Mass Society
-
Authenticity in an Age of Totality
In an age when the fifth type of totalitarianism, Mass Society, has systemically devalued and degraded the human person, I hope it is proper to demand a hearing of any and all authentic reactions in favor of a person’s inalienable solitude and for her effective freedom. The murderous cacophony of materialism cannot be allowed to Continue reading
-
Technological Society Deprives
While it’s easy to appreciate the benefits of technology, we often struggle to identify what it has taken from us. Technology is part of us. Continue reading
-
It’s Hard to be Embarrassed; is that a problem?
This may be one time when we all know that we exist between the past and future. Continue reading
-
Liberal Democracies buttressed by Illiberal Forces: a Social Imaginary
“what is meant by individual freedom is hotly contested and not just a brute fact. It must be nurtured and grown. This is how I experience my moment of bliss over bacon and eggs. This emerging freedom is a profoundly different social imaginary than the one on offer by liberal democracy.” Continue reading
-
Constitutive Work, Recognition, and Why Hannah Arendt Matters
Going through a layoff can be devastating. When I got laid off from a Christian University that had been struggling financially (typical of such post-secondary institutions in the 2000s), I needed to come to the deep logic which eliminated me from the equation. After all, I was in my early 50’s, and I had thought Continue reading
-
A Polluted Existence
Technology transforms an individual human into a mass person, whose only function is to enter anonymously into production and consumption. On the one side, she is the biological link between machines; on the other side, she is the digestive system through which the products of the technological world pass. Continue reading
-
The Problem with Mass Pop Music isn’t that it’s “Pop”: Mass Culture and Mass Society
Republicans don’t annoy me; Democrats don’t either. Conservatives don’t annoy me, neither do Liberals or New Democrats. But…. technocrats annoy me. Continue reading
-
Authenticity: Being Yourself in a World Designed to Make You Someone Else
Can we know ourselves from moment to moment, every day, not with words or descriptions, but with an actual perception of our inner selves being intact and authentically ours? In other words, we do not have to live out a story, but instead, we experience a reality. Continue reading
-
Work, Democracy and Inequality: A Message for the Center-Left, Part 2
The Industrial Revolution has pushed the limits of a sustainably livable planet; the technocratic logic of social mobility grafted onto the very structures of the human condition has distorted our very human condition. Continue reading
-
Work, Democracy and Inequality: A Message for the Center-Left, Part 1
“Progressive parties and movements used to be the parties of working people…. but in recent decades, that’s changed in a way that also parallels education.” Continue reading
About me: I am a career educator and traveler at heart. My written work includes academic writing in philosophy and linguistics, English acquisition, and most intently in the areas of spiritual engagement with reality and what that means for our public lives.
My education is a mixture of formal study in philosophy, political theory, Biblical studies, and history, along with professional teaching certification in TESOL and in cognitive testing, and international teaching.
My travel experiences include a range of countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. I have lived in Canada, the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand. From those places I have traveled to many others besides.
I am a child of the 70’s and a “family man.” That means I have two wonderful kids who have been round the world with me.
Lastly, I am married to a wonderful woman since 2004. She is my partner, my friend, and my muse.
Thanks again for stopping by,
Raymond Klassen - Ideals and Identities 