Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

  I recently encountered a tweet that said, "teachers should be able to tell a child simply, 'that's something you should discuss with your parents.'" This was intended to defend Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill. But ... seriously? Imagine a child (of any age) who brings a question about sex/gender orientation to a teacher. Isn't it a good guess that he (I'll say 'he' for convenience) has in fact tried to discuss it at home already and has been shut down there?   He's likely been treated to some version of "So long as you're under MY roof, Mister, you will not say such things ever again."  Or maybe, "You'll understand when you're older."  A teacher is not a confused child's first resort in such matters. Anyone who thinks he is going to benefit from "that's something you should discuss with your parents" is living in a fantasy world a lot stranger than the one DeSantis wants to pu...

I've just googled the expression "you didn't build that" and received more than 40 million hits. Most of them surely (and all of them that I see on the first page of the list) involve the President's recent speech, and his statement two weeks ago about how successful people should recognize that they didn't get there, they didn't build their business, on their own. It is pretty clear from the context, where the phrase "on your own" appears repeatedly, what is meant. There are efforts to create a furor over this, but the statement in itself is unexceptional. Of course you didn't get there alone. If you are a successful entrepreneur, you are perfectly aware of the fact that you are not a hermit living in a self-constructed hut in the rain forest. There aren't any customers or investors in the rain forest. Why would you try to create a business there? You built your business in the middle of a social world, and a lot of ...