Why the Political Left Should Love America
Jerusalem Demsas and Martha Nussbaum both argue the left must reclaim love of country. On America's 250th birthday, why patriotism belongs to progressives too — and why ceding it is dangerous.
Articles for category: American Society
Are you an APOCALOPTIMIST? I am.
Tristan Harris's "apocaloptimism" — political activism for a pro-human AI future — may be missing something crucial: *the anti-human present is already here.* Drawing on queer theory, Pauline theology, and a revealing visit to Judson Memorial Church, this post argues that the proliferation of AIs reflects our collective exhaustion with the tedium of modern life and its normative authorities. Where the church offers the tired prescription of more God-talk, AIs may be better positioned to help people pursue the intimate lives they actually want. Against the mainline Protestant culture of self-care as mourning past intimate lives, the Pauline command to simply "love one another" points toward something both livelier and queerer. With Harris, and against him, the author lands as an apocaloptimist — betting that honest reckoning with the revelation of our anti-human present can still open toward a more human future.
February 19, 2026
Placental Relations: Theology, Viability, and Roe v. Wade
What if Roe v. Wade was wiser than either its defenders or its critics realized? In this post, I take an unconventional path through medieval theology, Peter Sloterdijk's philosophy of the placenta, and Hildegard of Bingen's vision of ensoulment to argue that the Roe Court's viability standard wasn't arbitrary legal improvisation — it was judicial wisdom rooted in a remarkably consistent convergence of theological tradition and modern medicine. Along the way, I make the case that consistent originalism actually leads to a more radical pro-choice conclusion than Roe ever did, and that Dobbs, for all its claims of constitutional fidelity, is just as extra-legal as the decision it overturned — only less honest about it.
January 28, 2026
It’s Giving (Momma) Bear: On the Way Out of Goals, Passion, and Misery
A queer reading of *The Bear,* passion, pleasure, and the surprising power of love to free us from the misery of goals.
November 6, 2025
The Anti-Homoness of Straight Hipster Politics: On Homo Family Values and the Question of Political Change
Hipster irony is just more of the same: straight (male) resentment and self-righteousness masquerading as progressive politics.
October 2, 2025
You probably think this algorithm is about you. It’s not.
No because the algorithm isn't about you?! You won’t go viral talking to yourself, but you will feel miserable again. That's good news.
September 11, 2025
The Politics of Unity
There's no escaping the pull of unity. We are born out of its exclusions. But unity’s regulatory power is not entirely within its direction.
September 11, 2025
The Murder of Charlie Kirk
If you encourage cruelty, why are you surprised when you receive it? If you live by the sword, why is it surprising when you die by it, too?
