Make Sense of the world
Unique insight from 2,000+ contributors in 80+ Countries
Islamophobia in the US has increased ever since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Discrimination and hate crimes against American Muslims skyrocketed immediately after the deadliest assault on US soil took place. Despite sporadic efforts by former President Barack Obama to bridge the religious and racial...
Frankly, with all the bad actors in blue uniforms on the public stage in America at the moment, this old white guy would think twice about calling the police. Which warrior would show up, and how prepared would that warrior really be to address the problem I am having with my...
The immense success of Robin DiAngelo’s book, “White Fragility,” reveals a secret that American publishers have been waiting for decades to unearth. Book titles are important. Publishers spend time searching for the title that will turn a promising book into the next explosive No. 1...
In an article for The Economist’s 1843 magazine, the sociologist Ashley Mears lets readers discover the economic and psychological reality of a hyperreal world reserved for the winners in the global economy. She unveils how the super-wealthy spend their super-wealth at “VIP parties”...
With their focus on the present and occasionally on the future (for the visionaries and innovators), Americans have never been enamored of history as a subject of study. They have preferred simply to ingest the simplistic myths transcribed in textbooks produced in Texas that offer them that...
The ramifications of the expanding cultural revolution provoked by the death of George Floyd in the US have had an impact well beyond the initial debate focused on the role of police forces in a multiracial society. One movement spawned by the uprising calls itself #ShutDownSTEM. For the moment it...
A few days ago, Quaker Oats announced it would retire its 130-year-old brand of pancake syrup and breakfast foods, Aunt Jemima. The company acknowledged that the Aunt Jemima character was based on a racial stereotype. In the aftermath of the decision, other companies, among them Mars Food,...
Ever active as his 99th birthday approaches, Edgar Morin has for decades been one of France’s most respected philosophers. He has dedicated his career to holistically exploring complexity and the structure of complex thought. Complexity is an ancient idea that our modern consumer society, in its...
The impact of the #MeToo movement has no doubt been useful in getting us to speak about the traumas we experience in various spaces. But there is more to be done. Every institution, ranging from private to public, which includes professional, religious, political, educational and social...
Social media platforms started out humbly, existing simply as a way to connect with old friends, share photographs and inform your social network of changes in your life. However, as social media continues to grow, the effect and influence it has on the world at large are undeniably far more...
Germany is the great latecomer in Western Europe. For much of its history, Germany was a territorial space occupied by dozens of autonomous political entities — kingdoms, principalities, duchies, margraviates, free cities. It was not until 1870 that Germany was united. By then, the world...
