This week before a jam session, a sax-playing acquaintance was quoting Glenn Beck’s three-hour special about George Soros being a Demon Puppet Master. When I challenged her arguments, she surprised me. Rather than defending her position with the obstinacy I find in most Glenn Beck supporters, she said, “Jeremy, I really need your help with […]

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We conceive our children but don’t design them, especially these days now that our influence is diluted by so many other influences and we have more respect for our offspring’s autonomy than did past parents. About half way through raising my children I consolidated my aspirations for them down to just three. If I were […]

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“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw Like many insightful quotes this one nails an important idea, but really just one side of it. If you step back, you’ll recognize the other side and then you will have cornered yourself […]

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Many cons gain their mark’s confidence by claiming to offer protection from cons. Many tyrants claim that they are liberating the people they are really oppressing. How can they get away with it? Easy, because some people who make such claims are telling the truth. Lies are body-doubles for truths. They have to be, otherwise […]

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I’m deeply ambivalent about accusations of hypocrisy. On the one hand, “Yeah, well you do it too” arguments are among the most annoying cheap shots I ever encounter. On the other hand I think embracing one’s own hypocrisy is about the most worthwhile and difficult task on the path to ethical behavior. Accusations of hypocrisy […]

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