Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Culture

What’s going on, who we are, and what the big deal is.

  • We hide the truth behind violence and blind justifications. And yet our fears make the danger all the greater for those seeking the truth. Reading this morning that two more pipe bombs were prevented from being delivered to prominent Democrats, media, and civilians chills me to the bone. It leaves me fearful and confused; frustrated…

  • I’m constantly hearing how people hate change for the sake of change. So why do we let our resistance to change off that same hook? While we often talk about not wanting change for the sake of change, we never talk about resistance to change for the sake of resistance. If we’re being intellectually honest…

  • Our problem isn’t that we can’t tell when someone’s lying. It’s that we refuse to punish those who lie or protect those who tell the truth. Truth is a weighty topic. And yet it all feels so subjective. The elephant parable comes to mind. The one in which many people touch the different parts of…

  • We talk like we’re divided in two. But if there were two internets, it wouldn’t be split left/right. It’s more like right vs. everyone else. The way we talk about American culture is a lie based on truth. How we come to this lie, and why we stretch the truth to justify it, is vitally…

  • It seems like we are so divided, but that isn’t it precisely. We aren’t divided; it’s more like we’re scattered and pretending we’re divided. We’ve been talking about political polarization for longer than I can imagine. You’d think by now we would have solved the problem. And we would…if we really thought it was a…

  • Instead of dealing with the systemic abuse scandalizing the Roman Catholic Church, some are trying to fuel the culture war machine. I’m not Roman Catholic, but I think we should all pay attention to this scandal. Not just the crimes and cover-ups, but the bigger story. Now, I have a rule I try to follow:…