The Archive
Explorations of consciousness, critical inquiry into culture, and reflections on the art of being human.
I feel Winston Churchill was correct when he implied, during a 1947 speech in the House of Commons, that of all political systems, democracy is the least of all evils. There is no perfect political system, but democracy is the best we have. What makes the democratic process flawed is the fact that it requires…
In February 2024, The Guardian published an article stating, “Criticising Israel doesn’t mean we’re anti-Semitic.” While I agree with this sentiment, it is hard to ignore the glaring double standard here. This is a display of hypocrisy from a media outlet that will not hesitate to accuse individuals of racism for criticising the ideology of…
The right with climate change denial, which can be seen across the board among hard right, traditionalist conservative pundits and political parties. Then, evolution which has a profound history of conflict among religious groups particularly on the right–a significant portion of the religious right rejects the theory of evolution in favour of creationism or intelligent…
Genuine neo-Nazis and fascists in America exist paradoxically within the free world. Some of the most prominent groups include: All of these groups will invoke specific parts of the U.S. Constitution to justify their views. They rely on the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech, free press, and free expression, and the Second Amendment, which…
I had the pleasure of attending Richard Dawkins’ Oxford lecture on his Genetic Book of the Dead tour on 21 October 2024. Dawkins describes this as his final tour—although, fortunately, unlike the tour, this book won’t be his last. The talk featured Alex O’Connor, a rising philosopher whose YouTube presence has attracted a following and…
Boomerism or Neo-Boomer are terms I shall use to represent right-wingers and conservatives in the 21st century who, despite not necessarily being baby boomers themselves, espouse political and social views that align with stereotypical baby boomer philosophies, upbringing, and experiences from the 20th century. These individuals often talk about God, a return to religion, the…
Mores and folkways shape cultural expectations, regardless of their position on the hypothetical moral spectrum. But what exactly are they? People consider a norm to be innocuous. It establishes a standard that dictates whether an act is permissible or to be avoided. I would prefer to label this standard as a Universally Accepted Confirmation Bias.…
The ego is characterised by its fragility; it can be easily broken by insult or simple disagreement. Withdrawing from the status quo indirectly threatens the ego of the crowd. The crowd’s very existence, which perpetuates the status quo, strengthens the collective ego of its followers. People desire approval, and conforming to the crowd is indeed…
It is not the individual who expresses a positive fact about themselves that exhibits egotistical tendencies. Rather, it is the person who unjustifiably feels threatened and offended by that individual’s self-confidence. Their very act of taking offence reveals their egocentric view of themselves. They are insecure and overly concerned with how they compare to others.…