Category Archives: Society

Leaving home and coming home

Posted on July 26, 2016 by hessd

“Coming and going and going and coming, and always too soon,” sings Lili von Schtupp in her Wild West barroom show in Blazing Saddles. When I began to call the series of essays describing this move “Moving in Time,” part … Continue reading →

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Generosity and the Discipline of the Market

Posted on June 12, 2016 by hessd

This is another celebration of a remarkable Starbucks discussion. That is why I chose such an academic-sounding title for it; all that formality sounds like a celebration to me.  It was the kind of discussion from which the participants leave … Continue reading →

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Autonomous Christians

Posted on April 17, 2016 by hessd

Can Christian persons be autonomous? I have three settings where I would like to place that question. In those three settings, the answers are: absolutely not, of course, and “you’re going to have to be more specific.” Setting 1: Living … Continue reading →

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Michael Moore on “Where to Invade Next”

Posted on March 21, 2016 by hessd

The United States (hereafter “we”) look really bad in the recent Michael Moore movie, “Where to Invade Next.” That’s not a headline. We don’t look good in any of the Michael Moore movies. It’s just a statement about what I … Continue reading →

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Bernie Sanders is Un-American

Posted on February 14, 2016 by hessd

That’s just the easy way to say it. The title David Brooks actually gave to his column in the New York Times is “Livin’ Bernie Sanders’ Danish Dream” but I think the title I used captures Brooks’ message more clearly. … Continue reading →

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The Philosophy of “One Life to Live”

Posted on February 8, 2016 by hessd

My dad had a wonderful mind. That mind, and his gentleness, were perhaps his best features. He kept the gentleness as his mind began to slip away from him so he never became one of those irascible Alzheimer’s patients who … Continue reading →

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Heba Macksoud v. the Victim-Industrial Complex

Posted on January 2, 2016 by hessd

I am on the verge of saying that America has a Victim-Industrial Complex. Our society teaches  how to be a victim in the same focused and careful way special teams coaches teach punters how to fall down as if they … Continue reading →

Posted in Political Psychology, Society | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Unitasking. Really.

Posted on December 26, 2015 by hessd

Studies of efficiency by multitaskers have been nearly unanimous and almost entirely dismal. The more tasks being attempted at once, the lower the efficiency of each task performance. But what if we did it the other way around? Work is … Continue reading →

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Is the U. S. “anti-immigrant?”

Posted on November 26, 2015 by hessd

Not exactly. But “anti-immigrant” is just a political spitball. It is not intended to and it does not, in fact, help anyone understand what is at stake here. Let me start with the passage that helped me start thinking about … Continue reading →

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Deathbed Confessions

Posted on August 26, 2015 by hessd

I want to think about “deathbed confessions” today. I am going to imagine for today’s purposes that they are fraudulent. The reasons for starting there will become clearer as we go. In order to use that frame of reference with … Continue reading →

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