Dangerous Intersection https://dangerousintersection.org Human Animals at the Crossroads of Science, Religion, Media and Culture Thu, 30 Jan 2025 19:37:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 2851851 Reframing Anxiety as the Exciting Opportunity to Support the Eternally Radical Idea of Free Speech https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/30/reframing-anxiety-as-the-exciting-opportunity-to-support-the-eternally-radical-idea-of-free-speech/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reframing-anxiety-as-the-exciting-opportunity-to-support-the-eternally-radical-idea-of-free-speech&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reframing-anxiety-as-the-exciting-opportunity-to-support-the-eternally-radical-idea-of-free-speech https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/30/reframing-anxiety-as-the-exciting-opportunity-to-support-the-eternally-radical-idea-of-free-speech/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2025 19:36:10 +0000 https://dangerousintersection.org/?p=41550 Greg Lukianoff offers a history lesson starting with Henry VIII’s battle with the effects of the printing press. He then turns his attention toward those who seek censorship as the remedy for feeling anxious at ever-new revelations that many of our institutions (including colleges) are dysfunctional, even corrupted to such an extent that they are betraying their stated missions:

What’s happening now is why the free and open exchange of ideas will always be radical. Yes, what the future is going to look like seems a lot less clear. Yes, we’re living through a crisis of authority. Yes, we’re questioning the legitimacy and necessity of our institutions. But those institutions and authorities don’t deserve our blind loyalty. And they showed their cards when they went after the eternally radical idea — when they answered “the problem” of free speech with new speech codes, byzantine taboos, and cancellation campaigns.

The institutions and individuals that stand the test of this era will be those who show integrity and principle, those who tell the truth even when it’s inconvenient or unpopular. That’s what happened in the Enlightenment with figures like Voltaire and Diderot, Smith and Hume, Franklin and Madison. It’s also what we’re seeing now on platforms like Substack, where individuals and institutions with integrity and courage are finding new ways to lead.

I’m proud to say that FIRE is one of those institutions. We’ve had the courage to be non-partisan in a partisan world. Through all the tumult, we’ve defended free speech,

…]]>
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Tulsi Gabbard’s Indictment of the US Deep State https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/30/tulsi-gabbards-indictment-of-the-us-deep-state/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tulsi-gabbards-indictment-of-the-us-deep-state&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tulsi-gabbards-indictment-of-the-us-deep-state https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/30/tulsi-gabbards-indictment-of-the-us-deep-state/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2025 17:44:32 +0000 https://dangerousintersection.org/?p=41544 Tulsi Gabbard’s opening indictment of the US deep state is spot on and factually uncontroversial, yet it will infuriate those who have have decided that their tribe is more important than their duty to think for themselves, Like so many others (including me), Tulsi was a longtime Democrat who became disgusted at the corruption of the Democratic party.

Screenshot 2025 01 30 at 11.35.47 AM

And for those who haven’t yet seen Chuck Schumer’s statement:

Screenshot 2025 01 30 at 11.41.45 AM

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Václav Havel: The Sickness of Being Unwilling to Say What One is Thinking https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/27/vaclav-havel-the-sickness-of-being-unwilling-to-say-what-one-is-thinking/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vaclav-havel-the-sickness-of-being-unwilling-to-say-what-one-is-thinking&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vaclav-havel-the-sickness-of-being-unwilling-to-say-what-one-is-thinking https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/27/vaclav-havel-the-sickness-of-being-unwilling-to-say-what-one-is-thinking/#respond Mon, 27 Jan 2025 18:15:58 +0000 https://dangerousintersection.org/?p=41540 Douglas Murray, discussing The 1989 Address of the newly elected Czechoslovakian President Václav Havel:

The central theme of the essay…is that truth is inescapable. We can run away from the truth; we can pretend that lies are facts; we can pretend that there is no such thing as objective reality. But reality always manages to force its way into our consciousness. The dissident does not really choose to become a dissident. Dissidence is forced upon a person, born from a painful but unavoidable tension with the external world, an awareness of the suffocating, subjugating power of myth.

“The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment,” Havel said in his 1990 address. “We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore one another, to care only about ourselves.”

The most devastating effect of this contamination, Havel explained, is a melting away of real emotions and relationships—a grotesque atomization that leaves us feeling deeply alone, misunderstood, frightened.

“Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility or forgiveness lost their depth and dimension, and for many of us they represented only psychological peculiarities, or they resembled gone-astray greetings from ancient times, a little ridiculous in the era of computers and spaceships,” he added.

…]]>
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About Focusing on One’s Priorities https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/27/about-focusing-on-ones-priorities/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=about-focusing-on-ones-priorities&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=about-focusing-on-ones-priorities https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/27/about-focusing-on-ones-priorities/#respond Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:55:37 +0000 https://dangerousintersection.org/?p=41536 “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”
Socrates

As a gift to myself this year, I’ve been doubling-down on my need to spent my waning hours my intentionally. Waning? I’m 68, so I’ve already lived most of my life. That said, I’m in good physical shape and I’m passionate about my work as a civil rights attorney (especially First Amendment). Every day I treasure opportunities to engage with friends and family, especially the love of my life, Beverly, who I met one year ago today. I am a serious musician and an exhibiting artist. I’m lucky in more ways than I can count.

But numbers don’t lie. Last year I made an intrepid assumption that I’ll live about 20 more years. Simple math reveals that this is only 240 more months. Last month went quickly. In fact, the better I am at living a mindful, principled and socially engaged life, the more quickly the months flash by. My endgame: If I’m really fortunate, I’ll be able to look back at my 20 year Plan and consider that it was a life well-lived, which will make it much easier to deal with my inevitable decay and death. But how do I keep on track, giving my cravings to attend to more things than I can possibly absorb?

This year I committed to unsubscribing from emails lists that seemed like good ideas at the time. There are also many commercial emails that keep popping in, unsolicited. In the past few weeks, I …

]]>
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About Men in Women’s Prisons https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/24/about-men-in-womens-prisons/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=about-men-in-womens-prisons&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=about-men-in-womens-prisons https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/24/about-men-in-womens-prisons/#respond Fri, 24 Jan 2025 18:17:43 +0000 https://dangerousintersection.org/?p=41531 I personally know “Elizabeth Bennett” and trust her information.

Screenshot 2025 01 24 at 12.13.25 PM

“Husband is an ER doc. He has repeatedly seen female prisoners come in pregnant or sexually assaulted by male prisoners who are housed with them because they state that they identify as female. The prison nurses generally think this situation is awful and are angry about it.”…

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<![CDATA[ <p><a href="https://eternallyradicalidea.com/p/institutional-decay-henry-viiis-big?utm_source=post-email-title&#038;publication_id=1916753&#038;post_id=155957441&#038;utm_campaign=email-post-title&#038;isFreemail=true&#038;r=rid4&#038;triedRedirect=true&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;fbclid=IwY2xjawIIseBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQ-PQk4n0XQTrrRDK6uK5UmgGPg7hPo2DGAG6dDKbAw4I2dIegFL5uX-eg_aem_J9uqAk39z4vGJ0yVp9t6gg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Greg Lukianoff offers</a> a history lesson starting with Henry VIII&#8217;s battle with the effects of the printing press. He then turns his attention toward those who seek censorship as the remedy for feeling anxious at ever-new revelations that many of our institutions (including colleges) are dysfunctional, even corrupted to such an extent that they are betraying their stated missions:</p> <blockquote><p>What’s happening now is why the free and open exchange of ideas will always be radical. Yes, what the future is going to look like seems a lot less clear. Yes, we’re living through a crisis of authority. Yes, we’re questioning the legitimacy and necessity of our institutions. But those institutions and authorities don&#8217;t deserve our blind loyalty. And they showed their cards when they went after the eternally radical idea — when they answered “the problem” of free speech with new speech codes, byzantine taboos, and cancellation campaigns.</p> <p>The institutions and individuals that stand the test of this era will be those who show integrity and principle, those who tell the truth even when it’s inconvenient or unpopular. That’s what happened in the Enlightenment with figures like Voltaire and Diderot, Smith and Hume, Franklin and Madison. It’s also what we’re seeing now on platforms like Substack, where individuals and institutions with integrity and courage are finding new ways to lead.</p> <p>I’m proud to say that FIRE is one of those institutions. We&#8217;ve had the courage to be non-partisan in a partisan world. Through all the tumult, we’ve defended free speech, </p></blockquote>&#8230; ]]>
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<title>Tulsi Gabbard’s Indictment of the US Deep State</title>
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<![CDATA[ <p>Tulsi Gabbard&#8217;s opening indictment of the US deep state is spot on and factually uncontroversial, yet it will infuriate those who have have decided that their tribe is more important than their duty to think for themselves, Like so many others (including me), Tulsi was a longtime Democrat who became disgusted at the corruption of the Democratic party.</p> <p><a href="https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1885013909490274776" target="_blank"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-41545" src="http://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-30-at-11.35.47 AM.png" alt="Screenshot 2025 01 30 at 11.35.47 AM" width="479" height="484" title="Tulsi Gabbard&#039;s Indictment of the US Deep State 1" srcset="https://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-30-at-11.35.47 AM.png 479w, https://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-30-at-11.35.47 AM-297x300.png 297w" sizes="(max-width: 479px) 100vw, 479px"/></a></p> <p>And for those who haven&#8217;t yet seen Chuck Schumer&#8217;s statement:</p> <p><a href="https://x.com/ZelenyAngela/status/1885014581082546267" target="_blank"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-41546" src="http://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-30-at-11.41.45 AM.png" alt="Screenshot 2025 01 30 at 11.41.45 AM" width="475" height="325" title="Tulsi Gabbard&#039;s Indictment of the US Deep State 2" srcset="https://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-30-at-11.41.45 AM.png 475w, https://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-30-at-11.41.45 AM-300x205.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px"/></a>&#8230;</p> ]]>
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<title>Václav Havel: The Sickness of Being Unwilling to Say What One is Thinking</title>
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<![CDATA[ Erich Vieth ]]>
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<![CDATA[ <p>Douglas Murray, discussing The 1989 Address of the newly elected Czechoslovakian President Václav Havel:</p> <blockquote><p>The central theme of the essay&#8230;is that truth is inescapable. We can run away from the truth; we can pretend that lies are facts; we can pretend that there is no such thing as objective reality. But reality always manages to force its way into our consciousness. The dissident does not really choose to become a dissident. Dissidence is forced upon a person, born from a painful but unavoidable tension with the external world, an awareness of the suffocating, subjugating power of myth.</p> <p>“The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment,” Havel said in his 1990 address. “We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore one another, to care only about ourselves.”</p> <p>The most devastating effect of this contamination, Havel explained, is a melting away of real emotions and relationships—a grotesque atomization that leaves us feeling deeply alone, misunderstood, frightened.</p> <p>“Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility or forgiveness lost their depth and dimension, and for many of us they represented only psychological peculiarities, or they resembled gone-astray greetings from ancient times, a little ridiculous in the era of computers and spaceships,” he added.</p></blockquote>&#8230; ]]>
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<![CDATA[ Erich Vieth ]]>
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<![CDATA[ <p>&#8220;Beware the barrenness of a busy life.&#8221;<br /> Socrates</p> <p>As a gift to myself this year, I&#8217;ve been doubling-down on my need to spent my waning hours my intentionally. Waning? I&#8217;m 68, so I&#8217;ve already lived most of my life. That said, I&#8217;m in good physical shape and I&#8217;m passionate about my work as a civil rights attorney (especially First Amendment). Every day I treasure opportunities to engage with friends and family, especially the love of my life, Beverly, who I met one year ago today. I am a serious musician and an exhibiting artist. I&#8217;m lucky in more ways than I can count.</p> <p>But numbers don&#8217;t lie. Last year I made an intrepid assumption that I&#8217;ll live about 20 more years. Simple math reveals that this is only 240 more months. Last month went quickly. In fact, the better I am at living a mindful, principled and socially engaged life, the more quickly the months flash by. My endgame: If I&#8217;m really fortunate, I&#8217;ll be able to look back at my 20 year Plan and consider that it was a life well-lived, which will make it much easier to deal with my inevitable decay and death. But how do I keep on track, giving my cravings to attend to more things than I can possibly absorb?</p> <p>This year I committed to unsubscribing from emails lists that seemed like good ideas at the time. There are also many commercial emails that keep popping in, unsolicited. In the past few weeks, I &#8230;</p> ]]>
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<title>About Men in Women’s Prisons</title>
<link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2025/01/24/about-men-in-womens-prisons/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=about-men-in-womens-prisons&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=about-men-in-womens-prisons</link>
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<![CDATA[ Erich Vieth ]]>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jan 2025 18:17:43 +0000</pubDate>
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<![CDATA[ <p>I personally know <a href="https://x.com/ebennett74/status/1882819499705164174?s=43" target="_blank">&#8220;Elizabeth Bennett&#8221;</a> and trust her information.</p> <p><a href="https://x.com/ebennett74/status/1882819499705164174?s=43" target="_blank"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-41532" src="http://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-12.13.25 PM.png" alt="Screenshot 2025 01 24 at 12.13.25 PM" width="398" height="481" title="About Men in Women&#039;s Prisons 3" srcset="https://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-12.13.25 PM.png 472w, https://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-12.13.25 PM-248x300.png 248w" sizes="(max-width: 398px) 100vw, 398px"/></a></p> <p>&#8220;Husband is an ER doc. He has repeatedly seen female prisoners come in pregnant or sexually assaulted by male prisoners who are housed with them because they state that they identify as female. The prison nurses generally think this situation is awful and are angry about it.&#8221;&#8230;</p> ]]>
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