of outspoken atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. I was a latecomer to the party, but I would eventually become an enthusiastic convert to New Atheism. In the…Atheism11 min readAtheism11 min read