Gregory | Activity | akia.de Blogs

Gregory commented on the post, To Be Protected and Serviced, on the site Understood Backwards 3 weeks, 3 days ago

I agree with you that two wrongs does not make a right. Spike Lee is a douche. NBC edited the 911 call in an inflammatory way. Yet, that has no bearing the fact that a black kid was shot and the initial response […]

Gregory commented on the post, Sex and Politics, on the site Understood Backwards 1 month, 1 week ago

The attack on contraception makes the priorities of religious conservatives clear to me. Above all, they want to police sexuality, especially female sexuality, so that everyone has nice big families with happy […]

Gregory wrote a new post, To Be Protected and Serviced, on the site Understood Backwards 1 month, 1 week ago

The shooting of Trayvon Martin is a confluence of race, crime, and institutionalized injustice – hence irresistible to both media and politicians. These are sensitive issues that the white American people […]

Gregory wrote a new post, Worst. Warship. Ever., on the site Understood Backwards 2 months ago

The truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, as is evidenced by the USS William D. Porter, which is probably one of the most incompetent warships in history. So incompetent that they almost killed President […]

Gregory commented on the post, Economic Reins on Superpower Conflict, on the site Understood Backwards 2 months ago

I think it is important to look at not just the wars that occurred despite economic integration, but also the wars that didn’t happen. The fact that the post Cold War period has been one of economic integration […]

Gregory wrote a new post, Economic Reins on Superpower Conflict , on the site Understood Backwards 2 months, 1 week ago

By: Samantha Lee
In the not too distant past, a visit to the United States by a Chinese Vice President and probable future leader of China would not have attracted a significant amount of attention. While such a […]

Gregory wrote a new post, Undead Communism, on the site Understood Backwards 2 months, 2 weeks ago

I confess that I have a bad case of SIWOTI (Someone Is Wrong on the Internet) syndrome. I admittedly like to be right and I hate the spread of misinformation, because someone might believe them and consequently do […]

Gregory wrote a new post, The Unreasonableness of Insane Conspiracy Theories, on the site Understood Backwards 3 months, 1 week ago

The German right was plunged into the depths of cognitive dissonance when Germany signed the armistice agreement in November 11, 1918. Propaganda trumpeted the German armies fighting on foreign soil, mighty […]

Gregory wrote a new post, History of English, on the site Understood Backwards 3 months, 2 weeks ago

I know this isn’t new, but Mental Floss has a cool short series of videos on the evolution of the English language. I find the nexus of language and politics to be fascinating, as language comes from people, […]

Gregory wrote a new post, Putinstein’s Monster, on the site Understood Backwards 3 months, 4 weeks ago

The Russian Communist Party has made a comeback in the December Russian parliamentary elections. That should be surprising, considering last month was the 20 year anniversary of the collapse of the USSR; what […]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Empirical State of Mind 5 months ago

Wealth, knowledge, entertainment, love, and companionship. Everything I do is a means to one or more of those things. Why? These things are all intrinsically good and they are nearly universally desired. Politics is the allocation of scarce power to balance competing interests. Everyone cannot be fully satisfied, even in theory, as fulfillment…[Read more]

Gregory commented on the blog post Whose False Consciousness? 5 months ago

I counter that the tea party isn’t making a conscious trade-off between their social goals and economic well-being; the rank-and-file really think that huge tax cuts for the mega-rich helps themselves. Politicians like Rick “Frothy” Santorum think that state-enforced morality is the only way to solve America’s economic problems. Michele Bachmann…[Read more]

Gregory commented on the blog post You Go, Girl 5 months, 1 week ago

If only because studies have shown that prejudices tend to go together. Or should I say, the kinds of minds that hold prejudices against women are fertile beds for racism, sectarianism, etc.

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics 5 months, 2 weeks ago

I’m sure everyone knows that particular Mark Twain quote. Like most popular quotes (and clichés), they usually contain some truth, though I’m a little less cynical about statistics than Twain (thanks MATH 252). Statistics is just a way to get answers to a question, but asking the right questions is crucial, which brings me to [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Herman Cain and Left 5 months, 2 weeks ago

Herman Cain has finally suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination. Good riddance to the Sarah Palin model of knowing little, lashing out at “elites” and fighting the media at every turn while running a messy personal life. Might be bad news for Mitt Romney though, since he’ll need a crowded field of “not Romneys” to [...]

Gregory commented on the blog post To be Modern is to be Nervous 5 months, 2 weeks ago

I figure that the rat race is a result of the rise of the bourgeoisie. In pre-modern times, social mobility was limited (especially in Christian Europe). Peasants would toil and suffer and nobles would hunt, make war and party (but never work), but there would not be doubt as to one’s place. Whereas, meritocracy means [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Fuck Tha Police 5 months, 3 weeks ago

The title of this post is a little provocative, but I felt it fit the theme started with my post before last (no one loves old school rap more than white people). Anyway, the actions of the Occupy demonstrators at UC Davis have finally got me to post about OWS. Those OWS protestors at UC Davis have real [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Unnecessary Prognostications 5 months, 3 weeks ago

Historians tend to be lousy at predicting the future. Humans in general are bad at big, long-term predictions, but people expect more from historians. Anyway, with less than a year to go, I’m going to make my prediction for the 2012 American presidential election. I expect the Republican nominee to be Mitt Romney. It’s going to [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: You Go, Girl 6 months ago

My last post addressed the most recent eruption of latent sexism in politics. Sexism isn’t divided by left and right. The left has shown itself to be home to all sorts of odious sexism: Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the suppression of rape reporting at Occupy Wall Street just to name two examples. I don’t even think I [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Bitches Ain’t Shit 6 months, 1 week ago

Herman Cain’s sexual harassment scandal has been on my mind for the past week. I personally think the accusations are very likely to be true, based on Cain’s shifting stories, hyperbolic deflections, vague denials and the fact that there were multiple independent complaints filed years ago i.e. not recent political opportunism. Even saner…[Read more]