Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

current-events

  • Why Religious Freedom Acts are Code for Open Discrimination

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    7 min read

    In the last few years, we’ve seen a flurry of new bills coming out of state houses addressing religious liberty. They reveal an earnest desire to protect religious freedom. In practice, however, they serve to disenfranchise and actually restrict the religious liberty of vast numbers of people. These bills, popping up in at least 20 states, including…

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  • Obama’s Postmodern Moment

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    2 min read

    Last week, as the country was staring down the sequester deadline, the president made a reference to not being able to “Jedi Mind Meld” with his opponents. The interwebs went crazy, with people jumping over themselves to criticize the president for such an obvious slip up. This means a whole lot of people missed two…

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  • Christianity and the Falling Man

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    8 min read

    From Surreal to Real Hearing that a plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center wasn’t the most arresting thing I heard eleven years ago. At work, the rampant speculating, the absurd discontinuity of airplanes and buildings in far away places made the tragedy distant somehow. News spread in the waning minutes…

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  • The Dream 2012

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    3 min read

    On the 49th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, it seems fitting to reflect on where we are in fulfilling it. Back in January, I wrote this for King’s birthday: It should surprise none of us that a leader villified by the conservative white community as “uppity” would become as…

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  • Banned by TED

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    4 min read

    It is interesting how easy it is to get banned. In big language, we would say one only needs to question the dominant paradigm. In plain language, we’d say you just need to upset the apple cart. Another way to get banned is by speaking as if you are taking a “side” in a popular “debate” about a…

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  • Further Proof of the Spoon

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    1 min read

    In this great comment on Forbes (of all places), The Dark Secret of Meritocracy: Reality is Rigged, Karl Smith speaks to hidden costs and the world it creates. His argument? Cheaters may almost never win but, given equal opportunity and a large enough competition, the winners are almost always cheaters. What does this make of cheating?…

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