Culture

The Soft Nihilism of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’4
- Culture
- February 26, 2019
In 1971, John Lennon asked us to imagine a world with “no heaven,” “no hell,” “no religion,” and “nothing to kill or die for.” Thirty-six years later, the piano on which he wrote that iconic anthem embarked on a “symbolic road trip for peace” that took it to sites of violence and persecution around the
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Alexandra Tolstoy and the Appeal of a Simple Life 0
- Culture
- February 25, 2019
“Have you ever heard of Alexandra Tolstoy?” Responding to this question with a bit of a blank stare, my friend flourished his smartphone and began showing me a few pictures from Tolstoy’s Instagram page. One was of Tolstoy and her small daughter posing hand-in-hand. “Cute dress,” I responded. “My wife loves following her,” my friend
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Is the Racial Gap in Suspensions Due to Racism?0
- Culture
- February 25, 2019
Black students are suspended from school at a higher rate than white students. To many people, this might seem unremarkable, given the higher black crime rate, and the fact that black kids are more likely to come from struggling single-parent households that fail to instill discipline. As even the liberal Brookings Institution has noted, “black
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Do You Want Fries With That? Thoughts on a Liberal Arts Major 0
- Culture
- February 25, 2019
Over the past two decades, the liberal arts have taken a beating. University students in droves have backed away from taking degrees in English literature, history, and philosophy, turning instead to what they regard as more marketable majors such as business, mathematics, computer science, and even fitness training. In many cases, professors and entire academic
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The Myth That the US Leads the World in Mass Shootings 0
- Culture
- February 25, 2019
If you asked me this morning which nation has the most mass shootings in the world, I would have said, with perhaps a flicker of hesitation, the United States. This is a tad embarrassing to admit because I’m pretty familiar with shooting statistics, having written several articles on gun violence and the Second Amendment. Below
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The Myth of Millennial Socialism 0
- Culture
- February 25, 2019
My old man tells me he left college in the 1970s and walked into a job for life. He tells me his first home cost twice the average salary. Then he tells me, without a soupçon of jest, “things were still pretty tough back then.” His brow—unapologetically smooth for its 65 years, cheeks plumped fat and youthfully
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