In his excellent essay "The Myth of Redemptive Violence", Walter Wink draws our attention to the fact that we are taught from a very early age to accept and embrace the use of violence as a means. This is done by the stories ("fairy tales", "myths", "sagas", tv/movie scripts) we repeat to ourselves…
Published on Apr 18, 2021, 5:21:07 PM
I am a dutch white guy from a lower middle class family, among the first in my extended family to go to uni, who was strongly encouraged to embrace petit-bourgeois (Calvinist) cultural values and aspirations, in a Dutch society that does the same. As a youth, I encountered few positive role models…
Published on Feb 7, 2018, 10:00:00 AM
One of the main reasons why I created this blog is in order to introduce people to, and explain the personal, cultural and institutional consequences of taking Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication (NVC) seriously. I was introduced to NVC a few years ago, shortly after I and my partner went…
Published on Jul 21, 2019, 8:00:00 AM
As I've explained elsewhere, pretty much everyone is taught how to systematically devalue the equal needs of (at least some) others. By the time we reach adulthood, this 'skill', and the meritocratic moral logic that undergirds it, are deeply rooted. And while people differ greatly in how broadly…
Published on May 19, 2019, 8:00:00 AM
Up until 2008, I had mostly been ignoring economics as an area of study, as the subject bored me, and I found the mindset too unpleasant. The 2008 financial crisis made me realize that was a mistake, as it made me realize that economic policy couldn't be left to experts. But where to start? Because…
Published on Mar 23, 2019, 10:00:00 AM
(Note: this post probably won't be interesting to people who haven't read (part of) ASOIAF and watched most of Game of Thrones. Before reading this, please first watch Ellis's video. :) ) Visitors to this blog might wonder as to why I'm posting about this show. Obviously,…
Published on Sep 9, 2019, 8:00:00 AM
Exploring 'meritocracy', both conceptually and in practice.
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