Winning & the Entitlement Mentality
Too many people, particularly fans, have an ‘entitlement mentality’: they expect to win simply because they expect to win.
Odds & Ends
Orphaned Thoughts
Independent Press Association Gives KCP 14th Award
The Independent Press Award gives Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths its 14th Prize.
Prologue, Part I: Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths
Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths: the ‘great men’ of history were really vicious criminals whose rule was, indeed, ‘the banality of evil’.
The Deep (White) State
Trump is right: a deep state exists within the US government. But it is a deep white state. This informal apparatus is neither liberal nor conservative, but impartial, and regulative.
Rising Medical Costs
Rising medical costs affect all of us. Health insurance prices are through the roof, drug prices are through the roof, the price of medical services is through the roof. My concern is that we have no easy remedy for any of it.
Big Lesson, Small Lesson
There are only two lessons in life, the small lesson, and the big lesson. Those two lead to the Great Truth, and a shift in how we view life.
Happily Ever After
We are often hurt by those people and things we care about most, and confused about why they cause us so much pain. I see this in the ER with patients, co-workers, and everyone. I also see it in the democracy, in education and in my own life. Love is a good thing. Love should … [Read more…]
Economics Isn’t
Economics has long been called ‘the dismal science.’ I question whether it is truly a science. That’s not a knock on economics, but on science. Science often takes on a fundamentalist approach, one which assumes that reality – and therefore Truth – must be universal, it must be valid at all times, and to all observers. When … [Read more…]
Pejoratives, Slurs, and Semantic Change
Through semantic change, normal words become pejoratives & slurs. The real problem is often a discomfort with the situation.
A Sunday School Story
Despite my mildly Semitic last name, my paternal grandparents were Greek Orthodox immigrants from Syria (we have since moved up to become Lebanese parvenus). My father ‘got religion’ after had he established the family business and married my mother, and in his 30’s went to college and became an Episcopal priest. ‘Father Abraham’ no less. … [Read more…]