Democracy isn’t free. For example, during the 2020 electoral races, federal candidates spent more than $14 billion in campaign costs, and state elections ran close to $2 billion. What’s most alarming is that nearly 90% of the US House candidates who spent the most money won their elections. This isn’t really new. In ancient Greece, Athenians chose…
Author: carolharriyoung
Carol Harrisville Young has a PhD in Anthropology, a BA in Anthropology and Art, and an AAS degree in Veterinary Technology. My passions are reading and writing, and I’m setting out on a new journey to embrace freelance writing, web content creation, non-fiction writing, fiction short stories, and works of young adult fiction.
Earth Day and Pondering Climate Change
Friday, April 22 was Earth Day, marking the anniversary of the environmental movement. Earth Day has been celebrated since 1970, fueled by the awareness of the negative impact of industrialized practices on our planet. Now, perhaps more than ever, we are seeing the effects of years of mismanagement of our world: Increased CO2 levels, severe droughts, fires, floods, melting glaciers, rising sea levels,…
If We Want Democracy, We Need to Work at It
Let us be reminded that before there is a final solution, there must be a first solution, a second one, even a third. The move toward a final solution is not a jump. It takes one step, then another, then another. Toni Morrison I couldn’t but help feel a loss of hope this week. The discovery…
The Misnomer of Fox “News”
The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. Aldous Huxley In the press this week was a 2020 study of regular Fox News viewers who were paid to watch CNN for 30 days. The study showed that after the participants eschewed the Murdoch media outlet they became more skeptical and less likely to buy into fake news and misinformation. The study, titled “The manifold…
The Return of “Comstockery”
We change people through conversation, not through censorship. Jay-Z Book bans and the censorship of “sensitive subjects” are nothing new in the US. However, we are seeing an alarming epidemic of attacks on books that focus on race and LGBTQ+ issues. Parents, lawmakers, conservative activists, and even school board officials around the nation are challenging books at a blistering pace. Last year, The American Library Association…
KBJ’s Confirmation Hearings: Racist Spectacle
Whoever debases others debases himself. James Baldwin This week, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was subjected to a veritable circus of questioning by GOP lawmakers during three days of US Senate confirmation hearings. If confirmed, judge Jackson would be the very first African American woman to serve on the nation’s highest court. Jackson exhibits impeccable credentials: A graduate of…
Fiction, Lies and Propaganda
The ideal subject of a totalitarian state is not the convinced Nazi or Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (that is, the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (that is, the standards of thought) no longer exist. Hannah Arendt America (not just Russia) has a problem…
The Diversity Deficit in US Politics
Dissention, diversity, the grain of salt and mustard are needed: Fascism does not want them, forbids them, and that’s why you are not a Fascist; it wants everybody to be the same, but you are not. Primo Levi Two days ago the Florida state Senate passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill which seeks to ban “classroom discussion about…
Conservative America: Trans Youth are not a Threat
In the first week of 2022, almost a dozen states proposed anti-trans rights bills, and lawmakers in these states introduced at least nine measures this week that would limit the rights of nonbinary and transgender youth. Kansas senate bill SB484 seeks to restrict participation on women’s teams to female students; providing a cause of action for violations. Alabama house bill HB266 would prohibit procedures for minors intended to alter their gender appearance…
Self-Serve “Freedom Speak”
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4 This week there was a post on a local social media site that called on the residents of my community to…