Via the Daily Mail: Oxford University is encouraging students to use the gender-neutral pronoun ‘ze’ instead of ‘she and ‘he’. The students’ union wrote in a leaflet that the move was intended to reduce the risk of transgender students being offended. Students hope that the use of ‘ze’ will continue into university lectures and seminars,
READ MOREThe other day a friend of mine received some good-natured ribbing over the fact that he had to call a repairman to fix something at his house rather than do it on his own. The incident produced some laughs, but I came away thinking that he was completely justified in his need to call a
READ MOREVia Gallup: Americans’ support for keeping the Electoral College system for electing presidents has increased sharply. Weeks after the 2016 election, 47% of Americans say they want to keep the Electoral College, while 49% say they want to amend the Constitution to allow for a popular vote for president. In the past, a clear majority
READ MOREI am a woman, proudly so. I believe women are as smart as men, as capable as men, and ought not be satisfied if considered otherwise. I am one of those who would love to see that last and greatest of glass ceilings broken. I think there are a lot of smart women, and I
READ MOREAbout 10,000 years ago, humans in the Fertile Crescent began tilling soil and cultivating crops. Why they began doing this we’ll likely never know for certain. But compelling evidence suggests it was related to the discovery of the process of fermentation and, more specifically, beer. Nearly 30 years ago, Solomon Katz, a University of Pennsylvania
READ MOREUntil recently, Princeton University’s devotion to Woodrow Wilson was so pervasive and worshipful that visitors to campus might easily have mistaken the modernist parthenon housing the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs for a literal temple. If nothing else, the black students demanding that my alma mater strip the segregationist president’s name from
READ MOREThe 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that human beings tend to be evil. He wasn’t talking about some guy rubbing his hands and crowing with glee at the prospect of torturing an enemy. He was thinking about the basic human tendency to succumb to what we want to do instead of what we ought to
READ MOREThe year 2016 will be remembered for two stunning developments: the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union and Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president. Both of these events have been described (correctly) as a populist revolt against globalization. As scholars at the Brookings Institute noted, “It is worth emphasizing that a resistance to globalization
READ MOREIn Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, children are raised collectively in institutions rather than nurtured by their mothers. In fact, motherhood is frowned upon. I was reminded of this last week, when Kellyanne Conway announced her decision not to accept a White House position in order to be with her children. Conway had to endure the
READ MORE