It's hard to ignore the major and catastrophic man-made events that have been underway in the world for the past couple of years. Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, and others. They dominate our headlines and our minds. I've written about them directly and indirectly many times, including this post on moral disengagement from a few weeks ago, and this short one on the problem with human beings. I wonder if …
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I’ve been publishing Sunday Letters in one form or another since 2015. It is a conversation with myself, an exploration into the human condition amidst an alienating and destructive technocapitalist system of living. Subscribe and join in the conversation.
Chomsky: People Satisfied With Their Work Live Longer, Are Healthier & Happier
Call me a socialist, or perhaps even an anarchist. Not anarchist in the violent revolutionary sense that most people understand it, but in the original sense. Anarchists believe that the objective of society is to expand the choices and freedoms of its people, rather than restrict them. Anarchists emphasise the importance of individual liberty and freedom from domination, offering a positive …
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The Ceramic Vs The Organic Worldview
Today in Sunday Letters, I am revisiting a topic I have written on before, an updated version of one I published in Nov 2023. Broadly speaking, there are two ways of viewing the world: the Ceramic (or hydraulic) view and the Organic view. The Ceramic worldview is individualistic and sees the world as concrete, solid, measurable, and definable. The world and everything in it, including people, is …
Those Who Can’t Do, Teach
Those who can't do, teach. Isn't that what they say?It's a cutting taunt that highlights a dichotomy between the doers and the thinkers — a chasm between two attitudes toward life. Advocates of this idea suggest that theory-based learning has little value in the practical, hands-on, day-to-day doing of work. It says that those pursuing a teaching career are somehow inept in the real-world matters …
Bandura on Selective Moral Disengagement
As I observe this world of people, it seems that moral disengagement is active everywhere, not least among politicians and corporate leaders. In the workplace, for example, many choose to ignore immoral and unethical practices. We put our heads down, blinkers on, and just get on with the work when we know very well that what is going on is unacceptable. For example, when a colleague is mistreated …
Sunday Letters: Welcome Back
I wrote to you earlier this week on Substack with the news that Sunday Letters was making its way home to this website. This current issue is, in fact, the first time that Sunday Letters reaches your inbox directly from the backend of this self-hosted WordPress site. Before now, I relied on third-party services such as MailChimp or Substack. From now on, I'll handle each issue with the tech on …