Columns

How real is our democracy?

August 1, 2024 James Kalb 57

Is our society democratic? It is compared with many countries. Iran, for example, has elections that matter, so it is democratic to that extent. Even so, what counts here as a harsh or contemptuous response […]

Columns

Tweets and tyrants

June 3, 2024 James Kalb 22

What use is Twitter (now called “X” but still better known as “Twitter”)? It has millions of users, who can post whatever they want, so there’s lots of information on very different topics. Sometimes there’s […]

Columns

Backwards and forwards

May 6, 2024 James Kalb 21

Some things change, some don’t, and it can be hard to know what to do about it. Wise sayings point in different directions: “[I] beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to […]

Columns

Social class today

April 8, 2024 James Kalb 10

Ethnicity, class, and sex are always with us. Members of different societies develop differences in habits, attitudes, and loyalties that grow into cultural and eventually ethnic distinctions. A complex society includes activities whose demands, qualifications, […]

Columns

Does feminism make sense?

February 7, 2024 James Kalb 43

The duality of male and female is basic to human life. People find it inscrutable, suggestive, frustrating, necessary, and sublime all at once. That’s why it has given rise to so much great, not-great, and […]

Columns

Leave the world or embrace it?

January 3, 2024 James Kalb 36

People today say social engagement is a basic part of the Christian life. Even so, it is shot through with paradox. Christ was not part of everyday social life. He had no property, no job, […]