202. PROGRESSING EVER BACKWARDS - Why This World and Not Another?

January 27, 2025 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Culture, Elections, History, Media, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Truth

“Trump is a symptom, not the sickness itself. There are other possible worlds where his overt peddling of misinformation and self-evident unfitness for office were immediate disqualifiers for an informed voting public. Where his allusions to Nazism and explicit fascistic authoritarianism were repulsive to us instead of something which won him votes. Where the intention disrupting of democratic institutions and surrounding himself with an oligarchy of tech billionaires rang alarm bells instead of raised cheers of support. That we do not live in one of those worlds should be the thing we ask the most questions about.“

200. WHAT ARE WE DOING TO OURSELVES? - Ethical Digital Hygiene

January 13, 2025 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Ethics, Mental Health, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Social Media, Technology

“why do I get news headlines sent to my phone?“

172. INFLUENCERS - Why Violent Video Games Must Make Us More Violent

December 03, 2023 by DaN McKee in Culture, Death, Education, Environment, Ethics, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Social Media, Teaching, Wrestling

“When you speak to a classroom of teenagers about the possibility that playing violent video games might make them violent, you can immediately see the smirks and ready yourself for their knee-jerk defensiveness. After all, they are the smirks and defensiveness you, yourself, have given in response to the same suggestion your whole life…“

150. YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN - Gary Lineker and The Myth of Impartiality

March 20, 2023 by DaN McKee in Censorship, Communication, Culture, Education, Epistemology, Ethics, Free Speech, Immigration, Meaning, Media, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Racism, School, Social Media, Sport, Television, Truth

“To not comment on the state of the world today is never to be impartial. It is to implicitly state a preference - a partiality - for maintaining things exactly as they are, inflammatory immigration policies and all.“

141. THE VALUE OF SOCIAL MEDIA - Does It Have Any?

January 09, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Ethics, Media, Mental Health, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Technology, Social Media

“I was struck by the idea that social media gives us a living example of what emotivism really would be like sufficient enough to demonstrate why Ayer is wrong about normal moral discourse. Places like Twitter or Facebook really are just expressing ‘boo’ or ‘hurrah’ about certain issues and moral discourse is rendered meaningless there.“

137. NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS - On Our Obligation to Stay Informed

November 21, 2022 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Communication, Culture, Elections, Meaning, Media, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Television, Technology

“If I told a colleague or friend that I have never watched Breaking Bad or watched The Godfather, they might be surprised, even incredulous, but they could not call me irresponsible. If I told them I didn’t watch the news, however, it would be a different order of outrage.“

136. NO GODS NO MASTER-DONS - Decolonising Twitter Migration

November 14, 2022 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Authentic Democracy, Communication, Culture, Education, Ethics, Immigration, Identity, Obligation, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Politics, Technology

“The site of struggle here being the realm of social media might seem trivial to some, and online colonisation lacks the bloodshed and brutality of historical imperialisms, but as a living model it has been instructive of the sorts of behaviours we see offline too.“

115. IS THIS A POST ABOUT WILL SMITH SLAPPING CHRIS ROCK? - Independent Media, Established Media and Power

April 04, 2022 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Politics, Media

“A few weeks ago someone suggested on Twitter that I write my next post about the relationship between the established media and power. “Is independent journalism a counter to the established media or just a rival for its central position?“

105. MY SPIDEY-SENSE WAS TINGLING - Have We Forgotten How To Deal With Conflict in Civil Society?

January 10, 2022 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Culture, Movies, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture

“sometimes living together means compromise and not doing exactly what you want.“

38. QUESTIONS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD - Some Concerns and Queries As COVID-19 Continues To Spread

March 23, 2020 by DaN McKee in Work, School, Politics, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Obligation, Mental Health, History, Ethics, Epistemology, Education, Culture, COVID19

“the world has changed. And here are the questions arising to me as it does…”

35. OUGHT WE FEAR A 'CANCEL CULTURE'? - Disentangling Fear From Fact

March 09, 2020 by DaN McKee in Improv, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Culture, Censorship, Free Speech

“The conservative narrative is the dominant cultural assumption of our daily news reporting and the framework within which even liberal media organisations must operate for their stories to make sense to audiences inducted into the norms of that predominant discourse. That this discourse - manufactured and disseminated by a whole industry of conservative think tanks, publishers, and strategists who have worked explicitly and intentionally to make it the dominant discourse since at least the 1970s - is also the view of the ruling political parties within the two specific countries - the UK and America - where worry has arisen about the silencing of conservatives, should be reason alone to be suspicious of the claim that such views are being censored.”