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To be sure, the flapdoodle about the ducal interview with Oprah is a welcome tabloid-ish antidote to Covid dreariness. But it is far from an unprecedented controversy. This family line of royals specializes in poor behaviour and squabbling; they have done it for much of the last 200 years. The exceptions, of course, are the […]
Deconstructing social constructs We humans love to classify things. Classifications are a necessary part of organizing our perceptions: sometimes they are subjective, sometimes objective. Yet even scientific classifications involve some arbitrary decisions, which may or may not be accepted by all. For example, the decimal system is an arbitrary manner by which to organize numbers, […]
“Ick” is used to express our strong abhorrence of some object or person or event. The expression or reaction is typically spontaneous and visceral, rather than considered. It comes from the gut. Where such a reaction is accepted as knowledge it is considered ‘embodied cognition’, something of which we are certain without the need for […]
In my lifetime, talk about sex has gone from taboo to culture war. In part that progression has been the result of social events and the significant evolution of cultural attitudes. Homosexuality was a criminal offence when I was in high school. So was abortion. Misogyny was so prevalent that most did not notice. Along […]
Bill 21:Nobody Here but Us Chickens Québec’s Bill 21 prohibits the wearing of religious symbols for those in positions of authority, including teachers, lawyers, police officers, judges and politicians. Government justification for the prohibition is based on the “laïcité” (secularity) of the state; it is argued that the religious neutrality of the state supports the […]
A King for Canada? Just Say No Queen Elizabeth II has served Canada well as our Head of State for nearly 70 years. Upon her death, her eldest son Charles would be crowned as her successor in the United Kingdom, and would accede as Head of State for Canada. There are at least three arguments […]
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