Ryan Griffiths
@rygriff.bsky.social
‘And No One Cheered’ is the best book title ever because it’s about us and power.
Pinned
Ryan Griffiths
@rygriff.bsky.social
· Sep 27
‘Vote for me and I’ll do as you say and violate some Charter stuff using a Charter clause,’ is that liberal or democratic?
Excellent, can’t wait to watch/listen. Obviously I recommend it to you all.
A wide-ranging video podcast in which I answer questions about why & how we should argue, the importance of thinking clearly & academic freedom, what to think about historic, structural and global justice, who broke international order & how did we get here. Happy 10th Anniversary to the Lin Centre!
Lin Centre Director and RGCS faculty member @catherinelu.bsky.social Catherine Lu discusses the Centre as well as her own ideas on "Freedom and justice in a polarized world."
youtu.be/Lso9Ew_k5Vg?...
youtu.be/Lso9Ew_k5Vg?...
November 4, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Excellent, can’t wait to watch/listen. Obviously I recommend it to you all.
Reposted by Ryan Griffiths
ICYMI
psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/t/1_np...
"The current pro-natalist project is weaponizing an imaginary rural America in ways that harm real rural Americans today."
My DeJong Lecture, and the others in the 20th anniversary event, is now available: "How pro-natalist policies harm rural Americans."
"The current pro-natalist project is weaponizing an imaginary rural America in ways that harm real rural Americans today."
My DeJong Lecture, and the others in the 20th anniversary event, is now available: "How pro-natalist policies harm rural Americans."
November 4, 2025 at 5:11 PM
ICYMI
Consent meant ‘the end of haggling’ to Plato. It meant ‘binding agreement between strangers’ in Cicero and his commercial world. Then it meant ‘bond b/w this lord and that vassal.’ Then it meant ‘what you would agree to were you rational.’ Grotius lives in that space just before this last move.
November 3, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Consent meant ‘the end of haggling’ to Plato. It meant ‘binding agreement between strangers’ in Cicero and his commercial world. Then it meant ‘bond b/w this lord and that vassal.’ Then it meant ‘what you would agree to were you rational.’ Grotius lives in that space just before this last move.
Reposted by Ryan Griffiths
It's not just people's imaginative need to have the world be stranger than it is. It's that people can't imagine themselves in particular (ordinary people driving cars) as the threat and want to imagine scary monster people.
October 31, 2025 at 12:35 PM
It's not just people's imaginative need to have the world be stranger than it is. It's that people can't imagine themselves in particular (ordinary people driving cars) as the threat and want to imagine scary monster people.
Reposted by Ryan Griffiths
“Corn refers to all grains” and “Americans frequently forget that” are the two Corn Laws
October 27, 2025 at 11:26 AM
“Corn refers to all grains” and “Americans frequently forget that” are the two Corn Laws
One grain of grain is a grain. One grain of corn is a curn.
I’ve gone through the cycle of “be confused about an English guy writing about ‘corn’” —> “remember they use that word to refer to all grain” dozens of times but I always manage to forget again.
October 27, 2025 at 10:15 PM
One grain of grain is a grain. One grain of corn is a curn.
What would Trump’s retaliation ad (to Ontario) look like? Quote a PM (the Canadian Reagan?) loving tarriffs on US goods? Just be mean to Canada on Canadian Tv/hockey?
October 27, 2025 at 10:08 PM
What would Trump’s retaliation ad (to Ontario) look like? Quote a PM (the Canadian Reagan?) loving tarriffs on US goods? Just be mean to Canada on Canadian Tv/hockey?
Reposted by Ryan Griffiths
The energy we need is this suburban dad standing out in the street -- barefoot with Blackhawks pajama pants on -- screaming at the masked goons to get the fuck out of their neighborhood.
October 25, 2025 at 5:51 PM
The energy we need is this suburban dad standing out in the street -- barefoot with Blackhawks pajama pants on -- screaming at the masked goons to get the fuck out of their neighborhood.
Together with this one on 'philosophical moves' philpapers.org/archive/KELP...
October 26, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Together with this one on 'philosophical moves' philpapers.org/archive/KELP...
Wow. It’s all set. The two year old and the five year old agreed. They’ll take care of a dog if we get one. Perfect.
October 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Wow. It’s all set. The two year old and the five year old agreed. They’ll take care of a dog if we get one. Perfect.
If votes are determined by negative polarization someone should just start a party that only dumps on one of the two big parties and then just get all the votes from the party they don’t dump on.
October 15, 2025 at 10:51 PM
If votes are determined by negative polarization someone should just start a party that only dumps on one of the two big parties and then just get all the votes from the party they don’t dump on.
Distrust of democracy. Afaik, voting participation hasn’t changed much. If you use something, you trust it. Yes, but they want to elect enders of democracy. Maybe, but they aren’t voting for ‘I’ll end democracy, plus tax cut.’ I think it’s ’down w/ liberalism,’ procedural (checks) and substance.
I'm gonna try to articulate something I've been thinking about for a while, regarding *why* disillusionment, distrust, & dissatisfaction with democracy are rising.
Almost everything I read takes this phenomenon as an exogenous shock, assuming no one chose to make it so. I suspect that's incomplete.
Almost everything I read takes this phenomenon as an exogenous shock, assuming no one chose to make it so. I suspect that's incomplete.
October 15, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Distrust of democracy. Afaik, voting participation hasn’t changed much. If you use something, you trust it. Yes, but they want to elect enders of democracy. Maybe, but they aren’t voting for ‘I’ll end democracy, plus tax cut.’ I think it’s ’down w/ liberalism,’ procedural (checks) and substance.
A school with vision. As a parent, I’m taking note.
October 14, 2025 at 9:56 PM
A school with vision. As a parent, I’m taking note.
Paper ideas 4 U
Complicity: what dirties hands?
Should we wash dirty hands?
Your hands are dirty
Complicity: what dirties hands?
Should we wash dirty hands?
Your hands are dirty
October 10, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Paper ideas 4 U
Complicity: what dirties hands?
Should we wash dirty hands?
Your hands are dirty
Complicity: what dirties hands?
Should we wash dirty hands?
Your hands are dirty
Do you have impostor syndrome, all these doctors working under you?
No, no, I am a Kennedy, no doubt.
No, no, I am a Kennedy, no doubt.
October 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Do you have impostor syndrome, all these doctors working under you?
No, no, I am a Kennedy, no doubt.
No, no, I am a Kennedy, no doubt.
I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.
"Donald Trump's comments about Canada becoming the US' 51st state have strengthened my Canadian pride and my belief that Canada must maintain its independence"
🟢 Agree: 72%
🟡 Neutral: 19%
⚫️ Disagree: 9%
Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/canadian...
🟢 Agree: 72%
🟡 Neutral: 19%
⚫️ Disagree: 9%
Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/canadian...
Canadians Firmly Reject Idea of American Statehood
Support for American statehood remains low across all age groups, even in more conservative provinces like Alberta
open.substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.
To explain Trump, do you need ‘the Dems b/w 1960s and 2016’ so that Trump is backlash to that, or can you imagine the Dems being somehow different b/w those periods and still explain Trump?
October 10, 2025 at 2:02 PM
To explain Trump, do you need ‘the Dems b/w 1960s and 2016’ so that Trump is backlash to that, or can you imagine the Dems being somehow different b/w those periods and still explain Trump?
Reposted by Ryan Griffiths
The first episode of Collateral Damage, my reported podcast with The Intercept, went up today.
Hope you’ll check it out and, if you enjoy it, give it a favorable rating or review.
Eternal thanks to my producers @lauraflynn.bsky.social and Andrew Stelzer for making it happen.
Hope you’ll check it out and, if you enjoy it, give it a favorable rating or review.
Eternal thanks to my producers @lauraflynn.bsky.social and Andrew Stelzer for making it happen.
Ep. 1 Dirty Business: The Atlanta Narcotics Unit’s Deadly Raid on 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.
Podcast Episode · Collateral Damage from The Intercept · 10/08/2025 · 55m
podcasts.apple.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:37 PM
The first episode of Collateral Damage, my reported podcast with The Intercept, went up today.
Hope you’ll check it out and, if you enjoy it, give it a favorable rating or review.
Eternal thanks to my producers @lauraflynn.bsky.social and Andrew Stelzer for making it happen.
Hope you’ll check it out and, if you enjoy it, give it a favorable rating or review.
Eternal thanks to my producers @lauraflynn.bsky.social and Andrew Stelzer for making it happen.
Which figure in the history of political thought tests reading comprehension skills the most?
You can say Hegel (or similar) but a relatively plain-spoken author, like Hume, can often be trickier for a variety of reasons. So like, when you teach, which author is like, ‘they’re going to miss this’
You can say Hegel (or similar) but a relatively plain-spoken author, like Hume, can often be trickier for a variety of reasons. So like, when you teach, which author is like, ‘they’re going to miss this’
October 9, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Which figure in the history of political thought tests reading comprehension skills the most?
You can say Hegel (or similar) but a relatively plain-spoken author, like Hume, can often be trickier for a variety of reasons. So like, when you teach, which author is like, ‘they’re going to miss this’
You can say Hegel (or similar) but a relatively plain-spoken author, like Hume, can often be trickier for a variety of reasons. So like, when you teach, which author is like, ‘they’re going to miss this’
The Maxi near me (giant grocery store) is opening 6 months behind schedule. Oh so giant bloated corporations aren’t so efficient after all. Maybe government is not so…oh, wait.
October 9, 2025 at 11:41 AM
The Maxi near me (giant grocery store) is opening 6 months behind schedule. Oh so giant bloated corporations aren’t so efficient after all. Maybe government is not so…oh, wait.
People who look at a hooded sweatshirt and say ‘hoodie’ rather than ‘bunnyhug.’
Also, ‘Regina.’
Also, ‘Regina.’
What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?
October 9, 2025 at 11:32 AM
People who look at a hooded sweatshirt and say ‘hoodie’ rather than ‘bunnyhug.’
Also, ‘Regina.’
Also, ‘Regina.’
Therefore, I propose, indolent labour means it is, or one executes in a that is, pain free. Snow Whites dwarves are indolent, but industrious labourers. The donut-store cop does indolent labour b/c he doesn’t do the part of the job that pains him.
Indolent (from Latin indolentia)means pain-free. Today, in medicine, indolent ulcers are not lazy, they come with no pain. Back up in time and indolent didn’t imply globally lazy, but not doing anything that pains you. You can hear that now, it’s a fancy word for fancy laziness.
October 9, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Therefore, I propose, indolent labour means it is, or one executes in a that is, pain free. Snow Whites dwarves are indolent, but industrious labourers. The donut-store cop does indolent labour b/c he doesn’t do the part of the job that pains him.
Indolent (from Latin indolentia)means pain-free. Today, in medicine, indolent ulcers are not lazy, they come with no pain. Back up in time and indolent didn’t imply globally lazy, but not doing anything that pains you. You can hear that now, it’s a fancy word for fancy laziness.
October 9, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Indolent (from Latin indolentia)means pain-free. Today, in medicine, indolent ulcers are not lazy, they come with no pain. Back up in time and indolent didn’t imply globally lazy, but not doing anything that pains you. You can hear that now, it’s a fancy word for fancy laziness.
People wonder why Smith worked in a customs house when he’s the guy who hatched a plan to ‘bribe the indolence’ of the clergy.
(In fact, it doesn’t seem he performed indolently, but that’s just because industriousness in economics was his vocation, thus, technically he worked hard indolently)
(In fact, it doesn’t seem he performed indolently, but that’s just because industriousness in economics was his vocation, thus, technically he worked hard indolently)
October 9, 2025 at 11:22 AM
People wonder why Smith worked in a customs house when he’s the guy who hatched a plan to ‘bribe the indolence’ of the clergy.
(In fact, it doesn’t seem he performed indolently, but that’s just because industriousness in economics was his vocation, thus, technically he worked hard indolently)
(In fact, it doesn’t seem he performed indolently, but that’s just because industriousness in economics was his vocation, thus, technically he worked hard indolently)