A Solutions-based Approach to Social Justice
The glowing horseshoe in the figure above is at the optimal point Matt Haig discusses in How to Stop Time. This optimal point exists in many things. Not enough of the independent variable and the dependent variable is not maximized.…
Virginia Board of Education: Transgender Policy
This blog builds on Critical Thinking and Policy Development and Analysis, Critical Thinking: Logic and Rationality, Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Key Components and Dimensions, Critical Thinking: Bounded Rationality and Time, Critical Thinking: Credence and Veracity, and A Solutions-Based Approach…
Reconstructing History, Part 10: Means, Motive, and Opportunity
Many of us have seen at least a few episodes of police procedurals and are familiar with the concept of “means, motive, and opportunity”. It is not a new concept. I remember reading about it as a kid in my…
Re-constructing History, Part 8: First, Do no Harm
The Hippocratic Oath enjoins the doctor to “first, do no harm”. I suspect most of the advocates of Social Justice movements think they do no harm and a great deal of good. I suspect that is not the case…
Reconstructing History, Part 7: Conflict, History, and the Future
Figure 1 The Punctured Equilibrium on the Path of History We come to the key aspect of why the education institution focuses on re-writing history. Education is the most important function in a republic in the Age of Knowledge.…
Reconstructing History, Part 6: Culture, History, and the Future
Culture is a difficult topic. For some, any discussion of culture, especially looking at them objectively for the results they produce, is a third rail. I discussed this at length in Part 5—Does Culture Matter? of the Maskirovka series. Part…
Reconstructing History, Part 5: The Education Institution and Creating History
Before we get too far into this discussion, let us look at the concept of “institution”. From an academic perspective, Ostrom and North provide two complementary definitions. Elinor Ostrom, in her path-breaking book, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of…
Reconstructing History, Part 3: Social Justice Movements
There is clearly merit in some arguments of social justice warriors (SJW). American has a racist past. Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 was a dark stain on American liberty and freedom. But at least since Brown v. Board of Education…
Reconstructing History, Part 2: The Maskirovka of History
Traditional wisdom is the state has a monopoly the power to enact laws and compel their enforcement. As the Commander of CJTF-180 in Afghanistan once told me, “that briefs well, but can you do it?” Over the relevant range of…
Using the Education Institution to Create History, Part 1: Introduction
The destruction and rebuilding of American history is not an act of eminent domain. However, usurpation of power and control has similar attributes. As a reasonably well-educated student, I had read and studied the statement that the victors write history.…
