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On the Ethics of Price Gouging

Posted on March 16, 2020

Opportunistic people are buying hoards of hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, soap, and toilet paper with the intent to sell them at a profit on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, and Amazon. Most people feel that this is wrong. BC’s Premier John Horgan said, for example, that “I’m profoundly disappointed with people buying and hoarding, then re-selling online. I think that’s just offensive and most people would bristle on that.” I, on the other hand, am much more conflicted about this. So in thisRead More→

Morality and Group Identity

Posted on March 7, 2020

Over the past 7 months, my core values have churned inside me. They have faced challenges which they could not win against, and thus I have come to doubt their applicability in my own life. I think my issue, and thus also the germ of my solution, is that I thought the same values could apply to all levels of life: political, professional, and the friend levels. This was wrong. I think instead that each level requires a different setRead More→

Why Be Moral?

Posted on January 31, 2020

I debated a couple friends of mine today. The subject was morality’s source. Where does it come from? Why do we believe it? Why should we continue to? I argued that morality is what works – if it facilitates your flourishing, then it is moral. I also said that a belief in God is very useful. If you believe that an all powerful being keeps track of everything you do, then it allows for cosmic justice – nothing goes unrewardedRead More→

Lessons from the Labyrinth in Notre Dame

Posted on December 29, 2019

Last night, I was lucky enough to visit Notre Dame de Reims for the Nuit de la Cathedrale (where you visit the cathedral at night). After three choral performances, some organ recitals, and a movie about St. Jean Vanier, they lit up the labyrinth of the church. Notre Dame’s was a bit different from most because it was projected onto the floor, but as you’ll find out later, this added to the experience in an important way. If you doRead More→

Thouest shan’t escape human nature!

Posted on September 29, 2019

There’s something curious going on in our culture. It seems like sections of it back themselves into the very corners from which they were trying to escape. This happens over and over again, making me think that it’s probably because we don’t understand how human nature is limited, and so therefore if we’re going to change how society grafts onto it, we are also limited in how we do so. Here’s an example. Fifty years ago, the moralists and the polite peopleRead More→

A Peek into the Roman World

Posted on August 7, 2019

I’m currently reading Steven Saylor’s Roma, and it’s an amazing book. It is a fictional story, but it mingles historical events with fictionalized characters to depict history in a memorable way. That’s why I love it. It is, in my opinion, the best introduction out there to Ancient Rome. I’ve listened to podcasts like Duncan’s History of Rome before, but they have always slipped out of my memory to be forgotten, because they aren’t meaningful whatsoever. I hadn’t thought about whatRead More→

Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Posted on August 2, 2019

Even though I have only gotten through a third of the book (in less than 24 hours) I know that Ali’s Infidel is a spectacular autobiography because it seamlessly weaves together different domains of life into one, coherent narrative. I really really like the book because you see the threads that connect sexuality to the patriarchy to politics to abuse and to the development of the individual, and because you also get to see and articulate your own culture back toRead More→

On the obligation of coming out

Posted on July 30, 2019

“Hey Eugene, do you have a girlfriend?” “No, I don’t. I bat for the other team” “What’s this he’s talking about, baseball?” “No, that means I’m gay.” “Hey, Eugene really likes joking doesn’t he!” “I’m serious!” ….. The above occurred between an older relative and myself. She was from India, which has a much more conservative culture. Aunts always like to ask about girlfriends. I decided to answer truthfully. The awkward silence that followed was a form of denial, if notRead More→

A Review of 1984

Posted on July 26, 2019

If I could sum up 1984 in one sentence, here’s what I would say: Hope cannot exist in totalitarian states. This sentence means two things. One is that hope must not be allowed to exist in totalitarian states, and two, that ‘hope’ finds a very short life in totalitarian states. 1984 puts that idea forward by being a tragedy. Our main protagonist ends up betraying his true love, he does not overthrow the government, and his hopes of finding theRead More→

Is all business exploitation?

Posted on July 25, 2019

A few days ago, I was at Crate and Barrel when I saw this: It cost $11.95. In my mind however, I said THEY’RE SELLING THIS FOR TWELVE F***ING DOLLARS?! That’s because I’m new to dropshipping and to business. See, I can buy these for $1.50. Chances are that “chef’n” bought them for less than that, if they bought in bulk. And $1.50’s an awful lot less than 11.95. Now, I understand that businesses need to make a profit. Everyone does.Read More→

Lesson: don’t wait too long to fly

Posted on July 21, 2019

There have been times in my life where I’ve known that I should be moving on and didn’t. I now believe that it’s a mistake to wait, and instead should move on. Here’s an example: I worked at Tim Hortons for about 5 years. By my third year there, I think I knew that I really didn’t like working there. I couldn’t wait for the clock to reach my finish time. The thing that stopped me from moving on wasRead More→

Review: My Cousin Vinny (1992)

Posted on July 19, 2019

I just watched My Cousin Vinny. It was great because of how coherent it was. I loved that. No movies today have that same coherence. Patterns would show up and repeat and build on each other, with much comedic effect. For example, you’d get that style of comedy where two characters are talking with each other but don’t understand the other’s frame of view, whereas the audience understands both and thus laughs. So for example the prison scene where theRead More→

Here’s a good immigration idea

Posted on July 18, 2019

Elites want more immigration. The common folk want less immigration. But the common folk only notice immigrants as being bad when they are being unproductive, freeloaders, and terrorists. Very few people complain about the Filipino serving them coffee at Tim Hortons for example. But everyone complains about the Syrian Refugees. The solution? Have a good immigration system where the people who come into the country become community members/productive, and stop publicizing the intake of immigrants. This way the immigrants willRead More→

Difficulties in Communication

Posted on July 6, 2019

One of the things that happens now and then is that I speak with people who have different assumptions than me. It then becomes difficult to tell them why they’re wrong if their assumptions don’t line up with mine. If I do not know my own assumptions in the word, and if they do not know theirs either, then it is nearly impossible to negotiate between the two positions. It is possible however to say something which “jogs” the philosophicalRead More→

A Visit to the Apple Store

Posted on July 6, 2019

Below is why I think I will not go into a job helping other people with simple problems like fixing their computers. I went to the apple store today to hand in my laptop because the battery needed replacing. A young man helped me behind the genius bar. Within moments of talking with him, you could tell that he was intelligent, but throughout the conversation I had the unignorable feeling that he was patronizing. His words flowed fluently, he wasRead More→