Category:

Free Speech: a Tool for the Oppressed or the Oppressors?

Freedom of expression, while legislated to a greater or lesser degree depending on the state in question, remains a foundational right of every liberal democracy in the world. The wide adoption of this humanistic ideal between the 18th and 19th centuries revolutionized a formerly exclusive landscape of social and political expression. The issue then was a generally monolithic and massively repressive social order, to which the codification of free speech provided a necessary counterbalance. The issue today, in our increasingly interconnected world, however, is a new hazard of informational liberty. The dizzying scale of online informational resources and opinion sharing platforms has massively diluted the quality and integrity of our political discourse. The apparent question, then… does free speech always make us more free?

Posted On : Published By : John Bollinger
Category:

The Politics of Distrust: Anti-Intellectualism as Laying the Groundwork for Populist Revolution

The ever-expanding tide of populist discourse and behaviour casts a shadow over the political landscape of the 21st century. This unquestionable swell of populist sentiment among national leaders has increasingly converged with another ideological weapon: anti-intellectualism. Defined loosely as an “opposition or hostility to intellectual reasoning,” this ethos has rapidly spread across the west, and has been purposefully cultivated within the American electorate. Specifically, issues such as government response to Covid-19, global climate change, and immigration reform have been brought to the forefront of political debate, only to be engaged with in bad faith for political triumph in the country’s ongoing “culture war.” This article will examine the campaign and general approach of populist leader President Donald J. Trump. This will be done through the lens of this dual-weapon strategy and the use of concepts issued from the works of Hannah Arendt.

Posted On : Published By : John Bollinger
Category:

Aristotle, Citizenship, and the Question of Status In Modern “Democracies”

Under the Aristotelian framework, the political participation of individuals within modern representative democracies does not constitute true citizenship. The vast majority of those now considered to be citizens would, under Aristotle’s model, be more aptly described as resident aliens, true citizenry only being enjoyed by the class of elected officials. This article suggests representative democracy to be a system closer to aristocracy or oligarchy. 

Posted On : Published By : John Bollinger