I took the Wahl-o-Mat online quiz and it tells me I should vote for the Humanist party. "(Die Humanisten) see themselves as a social, liberal and progressive party that focuses on the freedom of the individual. In doing so, she invokes evolutionary humanism and advocates a critical-rational political approach that relies particularly on scientific knowledge and - regardless of the political trend - is open to all effective political concepts." I go through the 38 questions and compare my answers to the Humanists, as well as the SPD, and also the AfD, just out of curiosity.

Key Thinking (Allowed)

Berlin Politics

Just a bit of an anxiety attack on an autumn day; lots of admin stress. I'm bad at bureacratic work.

Feeling Overwhelmed

Just a few thoughts on the Afghanistan situation that I haven't heard articulated yet. Mainly: Is this even a real, legitimate sovereign country? Maybe its borders are an inherent problem. Maybe the global community should help the major ethnic tribes in the region establish their own autonomous states. Do Westerners who support isolation as a foreign policy really have such little conviction in their own underlying value systems? It seems evident that the Western system of governence (based on enlightenment values) has led to bountiful human flourishing. Why is it so bad to encourage other places to adopt this? Maybe it's more a problem of methodology (specifically the American neo-conservative type). Who is the enemy here, really? Maybe it's worth reminding ourselves about jihad, and its history. And perhaps there's somethere there to learn about the value of passion.

Yeah, Afghanistan is a mess

"A flâneur is an ambivalent figure of urban affluence and modernity, representing the ability to wander detached from society with no other purpose than to be an acute observer of industrialized, contemporary life." I am a flaneur. "The flâneur was, first of all, a literary type from 19th-century France, essential to any picture of the streets of Paris. The word carried a set of rich associations: the man of leisure, the idler, the urban explorer, the connoisseur of the street. It was Walter Benjamin, drawing on the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, who made this figure the object of scholarly interest in the 20th century, as an emblematic archetype of urban, modern (even modernist) experience.[1] Following Benjamin, the flâneur has become an important symbol for scholars, artists, and writers. ... The term has acquired an additional architecture and urban planning sense, referring to passers-by who experience incidental or intentional psychological effects from the design of a structure." "The flâneur's tendency toward detached but aesthetically attuned observation has brought the term into the literature of photography, particularly street photography. The street photographer is seen as one modern extension of the urban observer described by nineteenth century journalist Victor Fournel before the advent of the hand-held camera."

Flaneur Life

Presence, awareness and trasnscendence of ego - reflections on reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. Be one with the universe.

A New Earth

Pride Month honors the hardfought accomplishments of the gay rights movement, but has become a sort of husk of what it's meant to honor: a limp season of market pandering to an already progressive USA. Rainbow flags are worn by countless logos, signifying a point so obvious to so many as to constitute almost nothing.. except dutiful virtue signaling. What's the point of all this?

Woke Capitalism & Virtue Signaling

Drugs are substances that alter consciousness, broadly speaking. But their subsets are vastly different: psychedelics are nothing like opioids, and even within a class like uppers, crystal meth is wildly different than caffeine. Let's think through the reasons why people take various drugs, explore the underlying implications and consequences, and contextualize each case, especially within party culture.

Drugs & Party Culture

Here's an endorsement to travel again. I can recommend Miami, Florida, for people that want some fun and sun. Covid is less threatening these days and it's time to get back out there.

Travel: Miami

I used to be "pro-Palestine". Now I'm "pro-Israel", but to be honest, I'm mostly just annoyed by how society talks about this topic. Why is this the singular geopolitical issue that bascially everyone has an opinion about? And why is it so much trendier and cooler to support Palestine?

Israel & Palestine

What is sexism? I don't even know anymore tbh, but I know it's a sort of third rail that I sometimes flirt with, depending on context. I want to discuss this honestly and openly, and really explore what sort of ideas I hold that could be problematic. I'm taking an IDR Labs test here to figure out if I may indeed hold any sexist attitudes.

Am I Sexist?

I remain pretty agnostic about it. People that want a vaccination should get one (and have access to it). The goal is herd immunity; the real goal is freedom of movement, open culture and a return to "normalcy". I want to live! And if getting a little bit of death in my arm leads to that, then I'm for it. But it should be a personal decision, ultimately.

I'm Vaccinated

Moral Foundations Theory attempts to explain individual differences in psychology and political intuitions, as well as to make sense of the many instances of moral outrage and offense that are increasingly seen in public debate. This is part 2of 2 episodes, in which I take this Moral Foundations test: https://www.idrlabs.com/morality/6/test.php

Moral Foundations (Part 2)

Social scientists argue that there are substantial variations in human morality, and that these differences influence not just a person's decision making and reasoning processes, but also their political outlook. In recent years, researchers and scholars from all over the world have converged on the framework on Moral Foundations Theory in an attempt to explain these individual differences, as well as to make sense of the many instances of moral outrage and offense that are increasingly seen in public debate. By drawing on findings from their research, this test aims to give you your scores according to the Moral Foundations framework. This is part 1of 2 episodes, in which I take this test: https://www.idrlabs.com/morality/6/test.php

Moral Foundations (Part 1)

Just a little rant about this dumb night I had. Feeling triggered, might delete later.

Another Night in Cancellation

"The houseless community" is being kicked out of Echo Park Lake, Los Angeles. Activists are protesting this as an issue of compassion for the homeless - the city and police are the villains in that narrative. But how fair is that? Is the argument to just allow the homeless to stay in our city parks? Yes, the city has to do a lot more to solve homelessness, but how is this a bad step?

Excess Compassion

Casual philosophy & cultural criticism with Keith Telfeyan. Keith Telfeyan is a writer and artist born in California, living in Berlin. He discusses life as a traveler in the times of Trump.

hubhopper

Key Thinking (Allowed)

hubhopper