Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Jeff Bezos has been supportive of Joe Biden, but even his support only goes so far. That was evident with the recent verbal back-and-forth between the Biden administration and the Bezos administration. Commentators have begun to call the financial empire of Jeff Bezos an administration because the annual revenue for Amazon exceeds the GDP of most European countries. The Biden administration wants to raise taxes on corporations. But then argued that raising taxes would lower inflation. Let’s see…

Kerby Anderson Why are woke ideas and wokeness more prevalent in some institutions and not in others? One way to answer that, according to Dan McLaughlin, is to understand the phenomenon of bundling. You have experienced this before in the consumer market. Companies will bundle multiple products into a single package. Cable companies offer cable, phone, and the Internet in one package. Insurance companies bundle home insurance with car insurance. A problem arises when a company has a virtual monopoly….

Kerby Anderson More than a decade ago, I did an interview with Mark Bauerlein about his book, The Dumbest Generation. Last week we focused our attention on his new book, The Dumbest Generation Grows Up. The ignorance and faulty logic of young people in college has now made its way into the young adult culture. He reminds us that social commentators predicted that the millennial generation would make a significant impact on society because they were coming of age in…

Kerby Anderson Today is Memorial Day. For many Americans, it is merely a day off. For others, it marks the start of summer. But hopefully for many of you, it is a day to honor those who fought for our freedom and especially for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Sure we can enjoy our picnics and go for a walk or go for a swim. But we should take some time to put up a flag, make a banner,…

Penna Dexter Over time, Target Corporation has made a string of marketing and policy decisions that blur gender lines — and more. First, the company stopped separating children’s clothing according to sex. Boys’ and girls’ departments ceased to be specifically identified and much of the clothing for kids skewed androgynous. This didn’t generate much controversy but, in April 2016, Target made a public announcement that did. Management said bathrooms and dressing rooms would open for use by customers and employees…

Kerby Anderson This week I spent some time talking about misinformation and disinformation. Therefore, it is worth mentioning a commentary by John Lott with the appropriate title “When Misinformation Drives Bad Policy.” He is the author of books and scholarly research on many topics but is probably best known for his research and writing on guns, crime, and gun policy. He has been on my radio program many times, and I trust his careful research. You can imagine my surprise…

Kerby Anderson Earlier this month, Netflix posted a memo to its employees that suggests that some companies are pushing back against progressive culture warriors within their organizations. The memo explained that: “If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.” Charles Cooke responded with the comment: “There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Of course, it shouldn’t be that hard. As he observes, “If you don’t like soft drinks, it…

Kerby Anderson Two weeks ago, the Washington Post ran an op-ed by a student at George Washington University calling for the administration to change the name of the university. He also wants to change the motto, the mascot, and even the names on some of the buildings on campus. The reason as you might have guessed is racism. A few commentators have pointed to the irony of the fact that the student’s op-ed that wanted to change the university’s name…

Kerby Anderson Yesterday, I talked about “misinformation” and “disinformation.” Today I want to quote from Barton Swaim who explains “How Disagreement Became Disinformation.” In the early part of the 20th century, progressives placed their “faith in the perfectibility of man” and “held that social ills could be corrected by means of education.” People do bad things, according to this view, because they don’t know any better and have bad information. Even secular people can see the folly of such a…

Kerby Anderson The terms “misinformation” and “disinformation” are frequently tossed around. That is why it is good to define the terms and explain why they are often misused. Getting a good definition shouldn’t be difficult. Historically, dictionaries have defined misinformation as false or mistaken information. But if you type the word misinformation into some Internet websites, you will get a definition that implies that it includes information intended to deceive others. That should be the definition for disinformation which intends…

Penna Dexter During the Q & A session at a recent seminar an audience member, a mother of four accomplished girls, wondered: “How do we help our teenaged children have good friendships?’ Coming from her, the question seemed odd. But the speaker, Coleman Ford, who teaches at Southwestern Theological Seminary, shares that concern. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and said, “The problem is this.” The mother nodded. Dr. Ford is writing a book he’s calling: Augustine and…