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Trolling or Debating?
Trolling isn’t the same thing as debating. But we feel like we have to honor the troll’s arguments as valid. But we don’t.
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Sometimes a Joke Is Timeless
When Freud said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, he was bringing us back from an extreme position. It is also really important to notice what that position is in extreme contrast to. I’m not into Freud, but anyone who has taken a psychology class knows why this phrase exists. Precisely because Freud…
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Please stop saying “The Science”
When your child asks why she should brush her teeth, do we ever simply say “because the science says to”? Of course not. That’s ridiculous. While your kid is really trying to get out of brushing her teeth, she is also doing so because she doesn’t have any context for oral health. She hasn’t seen…
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A Note About Grievance
There’s something to the way we talk about the tit-for-tat of politics that deeply confuses us. The danger for us is how it narrows our understanding.
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When is a car really a car?
How we understand a situation influences what we think of it. Sometimes we need to change the way we classify the world around us.
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Hawks and Doves
The keen hawk is too flattering an image for those who perpetually push for war. We need something far more short-sighted.
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Between: Luke 14:15-24
The conclusion of Jesus’s attending a dinner party in Luke explores God’s vision for humanity: an expanded guest list and a spirit of gratitude.
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Referring to a Marketplace of Ideas outsources responsibility
You’ve heard people refer to appealing to “the marketplace of ideas.” It’s a pretty clumsy way to refer to a negotiation.