Based on your own experience, would you agree that people are more disconnected and lonely than they were five years ago? Is this mainly due to the aftereffects of anti-COVID measures, or are there other important factors? Obviously, loneliness can have an important negative impact on your mental but also physical health. What do you think about the US response in terms of a declaration by the Surgeon General or a bill allowing doctors to do “social prescribing”? To what extent is loneliness a problem that needs to be solved versus an experience that needs to be accepted and even embraced? Does our school (in terms of both staff and students) make a good effort to combat loneliness?
Friday, March 22, 2024
No toilets in this ladies’ room (not even a urinal by Duchamp)
Can the experience
of feeling unfairly excluded be an enlightening one for someone who is part of
the dominant group? What do you think
about women (or other groups who have been excluded historically) creating their
own exclusive spaces? Did Lau fall into Kaechele’s trap by suing her? What do you think about the fact that she turned
the trial into a kind of performance art?
Visibly Homeless
Do you find
the modern trend of the homeless setting up tents in public urban spaces disturbing? Should the government remove them at all costs,
or does their visibility help force the public to face the problem of
homelessness and its related causes? How
would you feel if your church (or another organization which you belong to)
decided to allow homeless people to camp on the premises?
What does it mean to you, Aretha? How about you, Azuka?
I have
sometimes noticed in Slovakia, as this Nigerian columnist does, that respect is
often given according to perceived status or wealth. Would you agree? What have been your experiences of giving and
receiving (or withholding and not receiving) respect? To what extent and in what circumstances
should respect be earned rather than freely received? What do you think about what this writer says
about treating criminals? Do
declarations of human rights by bodies like the UN help? Or do official words simply enable us to
pretend that we are actually doing something concrete about this issue?
Uncle Sam Wants You For Climate Corps. Nearest Recruiting Office.
This is the last entry you can comment on for late March to late April.
It is often
argued that the global warming and its effects constitute the most significant
crisis that the world is now facing. Is
putting boots on the ground a good way to help slow climate change or
mitigate its effects? Should tax monies
be devoted to this? Do you agree with
the author that the Biden administration’s program should be even more
extensive? Should the EU or Slovakia do
something like this? Would you join the
climate corps?
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Spacing out...
Is it good
that dispensing money on space travel is less popular than it was during the
space race? Or do we need the inspiration
that space programs can bring? Is this
just a natural result of our nature as a “questing species”? Should Slovakia get more involved and
invested in the EU space program? What do you think about the space ark?
You say disorder, I say diversity. Let‘s call the whole thing off.
How attracted
are you to the idea of neurodiversity?
Is this just another form of modern relativism? When can labels be helpful and when are they
harmful in terms of describing human brains/personalities? Do we lose something important when we drop
the concept of normal/abnormal?
Not a labor of love
Mercenaries
have often been despised since they kill others for money rather than because
of their beliefs or values (such as a desire to defend ones homeland or ethnic group). Is it understandable to you that someone from
a poor country would make a decision to work for a foreign army? Is this a career just like any other (with
its own moral ambiguities)?
Since I’m depressed, how about if I actively work to make my/our situation worse?
I can certainly
relate to the frustration which often results from trying to help a friend
overcome depression. What are your own
experiences? What do you think about
the advice given here for dealing with this difficult situation? Do we have a duty to help people in this situation
even if there is a cost to our own happiness?
America everywhere you look
This is the last entry you can comment on for late February to mid-March.
Do you feel that American culture is dominating the world? Are other cultures being silenced or repressed as a result? What can or should be done about this? Do you agree with the author in her assertion that this cultural dominance serves US political interests? Are there any possible positive aspects to this situation?
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Would you like a placebo for your headache?
Do you trust doctors? Is it sometimes necessary to lie to a patient in order to help them more effectively? Or for researchers to lie to gain important information about human health and psychology? This is not the only article I have read which indicates that placebos are somewhat effective even if the patient is aware that they are taking a placebo. Why do you think this is the case?
Wedding Woes
Do you like
going to weddings? Are traditional weddings a good thing, or have these
traditions become too restrictive? Can
you understand why brides (and grooms) are reluctant to spend a lot of
time and money on a wedding, or maybe would like to avoid any ceremony at
all? Could the anti-bride trend help
solve these problems or is it just a scam?
Emissions for me and negative impacts for thee
Does it outrage you that the countries who are most to blame for global warming are (for the most part) not those who have to deal with its consequences? What are some of the reasons for why money which was pledged to fight the causes and effects of climate change is not used for this? What can be done about this problem? Would raising awareness help?
Focusing on the fashion and family of female politicians
Reading
about the woes of the former Finnish PM made me think about the situation of Čaputová here in Slovakia. Do you agree
with this article's claim that citizens do not have an overall bias against
female politicians? Their evidence for
this is cross-national. Might Slovakia
be an exception? What has your experience
of the media coverage of women in politics been? Should the media change how they cover female
candidates and politicians? How?
(Half) Gay Marriage
This is the last entry you can comment on for mid-January to mid-February.
This is an article about how two films (one Indian and one American) depict marriages between a gay man and a straight woman. I am aware that this sort of thing often happens in Slovakia as well, seemingly because it allows gay men to hide their homosexuality from a hostile society and also to raise a family. There are obvious problems with such arrangements of course. Could making homosexual marriage legal help? Looking at it from a different angle, can a marriage be happy without a sexual component? (You can also comment on one or both of the films and how they depict this situation if you have seen them.)
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