Category: Opinion
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The Coin and the App
A hallmark of our age has been the death of ritual. We’ve silently traded ritual for speed. At first glance it seems we’ve made things more efficient, yet further examination suggests the opposite.
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Cultivating Personal Responsibility in the Digital Age
Those deprived of economic or social means to exercise control over their lives often turn to the cybersphere—a less restricted, less inhibited environment—to express the cruelty of their undeveloped selfhood. This is regrettable, because the same freedom from obligations and immediate consequences could have served as a vital space to cultivate the self and discover…
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non-emergent adulthood
While more comfort may sound appealing on paper, it often comes at the cost of liberty. The more we trade freedom for comfort, the more we regress. And like life, regression also has one ultimate destination: childhood. As wary as we are of authoritarian leaders, we should be just as wary of the nanny state.…
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Return of the Third Place
Commercial centers are vital for the economy but offer additional benefits, particularly for socialization, exposure to differences, and cultural enrichment. Commercial activities nurture culture, with each part of town taking on a distinct character based on its predominant businesses.
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Big Things Are Over
We now have an outdated, bizarre group (class, if you will), whom I call the dotcom millennials—well-traveled bilinguals who feel globally integrated yet locally isolated. While their time is long gone, the core idea lingers.
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Eros Squandered
Falling in love is an authoritarian demand. It’s an act of self-destruction, creative destruction -if you will. It’s an act of birthing yourself in the eyes of another. Lending what exists in you to someone else and demanding it back piece by piece. Falling in love is not primal. It doesn’t get our needs met.…
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We Don’t Belong Here
One of the pivotal contributors to the success of political movements lies in their level of hospitality towards newcomers. A direct correlation can be observed between the ability to make individuals feel at home and the subsequent success of an initiative. As a result, collectivist practices, whether from the right or left, easily gain momentum,…
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Loyalty Kills (Sometimes)
Exalted moral status is a tool that grants power by proxy. When we experience outrage, it signifies a higher status and, consequently, a degree of power. Of course, this moral outrage must be recognized or appreciated by society; otherwise, it’s merely personal anger to grapple with individually.
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Trauma Cult(ure)
Today’s culture is grief averse. It is a natural result of pace incompatibility. Life is fast, grief is slow. Information travels instantly, emotions take time. We also lost ritualistic practices and mourning as a group which adds to the tension we feel. When we allow ourselves to suffer for a trauma we are allowing ourselves…
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