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Continue reading →: What Makes Gangster Films Great: Scarface (1932)Underneath the veneer of a classy Italian gentleman lies a heart corrupted by crime. For although they often hold themselves up as moral men with standards who are just in a dirty business, they all become tainted as their moral compass is seared. And eventually, they all fall under the…
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Continue reading →: Hollywood Satire: His Girl Friday (1940)His Girl Friday (1940) is about one domineering newspaperman’s attempts to win his ex-wife back before she marries an insurance salesman. But he does not try this through conventional means and sweet-talk. He does this by pulling her back into the world of journalism, which convinces her that she loves…
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Continue reading →: Jan Narveson: Why Charity is OptionalThe million-dollar question is whether we have a responsibility to feed the hungry. Although Narveson says it is a morally admirable thing to do, he also says it is not a responsibility. The problem, as he points out, is that even if you accept a utilitarian premise, there is no…
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Continue reading →: ‘The Bad and the Beautiful’ (1951): The Cost of Hollywood’s Studio SystemThe Bad and the Beautiful (1951) is a film about the rise and fall of a young and ambitious Hollywood producer named Jonathan Shields. On his way to the top, he screws over three people: a director, an actress, and a writer. But even though they hate him, his brilliance…
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Continue reading →: Have Robbery Statistics Improved? Do Our Perceptions About Crime Reflect Reality?Our attitudes about the world are one thing, and they can be remarkably strong. But reality is another thing, and it can be something very different. This happens because our attitudes are affected by far more than just reality. They are affected by things such as longstanding religious beliefs and…
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Continue reading →: Conflict Theory on Illegalized MarijuanaAs we study the nature and behavior of cultures and societies, there’s often a disparity between what’s legal and what’s socially acceptable (Conerly et al 2021). For example, cheating on your wife is very scandalous. Your friends will probably judge you. They may even ostracize you. But will the justice…
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Continue reading →: Stare Decisis: Should the courts follow precedent when precedent is wrong?The Issue: Stare Decisis The U.S. Supreme Court is very controversial today. Some people think we need a strong Supreme Court to maintain a horizontal separation of powers between the three federal branches of government. Others think a strong court creates a duopoly of power between the executive and judicial…
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Continue reading →: The Survival LotteryJohn Harris tries to defend the idea of using an advanced computer that chooses people at random for doctors to kill, so the doctors can use those organs to save other lives (1975, p. 261). To many, a “survival lottery” will sound Orwellian, almost like a world with artificial intelligence…
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Continue reading →: Peter Singer: Luxury is MurderA train is rolling down a set of tracks, and it is on its way to hit an innocent little girl. For some reason (a very odd reason, indeed), Bob’s Bugatti is on another set of tracks, and Bob alone has the power to use the switch to divert the…
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Continue reading →: The Problem with Peter Singer’s Solution to Poverty
Singer has a noble intention, but without realizing that you can sometimes decrease poverty by not donating to poverty charities, his “solution” to poverty just misses the mark.
Hello,
I’m Asher
I’m a student at Thomas Edison State, finishing up my B.A. in philosophy. I’m also a law school hopeful. You can read my random and infrequent blog posts here, getting a glimpse of the nonsense in my brain.
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