I remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment, and the months leading up to it. I remember him saying emphatically, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” Even when he admitted to having had sexual relations with a subordinate in a workplace provided by taxpayers, he claimed it was a “private” matter. And the…
Category: Essays
Uniting Against Milo: How to Practice Empathy Across the Political Spectrum
February began with University of California Berkeley canceling a planned lecture by controversial alt-Right speaker Milo Yiannopoulos following violent protests opposed to his appearance. Conservatives referred to the decision as censorship by “leftist cowards” organizing a “liberal lynch mob.” Some accused UC-Berkeley itself of censorship, even though the decision was motived by public safety, not opposition to Yiannopoulos’s…
Bullies Playing the Victim
A recent cartoon by Conservative Glen McCoy shows newly-confirmed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos being escorted by four faceless men in suits past a wall spray-painted with the graffito “Conservative.” DeVos was recently blocked from the front entrance of a school in Washington, D. C. The cartoon’s historical reference is to Norman Rockwell’s “The Problem…
Growing Beyond the White Savior
A viral video recently circulated showing a black male teacher greeting each student in his elementary school class with a different handshake. It was praised as a teacher engaging with his students on their own terms. Shortly after, a second video emerged. I will discuss the second video, but my comments on it require some…
A Picture’s Thousand Words: Whitewashing Our Culture
It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I recently saw a photograph whose context spoke volumes. A little over a week ago, Donald Trump issued an Executive Order regarding the entry of non-citizens from seven countries. Even long-term residents holding green cards were at risk of being detained at the border. In one…
Defending Truth: Winning the War on Fact
When Chuck Todd of “Meet the Press” accused Sean Spicer of spreading “falsehoods,” Presidential spokesperson KellyAnne Conway called them “alternative facts.” Social media erupted with mockery of the term, making up other wishful thinking “falsehoods.” This is the next step in the evolution on the ongoing attempt by certain portions of society to undermine the importance of…
The Assault in Chicago and BLM’s Clear and Proper Response
This year began with a brutal, violent act: Four black adults apparently tortured a white man with special needs for several days in Chicago, livestreaming on Facebook portions of the assault. The next week, in a superficially unrelated story, a white man was sentenced to death for killing nine black people in an attack at the Emanuel…
Social Anxiety and the Highly Sensitive Person: A Reflection
I recently posted a meme on my personal Facebook account admitting to having an anxiety disorder. I prefaced it with a paragraph of neurotic text criticizing the meme for being the wrong color, then faux-mocking myself for the meta-criticism. I am a highly sensitive person with social anxiety. I use humor to deflect from dealing…
Creating a Non-Toxic Masculinity
Welcome to 2017. At long last, 2016 is over. Last year saw the election of a President seen by many people as representing some of the worst aspects of what it means to be a man: Sexually aggressive (in word, at least), dismissive of women, bullying the vulnerable, and aggressive towards criticism. In the wake of…
Using Privilege as Opportunity, Recognizing Privilege as Default
Merry Christmas! I hope that Santa brought you everything you wanted this year. I wrote that greeting because it’s December 25th, and I live in the United States. According to Pew Research Center, nearly three-fourths of Americans identify as Christian. While I don’t identify that way, it’s not unusual for me to say “Merry Christmas.”…