This concept, virtue signaling, then leached out of this column written by a mid-rate British columnist like heavy metals leaching into the soil. This term has become a common accusation of people on the right against people on the left, and the general message is quite simple: why are you pretending to believe in something?
Read MoreSo what this calls to mind is the question of what a right actually is. I get the feeling that a right is defined sort of like how Saint Augustine defined time, namely, we function as if we know what it is until we try to define it (or, to reference Donald Rumsfeld, it’s the missing corner of his graph: the Unknown Known.)
Read MoreThat flat space, that lies beyond the fractal canyons of anxiety, is the country of depression, and the only saving grace we can really offer is that, despite how alone it might make you feel, it’s a well-mapped country. There are roads that lead through it, and they may seem flippant to suggest, but I’m part of the generation that was told that if we eschew avocado toast (which I’m...look, I’m still unclear what avocado toast is,) we could one day soon afford a house, and now we’re living through our third recession.
Read MoreIt may be possible, within these universes to measure the direct amount of power that is generated by an act of devotion: one orison, one tiny miracle; do the rosary, get something bigger. This looks like an exchange between the person and the deity. Moreover, it is one that would necessarily have a magnitudinal component to it. Where does this lead?
Read MoreThe people currently in power see this as an opportunity to give a blank check to people who think you deserve nothing. For them, a crisis is nothing but a way to make the system function worse for the average person. It’s the disordered thinking of an addict. The worst thing you can do in the depths of an addiction is feed that addiction. Feeding that addiction is also the easiest decision to make when in that state. So what happens if we go cold turkey on capitalism? Chain ourselves to a metaphorical radiator and try to sweat it out?
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