Columns
Hatred, Women, and the Arab Spring
Just as scholarship requires generalization, the “monolith” argument is a polemical tool that can be used in any context as a defensive ploy.
Nothing Succeeds Like Success
Not a lot about politics is fair, but one thing that is, is that in well-functioning democracies like France (or really any country with a less rigid system than the United States’), policies that succeed in producing widely shared prosperity are rewarded at the ballot box.
When Good Men Do Nothing
To continue trading human rights in exchange for the false hope of limited reforms is to abandon the people of Cuba. Per Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Bowling Beyond Harvard
I asked Murray what members of my graduating class could do, the 22 year-olds who will leave the Harvard bubble in May, but he answered with a gloomy outlook. “Not much,” he said. “A great deal of social capital…is generated by the exigencies of family.”
Our Blessing, Our Curse
One of the great innovations of the modern world is not only how many different types of things we have, but also how useful those things have become.
Be Aggressive!
Feminism at Harvard is too cautious, too fearful of disagreement to erase gender inequality at the school.
Karthinking About Partying
This week—with my last column ever—I’d like to Karthink about my morally hazardous justification for the benefit of my similarly hesitant peers: Partying all May will make you live longer.
The Productivity of Social Space
As we listened to him explain British crown loyalty, students played pool, bought each other drinks, and admired one man who had decided to wear a brassiere on his head.
A Matter of Perspective
Although being a global citizen implies extensive travel and some familiarity with foreign languages and conspicuous aspects of cultures such as food and drink, the concept should really be defined by one’s ability to engage with and adopt different perspectives meaningfully when viewing the world.
Race on the Stage
Although theatre is universally meaningful, this skewed makeup of the performing corps makes it seem less so.
Serious About Syria
This last year in Syria demonstrates that although the international world’s bark is louder, its bite is still weak.
Civility in the Service of Brutality
We must learn to see through the pleas for humanity when they are used quite shamelessly to cover up inhumanity, and to discern with clarity when the word civility becomes a ploy to distract us from the incivility we are not meant to notice.
Reading, 'Rithmetic, and Religion
Due to its role in fostering pluralism, informed political decisions, and tolerance, a comparative religion course does far more to preserve the fundamental tenets of the United States than undermine them.
How You Say “Broke” in T-Bills
In a situation like the current one, running a balanced budget would be positively irresponsible, a huge wasted opportunity.
The Clock Strikes Midnight
From Spain to France and the United Kingdom, protests blaming the government for economic plight have swelled. The protesters and workers of Europe are right to be frustrated, but they are frustrated for all of the wrong reasons.
