In 1948, the Boer government of South Africa enacted a policy called Apartheid. The main purpose of this policy was to segregate the population of South Africa along racial lines—keeping the blacks, coloureds, Indians, and whites separated from one another. As with any racially influenced debate, opinions on the merit and successes of Apartheid (which ended under intense global pressure in 1994) are sharply divided. One side of the debate typically argues that the segregation of blacks by the white Boer was a crime against the very decency of humanity, and that the treatment of black people by the Apartheid regime Read More

Though I stopped watching the news quite some time ago I'm still able to stay up to date on the day's current events through friends, acquaintances, updates on my phone, et al. This principle held true when fellow columnist Blair Naso recently made me aware of some criticism CNN has taken of late for referring to French hostage taker, Amedi Coulibaly, as “African American.” Coulibaly Some say he should have been referred to as black, some say he should have been referred to as African-French, and some say it doesn't matter. I didn't dig too deep into this story but it definitely Read More

A French nobleman named Alexis de Tocqueville traveled to study America's then fifty-year-old democracy. The book that followed, Democracy In America, would soon be known as one of the most important ever written about democracy and essential reading for those interested in American history. Tocqueville starts off by giving his philosophy on government and democratic ideals before easing into an analysis of America's land, history, and style of government. Millions of men are marching at once towards the same horizon; their language, their religion, their manners differ, their object is the same. The gifts of fortune are promised in the West, Read More

Three years ago when I became a college freshman, I had a certain plan in mind: become a business major, specifically accounting. After graduating, I would get my CPA, and work for three years wasting my life as a public accountant, until I would find a nice 9-5 job, a wife, and a suburban home like many beta males of this day and age. As I progressed through college, this mindset slowly chipped away, and I began to stop taking advice of other people who thought they knew what was best for me. This eventually landed me into quantitative economics, specifically Read More

Perspective is one of the most important lessons of the cognitive disciplines. It also weighs heavily in the balanced consideration of moral problems. What may seem to be one thing to one man, is likely something else to another. It can be disquieting for us to see the world as others see it, for every man's window overlooks his own tangled garden of direful secrets. Several anecdotes illustrate this in amusing ways. The Roman writer Aulus Gellius (Noctes Atticae V.5) relates a conversation that took place between the Carthaginian general Hannibal and King Antiochus of Syria, in whose court Hannibal had Read More