Why isn’t politics germane to good conversation? Why is it a dangerous topic to discuss in public? The answer lies with what conversation is for and what distinguishes harmless, approving subjects from the more important and yet contentious ones.

Conversation makes up a large percentage of communication, and remains the source we seek approval of the others. But what has changed is the nature of conversation itself. It used to be solely between family members, whereas nowadays it is done between competitive peers in society. (more…)

What distinguishes a good critic from the rest of the herd? I want to write a bit about this nugget offered by Richard Rorty in his article, Posties, that outlined three types of critics: (more…)

Lakshmi