Published: The Daily Dot (March 7, 2016) When it comes to Internet freedom, it is entirely possible that the 2016 presidential election will be remembered as one of the most consequential events in the history of cyberspace. This may seem like a bold conclusion, but...
The next Supreme Court justice and the future of the Internet
Feb 22, 2016 | Civil Liberties, Internet Culture, Supreme Court and Other Judicial Issues
Published: The Daily Dot (February 22, 2016) When it comes to the field of cyber law, it’s rather ironic that the next Supreme Court justice will replace the late Antonin Scalia. After all, the famous constitutional originalist revealed in 2012 that, if he had his...
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s evolution on Internet freedom
Feb 14, 2016 | Civil Liberties, Internet Culture, Supreme Court and Other Judicial Issues
Published: The Daily Dot (February 14, 2016) Say what you will about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia–and pundits and people on both the left and the right have been doing just that since his passing on Saturday–but when it comes to Internet freedom, he may have...
Thanks for the Automated Valentine!
Feb 14, 2016 | Internet Culture, Love and Dating, Science and Technology
Published: The Good Men Project (February 13, 2016) First, I just want to add that I'm a big fan of Film Brain, the British movie critic whose web series "Bad Movie Beatdown" manages to intelligently deconstruct some of the worst motion pictures ever made. Since our...
The real power behind the rise of tech in the Iowa caucus
Feb 1, 2016 | Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Internet Culture, Science and Technology
Published: The Daily Dot (February 1, 2016) Regardless of which candidates triumph in the Iowa caucuses today, there is one winner whose victory no one will be able to dispute—digital technology. To understand how the Internet has fundamentally transformed the Iowa...
Amy Schumer and the rise of Internet vigilance
Jan 23, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, Internet Culture
Published: The Daily Dot (January 23, 2016) If there is any silver lining to the Amy Schumer plagiarism scandal, it is that it establishes one of the ways in which the Internet can be an unequivocal force for good. Thanks to social media and online activism, the days...
There’s a new, refreshing trend in online bullying
Jan 15, 2016 | Bullying, Internet Culture
Published: The Daily Dot (January 14, 2016) If there is a single major social problem that best captures the pros and cons of our Internet-driven world, it is the issue of bullying. On one hand, the Internet has become notorious in recent years as a breeding ground...
The Comedy in White Supremacy
Jan 2, 2016 | Internet Culture, Race and Racism, Satirical Essays
Published: The Good Men Project (January 2, 2016) It's one thing to explain why modern white supremacists are funny (something I've already done several times), but it's quite another to actually illustrate how this can be the case. Fortunately, a good friend of mine...
Campus protests can go viral in no time–so can the backlash
Nov 27, 2015 | Autobiographical, Civil Liberties, Education, Internet Culture, Millennials
Published: The Daily Dot (November 27, 2015) It’s hard to follow the recent flurry of college protests without being reminded of President Harry S. Truman, who famously said that “there is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.” As the media...
Campus PCness and the Price of Free Speech
Nov 11, 2015 | Civil Liberties, Education, Internet Culture
Published: The Huffington Post (November 11, 2015), The Good Men Project (November 10, 2015) This is an editorial for my fellow liberals. Because progressive ideas on political and social issues often challenge conventional assumptions, liberalism as an ideology...