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Host Nick Jeelvy welcomed back Blair Cottrell and Josh Neal to discuss Thomas Szasz’s The Myth of Mental Illness, a controversial 1961 book challenging the medical character of mental illness, on The Writers’ Bloc, and it is now available for download and online listening. (more…)
1,745 words
Here are the young men.
But where have they been?
— Ian Curtis, “Decades”
Everything resembles the truth, everything can happen to a man.
— Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls (more…)
1,273 words
For the better part of the last 60 years, social engineers have been conducting a rigorous sociopolitical campaign in which they have attempted to merge biology with ideology. More precisely, they’ve conducted a successful experiment that has amalgamated the tangible traits of race with the abstract ideological concepts of –isms. (more…)
1,729 words
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” (more…)
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Did you know that there are only two countries in the world where it’s legal to advertise pharmaceutical drugs on television? One is the U.S., of course, and the other is New Zealand. I remember the early days of those ads, back in the 1990s. For example, there was the classic Zyrtec ad that showed someone climbing a mountain. You had to guess what the drug was for, because back then, they weren’t allowed to be more explicit. All the ad said was “ask your doctor.” My, how times have changed. (more…)
Anne Case and Angus Deaton.
3,201 words
When Purdue Pharmaceutical introduced OxyContin, their marketing for the drug was aggressive, efficient, unscrupulous, and amoral. Resources were poured into advertising; the company spent $200 million on marketing in 2001. Sales grew from $48 million in 1996 to $1.1 billion in 2000, (more…)
3,603 words 
For the last two weeks, my time has been primarily occupied by an unsuccessful bid to become a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. Together with my fellow members of the national populist Boycott Movement, we endeavored to get on the ballot for the upcoming election in April (more…)
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Billie Eilish is the youngest person to ever be awarded Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, for her debut effort WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? [1] At just 18, she swept the ceremonies, earning over 60 awards in categories that ranged from Best New Artist to Best Song. (more…)
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Audio Version: To listen in a player, click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save target or link as.”
On July 20, 2017, Chester Bennington, lead singer of the band Linkin Park, committed suicide by hanging. Just two months previously, Bennington perform Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell’s funeral after Cornell was found dead, (more…)