Adam Gurri has an interesting piece in which he criticizes the phrase “work-life” balance: I think that “work-life balance” is an unfortunate phrase that has a great deal of currency. I’m not saying that everyone should just give up on having time to spend living outside of work. I’m glad there’s a conversation about prioritizing… Continue reading Let’s Continue Referring to the “Work-Life Balance”
Category: Rhetoric
Judicial decision punditry and free association
Reading through today’s Harris v. Quinn decision was fun. It reminded me why I think the theater of judicial decisions is such a hilarious spectacle. Almost nobody actually forms their opinions on substantive political matters by using substance-neutral procedural considerations, but judges have to pretend to be doing that. That’s hilarious spectacle number one. Then,… Continue reading Judicial decision punditry and free association
A Moral Exemplar?
To my surprise, the National Review has a piece arguing that Brandeis was right to disinvite Ayaan Hirsi Ali from their commencement ceremonies. In fact, a whole panel was assembled to defend Brandeis on this front. Here are some of the highlights, with each block of text from a different author: The invitation to deliver… Continue reading A Moral Exemplar?
Trigger Warning: Mao’s Cultural Revolution
Jenny Jarvie has a piece in The New Republic about trigger warnings, the phenomenon in which people warn others that the content of some piece might trigger emotional trauma for certain people. The author does not like them, bemoans their spread to college classes, and thinks there is no logical stopping point once you begin… Continue reading Trigger Warning: Mao’s Cultural Revolution
Salon: “Free speech” hypocrites: Dixie Chicks, Duck Dynasty and America’s pointless shell arguments
I have a piece over at Salon about the silly way we have these shell arguments about procedural things (like speech rights) that are actually motivated by substantive things (like whether we agree or disagree with what is being said). It’s solid.