A Thinking Reed

  • This is your country on war

    I don’t usually describe things as “must read,” but this article on returning Iraq vets (via Jim Henley) surely qualifies.

  • WASM 3: The fox and the hound (and the mink and the seal)

    (See previous posts here and here.) In the central chapters (3-5) of Why Animal Suffering Matters, Linzey critically examines three practices: sport hunting (focusing on hunting with dogs in the UK); fur farming; and seal hunting, particularly the Candian seal hunt. I was surprised that there was no chapter on raising animals for food, since…

  • Democratizing the Fed

    I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a particularly good grasp on the complex and recondite issues surrounding the Fed and monetary policy, but William Greider (who literally wrote the book on the Fed) lays out the case for making it more accountable and transparent in the latest Nation. Crucially, he says…

  • Friday Metal: Despised Icon, “Furtive Monologue”/ “In the Arms of Perdition”

    Okay, these guys make Alice in Chains sound like Britney Spears. I like how they have two singers to get the full range of incomprehensible screams and guttural growls:

  • Quote of the day

    Comes from Matt Yglesias: Personally, I consider myself someone who enjoys nostalgia. But this article (via Alyssa Rosenberg) about the boom in twentysomething nostalgia mostly reminded me of bad times via the phrase “three of the biggest bands of the period — Blink-182, Limp Bizkit and Creed — have each reunited for summer tours.” What…

  • WASM 2: Engaging the powers

    Having established the moral significance of animal suffering, Linzey goes on in chapter 2 to ask why, if the importance of animal suffering is so clear, has it been so often ignored? After all, as Stephen R. L. Clark has pointed out, it’s hard to identify a more obvious moral truism than “Avoid being the…

  • “Statism” revisited

    John makes some fair points in his response to this post. In particular, I probably did paint with too broad a brush in characterizing conservatives and libertarians as “mostly deny[ing] that [the environment, health care, etc.] are problems and/or that government has any role in addressing them.” At the same time, John is painting what…

  • WASM 1: The difference that difference makes

    In chapter 1 of Why Animal Suffering Matters, Linzey identifies several differences between humans and non-human animals that are typically offered as justifications for disregarding the interests of animals. In a neat twist, though, he aims to show that, properly understood, they call for a greater consideration of animal interests. Animals as natural slaves: Aristotle…

  • Statism

    “Statism” is a word that obscures more than it clarifies. Conservatives and libertarians tend to use it for any government program they don’t like. But everyone who’s not an anarchist admits the need of a state of some sort. The question is what the appropriate duties of the state are. Hence, I don’t find this…

  • Boldly not going

    At the risk of sounding crassly utilitarian, I think it’s frankly a dumb idea to send manned space missions to Mars (or even back to the Moon) when there are plenty of problems here on planet Earth whose amelioration could benefit from that sort of concerted national effort and cash (take your pick: extreme poverty,…