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Chris Matthew Sciabarra

@cmsciabarra.bsky.social
131 followers 90 following 64 posts

A native Brooklynite, author, and dialectical libertarian Notablog: notablog.net Homepage: chrismatthewsciabarra.com

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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Today’s Substack essay explores criticism of Ayn Rand through the dialectical lens of my book, “Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical.” I discuss such critics as Thom Hartmann, Lisa Duggan, Geoffrey Picketts, & Ben Burgis, and many controversial topics. chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/the-russia...
chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com
The Russian Radical Eludes Ayn Rand’s Critics
Ayn Rand died on March 6, 1982.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I’ve published on Substack the full series of 2+ decades of essays & interviews, with a new intro, "WTC Remembrance 25": chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/wtc-rememb...
chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com
WTC Remembrance 25
On the 25th Anniversary of 9/11: The Full Series
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Thanks for your kind words, Christopher!
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Nice passage posted by Christopher Hudson. I approve. ;) It's from my book, "Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism". Thanks Christopher! bsky.app/profile/chri...
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
My personal journey "From America 200 to America 250" is the subject of my new Substack essay. I reflect on how successive generations extended the revolutionary ideals of the Declaration in ways that the founders could scarcely have imagined: chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/from-ameri...
chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com
From America 200 to America 250: A Personal Journey
It was 1976, the Bicentennial anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
My newest Medium essay, "Stonewall Pride: In Voice and Song", celebrates the Stonewall Uprising that occurred on this day in 1969, giving birth to those LGBTQ+ marches and parades that Pride Month commemorates. Happy Pride! medium.com/@cms10_7549/...
medium.com
Stonewall Pride: In Voice and Song
On this date in 1969, a rebellion began that unfolded over six days, a landmark in the battle for human freedom and personal autonomy &…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Congratulations to the New York Knicks, who have won their first NBA championship in 53 years! notablog.net/2026/06/14/t...
notablog.net
The New York Knicks are the NBA Champions!
The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 4 games to 1, to win their first NBA Finals in 53 years. This Game 5 Knicks victory, 94-90, was thrilling—as was their miraculous triumph in Game 4, …
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
My newest reply to Matt Zwolinski, "The Triumph of the Libertarian-Hyphenates", discusses the use of the term "libertarian" to serve toxic cultural & political goals. If the soul of libertarianism can’t be ruled, it can be broken. chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/the-triump...
chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com
The Triumph of the Libertarian-Hyphenates
Reply the Second to Matt Zwolinski
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
It's a hopeless cause! 😂
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Check out this thought-provoking response from Matt Zwolinski to my recent essay, “Are We All Libertarian-Adjacent Now?”, which was a reply to Zwolinski’s earlier essay, “The Myth of Libertarianism”. Let the dialogue continue! And it will. 😉 bleedingheartlibertarian.substack.com/p/family-res...
bleedingheartlibertarian.substack.com
Family Resemblance
Is Peter Thiel a Real Libertarian?
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
May is US National Pet Month, a celebration of the bond between pets and people—a testament to the immense joy that pets bring to our lives. My newest Substack Essay explores the deep connection I've experienced with our family pets through the years: chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/pet-love
chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com
Pet Love
Celebrating National Pet Month
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
My newest essay on Substack explores the question: "Are We all Libertarian-Adjacent Now?", a reply to a recent essay by Matt Zwolinski. I examine the nature of ideology as a tool of oppression and the nefarious impact of Peter Thiel and Palantir: chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/are-we-all...
chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com
Are We all Libertarian-Adjacent Now?
A Reply to Matt Zwolinski
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
A wide-ranging podcast interview on my life, work, and disability debuts today, along with a companion essay! Podcast (on multiple platforms): smartlink.ausha.co/out-of-sync-... Essay: chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/153e7046-0... Additional links at Notablog: notablog.net/2026/04/28/b...
smartlink.ausha.co
Thinking Freely, Living Carefully: Life with SMAS | Chris
In this episode, we meet Chris Sciabarra—a writer whose sense of freedom began not in the body, but in the mind. Inspired early on by thinkers like Ayn Rand and later shaped by the dialectical ideas o...
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
At a recent conference, Trump stated: “I always like to hang around with losers … because it makes me feel better.” Borrowing insights from Niccolò Machiavelli and Ayn Rand, I discuss some of the serious issues raised by Trump’s remarks in my newest Notablog essay: notablog.net/2026/03/31/w...
notablog.net
Winners and Losers
On March 27, 2026, during a Q&A at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Priority Summit in Miami, Trump was asked: “What is the one leadership trait the world is missing right now? What is mi…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Ever wonder why the bass line to "Seven Nation Army" by White Stripes is chanted across global sports arenas? Lots of links about that phenomenon in today's Notablog song marking baseball's Opening Day 2026: notablog.net/2026/03/26/s...
notablog.net
Song of the Day #2287
Song of the Day: Seven Nation Army features the words and music of Jack White and Meg White, who make up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo, The White Stripes. If you’re not familiar with the…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
On Notablog, I posted a remembrance of journalist, Brian Doherty, author of "Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement": notablog.net/2026/03/14/b... RIP, my friend.
notablog.net
Brian Doherty, RIP
This morning, I was devastated to learn of the death of Brian Doherty, senior editor at Reason magazine. Brian wrote a wonderful “freewheeling history of the modern American libertarian movement”, …
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Sweet news for baseball fans: Bill White, former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star and Gold Glove-winning First Baseman, former NY Yankees broadcaster and National League President, will be given a Lifetime Achievement Award on Hall of Fame Weekend! notablog.net/2026/03/10/b...
notablog.net
Bill White Lifetime Achievement Award
For those of us who grew up listening to—and watching—New York Yankees baseball in the 1970s and 1980s, the names Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, and Bill White will ring a bell. Long before John Sterl…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
In my newest Notablog essay, "The Operation was a Success, But the Patient Died," I explore the Iran War through the lens of the devastating history of US intervention in the region. notablog.net/2026/03/07/t...
notablog.net
The Operation was a Success, But the Patient Died
The title of this essay finds its macabre origins in the nineteenth century when physicians rarely washed their hands between surgeries. They performed their operations with increasing technical pr…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
In my newest essay, I explore Trump’s immigration policies through the lens of his recent State of the Union, as well as those “major combat operations” to topple the Iranian regime. The current moment has too many ominous parallels with other moments in history. notablog.net/2026/02/28/t...
notablog.net
Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Reich
Though Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933 after a stunning rise to political prominence, his virulent ideas were crafted years before, in the wake of Germany’s defeat in World…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
CHARLIE Against Dialectics A reactionary bill passed by the New Hampshire legislature seeks to prohibit the teaching of "critical theories" and "dialectical worldviews"! That would exclude any book in my own "Dialectics and Liberty Trilogy." See Notablog: notablog.net/2026/02/21/c...
notablog.net
CHARLIE Against Dialectics
The current political climate has brought us a destructive tariff regime and deportation thuggery as well as a profound extension of the mass surveillance state. Even the current winter climate isn…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
My newest Notablog piece: "From Bush to Trump" Trump's presidency has been transformative, in so many awful ways. But it has built on the regrettable legacy of the administration of George W. Bush, whom Trump so often vilified. notablog.net/2026/01/25/f...
notablog.net
From Bush to Trump
“We all see the same thing,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, when viewing the latest video of the latest U.S. citizen shot to death by ICE agents. Actually, we all do not see the s…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Ayn Rand rejected prohibitions on immigration, not only due to her personal context, but on principle. Check out my Notablog post: "Ayn Rand, Illegal Immigrant": notablog.net/2026/01/23/a...
notablog.net
Ayn Rand, Illegal Immigrant
Ayn Rand’s views on immigration are well known. Back in 1973, in response to a question on “open immigration” during a Ford Hall Forum appearance, Rand stated: You don’t know my conception of self-…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Some folks thought I'd lost my dialectical mind the other day, using ellipsis points to illustrate the universal implications of Trump's comments on the Iranian protests. Context returns! S. E. Cupp on "A Tale of Two Trumps: Iran & Minnesota": www.nydailynews.com/2026/01/15/s...
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Ellipsis points may drop context, but they introduce some interesting implications:
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Check out my newest essay on Notablog: "You Think Our Country's So Innocent?", which discusses the evolution of Trump's foreign policy and the history of US interventionism abroad. notablog.net/2026/01/04/y...
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
A fine two-part discussion by David S. D'Amato on Smartphone Culture. It's ironic that "social media" has led to such alienating, anti-social consequences for so many. Even worse is how it's undermined genuinely radical, critical, dialectical thinking & engagement. open.substack.com/pub/dsdamato...
open.substack.com
Notes on Smartphone Culture 2
Curiosity and relationship anarchy as real alternatives to toxic internet "culture"
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Jon Stewart's new "government-approved" version of "The Daily Show" is brilliantly delivered ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GXN...
youtube.com
Jon Stewart's Post-Kimmel Primer on Free Speech in the Glorious Trump Era | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Back in 1964, Ayn Rand argued that it was the "conservatives" who led the way for the establishment of the FCC and for the overt and covert censorship that would follow in its wake. Today, it is the "conservatives" who are engaged in a brutal assault on free expression. notablog.net/2025/09/17/a...
notablog.net
Ayn Rand vs. Brendan Carr
Over 60 years ago, in April 1964, Ayn Rand addressed “The Property Status of the Airwaves.” She wrote: It was [Herbert] Hoover who fought for government control of radio and, as Secretary of Commer…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
This was a very nice endorsement by Matt McManus, even if a few folks might raise their eyebrows placing me on the right given my self-description as a dialectical left-libertarian. But this is the kind of engagement that I very much value.
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Reposted by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
3) Marx, Hayek and Utopia by Chris Sciabarra One of the very few books by someone on the right that has a firm understanding of Marx and puts him into productive dialogue with Hayek and right libertarianism. Very exciting and thoughtful.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
No group was more vicious in attacking my "Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical" than the Randians. My "dialectical left-libertarian" approach draws from Rand, Hayek, Rothbard, & Mises + Marx, Meikle, Gould, & Bertell Ollman (my mentor). It makes for interesting conversations! Thanks for the shout-out!
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
My newest Medium essay, "On Political Violence", discusses the toxic interrelationships between politics and culture, and the Trump administration's attempts to weaponize the murder of Charlie Kirk. medium.com/@cms10_7549/...
medium.com
On Political Violence
The “ink” wasn’t even dry on last week’s essay — “When Hatred for the ‘Woke’ Left Trumps the Love of Liberty” — and, well, here we are.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
My newest essay, “When Hatred for the ‘Woke’ Left Trumps the Love of Liberty,” appears today on Notablog & Medium. It explores how the reactionary right has engaged in a form of top-down imposed cancel culture: notablog.net/2025/09/08/w... medium.com/@cms10_7549/...
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Letters from World War II — Part IV: The Navy Boys On the 80th anniversary of the unofficial end of WW2, my 4-part Medium series concludes with letters from 3 men who fought in the Pacific theater of the war: medium.com/@cms10_7549/...
medium.com
Letters from World War II (4)
Part IV: The Navy Boys
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
... and what you have is nothing resembling the libertarianism I grew up with.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Add in Trump’s amping-up of domestic police actions in urban centers & across the United States with the goal of terrorizing & deporting millions of peaceful, productive “illegal” immigrants, as well as his intimidation of educational, cultural, & legal institutions & various interventions abroad...
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
I am appalled that some “libertarians” continue to defend Trump and MAGA, as if there is some broader strategy at work here. That somehow the more blatant shift toward state capitalism is going to lead to some kind of “free market/free trade” utopia in the future.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
The New State Interventions: Protectionism, industrial policy and government ownership — all once conservative boogeymen — have become official doctrine. The New State Interventions www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/b...
nytimes.com
The New State Interventions
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Letters from World War II — Part III: George & Charlie Part III in my Medium series focuses on two brothers who fought in Europe, with vastly different fates: One fought in North Africa & Italy, while the other was captured in Germany, becoming a POW: medium.com/@cms10_7549/...
medium.com
Letters from World War II (3)
Part III: George & Charlie
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Letters from World War II — Part II: Frank J. Rubino In this 2nd installment in my series commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2, I explore the life and legacy of Frank J. Rubino, a principled man who fought against fascism and racism at home and abroad. medium.com/@cms10_7549/...
medium.com
Letters from World War II (2)
Part II: Frank J. Rubino
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Putting aside the question of state involvement in the arts, this is the stuff of dictators. Trump appointed himself chair of the "TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER," and will host this year's ceremony, rejecting all "woke" artist inductions. 🤮 www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...
nbcnews.com
Trump advances his makeover of the Kennedy Center, giving himself a spotlight role
The move is the latest by the president to revamp the Washington, D.C., cultural institution in his image.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Congratulations to Pete Alonso for setting the all-time Mets franchise Home Run Record! The Polar Bear Reigns Supreme! www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeCb...
youtube.com
PETE ALONSO BREAKS THE METS FRANCHISE HOME RUN RECORD! 👑
YouTube video by New York Mets
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
We near the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2, which claimed the lives of 70-85 million people. I recently discovered nearly 100 wartime letters saved by my mother. Today begins my 4-part Medium series, "Letters from World War II". Part I: Letters Found: medium.com/@cms10_7549/...
medium.com
Letters from World War II (1)
Part I: Letters Found
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
It's horrific that Trump is using military force for domestic policing in DC, as he has in LA. The man is insufferable. He also didn't lose an opportunity to slam Democrats who want "Everybody, transgender!" I yelled at the TV: "WTF does this have to do with DC crime?" www.rev.com/transcripts/...
rev.com
Trump Details Crime Crackdown For D.C.
Donald Trump holds a White House press briefing to detail a federal crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C. Read the transcript here.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
David Pressman sees ominous parallels between Trump's ability to bend others to his will and Viktor Orban’s Hungary, where judges & businesses acquiesced to state power. Like Orban, Trump “believes that everyone can be bought. America’s elites are proving him right.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | I Watched It Happen in Hungary. Now It’s Happening Here.
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
A business in peril, families split apart. "It's a Wipeout," headlines this NY Times report on the aftershocks of an ICE workplace raid. What a disgrace. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...
nytimes.com
ICE Took Half Their Work Force. What Do They Do Now?
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
CC in Cooperstown Later today, CC Sabathia enters the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a New York Yankee. Mike Lupica in the "New York Daily News" put it best: “The Yankees aren’t celebrating a championship in 2009 if CC Sabathia hadn’t been the ace of the staff." notablog.net/2025/07/27/c...
notablog.net
CC in Cooperstown
Later today, Carsten Charles (CC) Sabathia enters the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a New York Yankee. Mike Lupica in the New York Daily News put it best: “The Yankees aren’t celebrating a cham…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Nice essay by Zak Woodman on how democracy depends on dialogue, even as "dialogical liberalism is being weaponized against you." notesonliberty.com/2025/07/24/i...
notesonliberty.com
In the Ruins of Public Reason, Part III: When the Barbarians Are at the Gates; Fascism, Bullshit, and the Paradox of Tolerance
Note: This is the third in a series of essays on public discourse. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 Three years ago, I started this essay series on the collapse of public discourse. At the time, I was frus…
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Oh, and yeah, there’s a moment in Tal Tsfany’s OCON 2025 video presentation that got my attention. (See the essay for my discussion of it) ...
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Chris Matthew Sciabarra @cmsciabarra.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
I am not an Objectivist. But as a long-time Rand scholar, I examine the Ayn Rand Institute on its 40th anniversary and reflect on the nature and evolution of Rand scholarship. Check out my Notablog essay: notablog.net/2025/07/21/r...
notablog.net
Reflections on ARI 40
The President and CEO of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), Tal Tsfany, gave a provocative talk at OCON (an acronym for “Objectivist Conference”) on July 3 in Boston entitled, “Spreading Objectivism: A …
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