Flexitarians have decreased risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes and reduced risk of cancer
For a number of years, I talked about becoming a vegetarian. I could see the health and environmental benefits, but completely removing meat seemed a bit extreme for my tastes. I recently discovered flexitarianism, a vegetarian diet where one eats meat occasionally. I limit my intake of meat and seafood, but I can still enjoy…
Ours is a culture of dogmatism. And we buy into it when we put others into ideological boxes
A wise person once wrote, “On their deathbed, no one ever said, ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.’” There’s nothing wrong with being good in our chosen profession, but there’s certainly much more to a person’s life. My family recently said goodbye to our 89-year-old father. It’s very interesting to listen to…
Gun control is one of many issues on which American elected officials are far out of sync with constituents
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is one of the most esteemed personalities in the National Basketball Association. After yet another school shooting in the United States, this time at an elementary school in Texas – following a mass shooting at a grocery store and another at a church – Kerr spoke up. His righteous…
There’s nothing more significant than living with meaning
There’s nothing more significant than living with meaning. This is the concept pondered by the Jewish psychiatrist Viktor Frankl as he struggled to remain alive for three years in Nazi concentration camps. Frankl established the groundwork for his psychological theory on the importance of finding meaning in life before he was sent to Auschwitz. He…
Language and culture played a big role in helping the Irish survive and fueled their cultural renaissance
Decolonization is a word we often hear in Canada. In essence, it means to remove the colonial. That can mean different things to different people, and misconceptions often cause fear. Perhaps finding a relatively successful example of decolonization in process can help us understand the concept. Ireland was one of the first countries colonized by…
Proved to be an effective negotiator while president, especially when dealing with dictators
Many people in the political mainstream will say, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day” when they discuss the viewpoints of left-leaning public intellectual Noam Chomsky. They will often say the same thing about Donald Trump, who is supported by the far right. Chomsky and Trump agree on issues far less than twice…
There is no evidence to support Jordan Peterson’s criticism of the Canadian education system
Public intellectuals offer valuable insights into understanding the world around us. They may not always be right but evaluating the validity of their arguments is a valuable exercise for any self-reflective citizen. Two of the most popular public intellectuals today are Noam Chomsky and Jordan Peterson. Chomsky leans to the left and Peterson leans to…
Cancel culture plays right into the wheelhouse of those who are angry, fearful and manipulative
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ‘cancel culture’ as “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass cancelling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.” This is nothing new; we see numerous examples of what we now call cancel culture in history. Society cancelled people it disapproved of during witch hunts. The aristocracy was…
Leaders in NATO countries are guilty of crimes against humanity, yet only Africans are tried
In recent months, words like genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes have been used extensively in the media. These are important legal terms, and they shouldn’t be used loosely. Using them as political weapons risks making them meaningless. The word ‘genocide’ was coined in 1944 by Polish-Jewish law professor Raphael Lemkin after he studied…
How is the Russian invasion of Ukraine different from the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq?
American writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Fiction reveals the truth that reality obscures.” I admit I’ve never been a great fan of fiction; I prefer writing that spells out the author’s perspective on what’s actually happening in the world. But there are times when nothing speaks the truth more effectively than a great…