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Michael DeMoor

@michaeldemoor.bsky.social
6.4K followers 1.4K following 8.4K posts

Political theorist and Dean at the King's University in Edmonton. Pluralism, democracy, history of political thought, but don’t expect much.

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 4h
Wouldn’t have been my first choice, but a worthy winner! If you have never listened to the tragically hip or know them only as that (allegedly) mediocre band that Canadians love, please listen to it at least 3 times, really loud. Then go ahead and apologize to me and all Canadians in the comments
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 6h
I’m not arguing with people about zoning and urban density on Facebook. Please congratulate me. Please… only your validation can stop me from returning to my demons.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 11h
This is such a great tool! Thanks so much to @jacobdawang.com for building this! I’m going to use this in neighbourhood dialogues and in teaching. Like the best tools it gives granular information in a context that makes it intelligible and helps us keep things in perspective.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 14h
An aesthetic that eschews all sentimentality is inhumane. We’re sentimental creatures as well as heroic contemplators of the sublime abyss and rough-hewn confronters of unvarnished reality. We need to feed all parts of our souls with well-wrought things.
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Scott B Ritner @podsekalnikov.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I am holding a copy of my book in my hands.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
#caturday warning: the smells in the empty bag are not your friend.
Orange and white cat with his dumbass head stuck in a transparent plastic bag. He got in thete himself I promise.Orange and white cat looking all innocence without a plastic bag on his head.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I spend my life surrounded by smart people; some of them are positively brilliant. Not one of them has ever boasted about, or even discussed, their IQ. A sure sign of a dumbass is that they boast about their IQ. Present company excepted of course :)
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Wake up babe, a new “How many divisions does the Pope have” just dropped! And this one’s even more asinine!
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If you’ve got boys you need to have the sex talk, the consent talk(s), and now you need to have the gambling talk, too. I played blackjack with Monopoly money with my boys (mid-late teens) and we had fun but also talked about the feelings that games of chance give you, about the habits of mind…
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Carrie Tait @carrietait.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Howdy! Alberta separatists + American Republicans. Read all about it. --> www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... By Nathan VanderKlippe, Grant Robertson, and friend.
theglobeandmail.com
The elephant in the room
Alberta separatists have gone to D.C. offering fresh water and oil in exchange for American support – and Republican operatives have provided tactical assistance inside the province
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
My first thought was: Wheel of Fortune jokes work in Germany? My second was: Right on.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In a sense, this is the fascist's promise to the populace: Give me power and it's the last politics you'll ever have to do!
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Fascism's appeal has always been the promise to end social conflict by "returning" (always a lie) to an ethnically/religiously/ ideologically homogeneous "people's community" in which old hierarchies are retained but somehow racial/religious solidarity provides all the equality anyone needs.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In other words: fascism is appealing to many during times of heightened political tension because it is (in some respects) a kind of anti-politics. It promises an easy end to social conflict; and managing social conflict without ending it is kind of what politics is.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Fascism's appeal has always been the promise to end social conflict by "returning" (always a lie) to an ethnically/religiously/ ideologically homogeneous "people's community" in which old hierarchies are retained but somehow racial/religious solidarity provides all the equality anyone needs.
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Dean Dettloff @deandettloff.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Catholic bishops of Alberta have released a pastoral letter related to the Alberta Independence referendum. The letter stops short of endorsing a yes or no (common in bishops' letters in the US and Canada) but the key considerations lean in a fairly obvious direction. caedm.ca/catholic-bis...
How will this decision affect others, particularly those who are most vulnerable?
Have I considered the good of others alongside my own interests?
To what extent might fear, anger, or resentment be influencing my judgement?
What kind of society or community are we building for future generations through this choice?
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Matt Thiessen @mattthiessen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
your daily reminder that the field of religious studies remains relevant. In fact, it is increasingly relevant.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Post your wins! This is awesome.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Can you imagine how desperately unhappy a conscious AI would be? How much suffering it would have to endure having the entire internet in its working memory? We can bear life only because we can forget… it would not forget. It would be cruelty itself to create this.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
One more note in favour of “Nautical Disaster” in the final: An absolutely all-timer beat-drop into the groove moment: “…Off the coast of France [breath] dear -> [Boom!] A moment of classic Hip hoser-rock magic in a very non-hoser-rock song.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It’s down to 2 and you get a real contrast: Dark, poetic, frankly scary Hip Vs Pop-folk, kind of wistfully sad but basically uplifting Hip.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Just the abstract kind of says it all. Not that you shouldn’t read the whole thing…
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Ross Carroll @rosscarroll.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My article on Edmund Burke, slavery, and plantation governance is finally out in Political Theory. I can’t recall how long I’ve worked on it at this stage. Definitely feeling more wearily relieved than jubilant. I hope some readers find it useful. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
The Perils of Improvement: Burke, Slavery, and Colonial Governance in the West Indies - Ross Carroll, 2026
Edmund Burke’s thoughts on plantation slavery have long been the subject of scholarly attention. Too often, however, discerning Burke’s long-term intention in r...
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Maybe we're past that, but it still bears saying: a political party that can't articulate and enforce (in its own ranks) a coherent and clear position on matters of existential import for the political community is failing in a fundamental way to even be a party. And that's a leadership failure.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I just had to have a little rant about the SecDef slighting the commitment of nerds and eggheads to the maintenance and deployment of the state's capability for organized killing.
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Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 @emmettmacfarlane.com · 30/09/2026
POLITICAL SCIENCE JOB AD: Tenure-track position in International Relations at the University of Waterloo. We're *very happy* to announce this. Applications due Nov. 1st; job start date July 2027. Details here (pdf): uwaterloo.ca/arts/sites/d...
uwaterloo.ca
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Oh yeah, because academia has NEVER dedicated itself to equipping, justifying, and winning America's wars. Yeah... America's eggheads are pacifist to the core.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I sometimes say that, of all the jobs that are buried in my job (teacher, therapist, accountant, arbitrator, ombudsperson), the only one i really hate is having to be a cop. But sometimes I get to be a detective... and that can be a bit of fun sometimes.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I can’t believe I actually missed hockey. #oilers
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Did anyone actually get a decent look/ screen grab of that poster that Schmitt’s people briefly displayed?
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"...we ought not before the appointed time desire to live with those alone who are holy and righteous, so that, by patience, we may deserve to receive this blessedness in its proper time." Augustine, Letter 189.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Barack Obama's Iconic Mic Drop
ALT: Barack Obama's Iconic Mic Drop
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"...we ought not before the appointed time desire to live with those alone who are holy and righteous, so that, by patience, we may deserve to receive this blessedness in its proper time." Augustine, Letter 189.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Still taking applications for Tenure Track position in Psychology! Share and ask!
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
BC politics, man. Cons: we definitely have a leader, I mean, for a while anyway, probably. Pundits: they could win. And the pundits are right.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Watching an early 2000s workplace sitcom. I’m pretty sure the rate of incidence of fireable workplace sexual harassment is between 3 and 6 per episode. Has anyone actually taken stats on this?
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Alan Richardson @alanrichardson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Wake up, Vancouver, Nardwuar is currently losing!!!
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
If it weren't for people with egos sufficiently...uh...robust to just keep coming back for more after defeat and humiliation, I guess we'd have no leaders at all. I say that like it would be a bad thing.
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Anna Ezekiel @annaezekiel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Open access article on the reception of Kant with women philosophers; a good starting point for thinking about Günderrode & Kant: My “Karoline von Günderrode’s Responses to Kant on Knowledge & Bildung” in Symphilosophie 6: Romanticism & Its Kantian Legacy (2024): symphilosophie.com/wp-content/u...
symphilosophie.com
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Well... some people on Bluesky want to talk about COVID, don't they? This one's for you, Bluesky!
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I lived in Toronto for 7 years. I can identify rats.
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Does this couple know they're being dunked on? Can they feel it somehow? (I kind of hope so... but I feel bad about feeling that).
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In any single-elimination bracket tournament, there's always one semifinalist that kind of snuck in there as a result of fortuitous match-ups and a kind of unspectacular doggedness. "100th meridian" is a good song; don't get me wrong. But, given all of the songs that didn't make it though...
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I've given up arguing with people about this (now I'm bothering them about bike lanes and taxes) -- sometimes you just have to admit when you're beaten -- but it's still true. And sometimes you just need to say what's true.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🧵 As front-page headlines go, this has to be one of the most misleading I've seen in a long time It's an out-and-out lie But notice the trick they use to get away with it...👀 *They're* not lying - they're just quoting someone else who is👍🏻 In this case, the leader of the opposition🙄 1/33
Daily Express headline:

"More Freedoms Handed to New Arrivals than British Citizens"

Above an image of Kemi Badenoch

All with a Monk Debunked stamp on top
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is just so heartbreaking 💔 Wait… is that the word I’m looking for? No. Let me try again: This is just so infuriating 🤬
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
For more on post-war church architecture (you know you're interested... it's interesting!): citymuseumedmonton.ca/stories/edmo...
citymuseumedmonton.ca
Edmonton’s “Sunday Modernism” – Modernist Churches in the Post-War Era - Edmonton City as a Museum Project
"The Modernist style was also a device used by the church organizations themselves to create a renewed image of a less hierarchical and more welcoming institution. Offering new types of modern buildin...
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Christian Courier @christiancourier.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Have you noticed the beams? The ones that make a church worship space look like an upside-down ark?" In his recent article, "Stronger than steel," Peter Bulthuis explains the theological and architectural reasoning behind church sanctuary structures. You can read it here:
christiancourier.ca
Stronger than steel | Christian Courier
Have you noticed the beams? The ones that make a church worship space look like an upside-down ark? Maybe you enjoyed counting them as a kid during a long sermon (once you were done tallying the organ...
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Christian Courier @christiancourier.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Currently number #5 on the NYT Best Sellers List, our own Kathy Vandergrift reviews @kkdumez.bsky.social 's new book "Live, Laugh, Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made," which is a follow up to her surprise hit "Jesus and John Wayne.
christiancourier.ca
The women who made MAGA possible | Christian Courier
Live, Laugh, Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women And the World They MadeKristin Kobes Du MezLiveright Publishing Corporation2026. What to make of the high percentage of evangelical Chris...
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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I finished highschool in Grand Rapids Michigan, a town that's the proud home of the Gerald R Ford Museum and Archives (for all that he's actually from Nebraska). I remember going through that museum and seeing his pardoning of Nixon portrayed as a brave act of statesmanship that allowed...
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