Recent content by TarSpiel

I think the NCAA could do some things that would immediately settle and simplify things. The one thing Justin Jackson was asking for the most is a 1 or 2 transfer rule that limited how often players could switch schools on scholarship. To me, that would have a significant effect on the chaos of...

The issue isn't whether or not Garcia was a good man (he isn't), the issue is whether Republicans need to obey the law or not.

I teach Humanities courses, but probably spend more of my time these days writing songs on my Gibson Hummingbird.

IMO trying to manage where conversations go amongst diverse groups of people is like herding cats...probably just easier to take the paddles in and just go with whatever.

I think that's probably true, but I don't remember ever hearing that it was any kind of requirement for group membership.

These days, my classes are very racially, religiously, and ideologically diverse. (And since I teach at a community college, they're small, and classroom is the main focus of my job). We're really having 2nd generation conversations about a bunch of stuff nowadays, and racism is one of the...

I think people misunderestimate how racist some latinos are against other latinos.

Fair enough. I'm guilty of that a lot myself.

Sure. All I'm saying is don't conflate the two.

Biblical literalism is a relatively new phenomenon, which started to arise with mass literacy in the 19th century, and in response to scientific findings that seemed to obviate some passages and texts. Before that, nobody really much cared....scripture was considered "inspired," not "inerrant"...

It wasn't offensive to me, and I know you're a good dude. I just think there are better ways of talking about religion than simply equating it to its worst representatives.

Oh, have you listened to most of them? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on especially the non-western people who believe in a creator. Indigenous religions all over the world, Shinto, Taoism, Hindus, Tengriism, bronze age polytheism, african tribal religion, Mesoamerican tribal religion...

I really don't know. I think in earlier religions, like Hinduism and early Judaism and Greek religion, the afterlife was just a shadowy place (Yam, Sheol, Hades) that everyone went to regardless if you were good or bad. I think early indigenous traditions had a sort of view of an underworld or...

You know that many rabbis and Christian interpreters have read those stories as folktales and allegories that express a moral lesson - rather than actual literal historical events - right?

Yet way more likely to be black.