We are dedicated to the progressive, universalist principles of grassroots political and economic democracy. We oppose the control of society by a small number of monopolistic corporations.
We believe in reclaiming certain core values for the left, such as free speech.
We believe in the necessity of organizing around issues of class and fighting for economic equality, environmental justice and against endless wars.
Plebe: of the common people; the populace; plebs; plebeians
Our Conversations
Arty Morty: Graham Linehan’s gender blasphemy exposes the fear that stifles the trans debate
ARTICLE
One side — my side — starts with the foundational assumption that everyone, trans or not, is first and foremost to be treated as an individual, no more or less equally deserving of respect than any other individual, and then builds from there. Of course I understand how much sensitivity there is in the transgender community about, say, pronouns. I’m a gay man; I’m deeply embedded in the gay community. I even worked at a trans bar back in the day. But I don’t take it as religious doctrine that anyone who simply claims to be a transgender woman is one — I don’t believe in gender religion and I reserve the right to have my own beliefs about anyone — and I don’t take it as law that I have to abide anyone’s pronouns. I aim to be respectful, but it’s case-by-case, and I’m the judge.
Arty Morty: Graham Linehan’s gender blasphemy exposes the fear that stifles the trans debate
The Progress Paradox: Revisiting Steven Pinker’s Brand of Optimism
ARTICLE
Is the world a better place? Opinions vary, though the enduring Western-centric belief is that humankind has never had it better. This belief is commonly espoused by technologists who praise the information age for ushering in a new era of opportunity and prosperity. The information age, coupled with industrialization, has certainly shaped the world in ways previously thought unimaginable. Advances in technology have transformed everyday life. Facial recognition software. Artificial intelligence. Microchip implants. Renewable energy. Genetic engineering. A revolutionary mRNA vaccine designed in just two days.
Given all this progress, it’s hard not to believe in the “prosperity presumption,” the belief that the world, as a whole, is getting better. Indeed, techno-utopians who adhere to the prosperity presumption also hold the belief that any form of technological stagnation is antithetical to progress. Some of the biggest technologists fall under this category.
The Progress Paradox: Revisiting Steven Pinker’s Brand of Optimism
Take Nobody’s Word For It: Sophie Watson
PODCAST
Sophie Watson joins me to chat about her experience at Cambridge University, where she is currently working on an undergraduate dissertation about surrogacy. (Sophie’s proposed dissertation topic was detransition, but her advisors told her they would not and could not oversee this project, deterring her from writing it). In November 2020, Sophie published a piece in Unherd called “Cambridge is censoring any dissent on trans issues” about the student campaign against Kevin Price, a porter at Clare College who resigned as Labour Councillor rather than agree with a motion that included the statement “transwomen are women.”
Take Nobody’s Word For It: Sophie Watson
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Identity Crisis: Arkansas HB 1570 and Responsible Reporting on Suicide
ARTICLE
Suicide is a national public health crisis. It's also preventable, and there are things we know from decades of public research that can either increase the risk of suicide or decrease it. In the wake of a series of new bills in Arkansas meant to address the gender identity crisis in sports, medicine, and schools, trans "advocates" are foreshadowing an impending epidemic of suicide among trans-identifying youth. In doing so, they are flying in the face of all known research on preventing suicide, and quite possibly creating the very problem they claim they've set out to solve.
Identity Crisis: Arkansas HB 1570 and Responsible Reporting on Suicide
Want to Stop A Pandemic? Stop Eating Animals.
ARTICLE
Trigger moments in human history awaken us to injustice and turn the tide of public perception. What happened in Waterloo, Iowa may not have been a watershed moment but as far as human folly, it was a doozy.
Between March and mid-April 2020, as the pandemic surged, managers at the Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo lay bets on how many employees would fall prey to COVID-19. This, while the brass told workers they had “a responsibility to keep working in order to ensure Americans don’t go hungry.”
Want to Stop A Pandemic? Stop Eating Animals.
Identity Crisis Episode 12: Arkansas Bill 1570—Saving Kids from Medical Experimentation?
PODCAST
In this episode we talk about two Arkansas bills—HB1570 and HB1749—both of which pertain to minors undergoing gender transition. The first bill we discuss, HB 1570, titled the "Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act" prohibits medical gender procedures for minors (these include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and a variety of surgeries). We discuss what the bill actually says, and cover some of the misinformation that's been propagated about it by various sources.
Journalist Graham Linehan Responds to His Critics
Journalist Graham Linehan Responds to His Critics