The Sociolinguistics of Corporate English: What Workplace Language Reveals About Power and Belonging
This week, I read George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language.” In this essay, Orwell argues that lazy and imprecise language is both a symptom and a cause of political corruption, with political rhetoric often used to obscure truth through euphemism and vagueness. Nearly 80 years have passed since Orwell wrote this essay,…
Keep readingSaved by the Bell: Late-Stage Capitalism, Geopolitical Instability and Nihilism in Early-to-Mid-Career Adults
“We’re cooked.” That’s the overarching sentiment growingly plaguing a great part of Millennials and Generation Z. From World-War-3 memes to job burnout, a growing number of 19-to-40-year-olds are developing a quiet but concerning apathy towards their own existence. As a Millennial myself, I get it, but it concerns me as much as it saddens me…
Keep readingAre we nearing population collapse? Analyzing the steady decrease in birthrates around the world
For some reason, I’ve had an increasing amount of pregnancy-fearmongering content land on my social media feed lately. From the ‘Top 10s Reasons Not To Have Kids’, to videos titled ‘This Is Your Reminder To Take The Pill’, I have observed an increase in not only the amount of concerns related to pregnancy, but also…
Keep readingLove is the new Bitcoin: Analyzing the fate of long-lasting romantic relationships in culturally individualistic societies
Do you remember the first time you heard about cryptocurrencies, or even the first time you heard about Bitcoin? It appears none of us average Joes and Janes could’ve imagined the value that some of those virtual currencies could gain with time. Fast-forwarding to today, few are the individuals who knew to invest in some…
Keep readingCapitalism: is there hope for a better future?
The more time passes, the more my mind keeps going back to the question “Can (or will) capitalism hold a space in its structure for ethics?” I also ask myself what my place is in a system where individual gains often forego holistic and collective wellbeing. I ask myself what and where could be the…
Keep readingHomo dominium: Human-animal relationships, anthropomorphism and link to coping mechanisms
Canis lupus. That’s where it all started: wolves. Humans started domesticating wolves at least 15,000 years ago in the attempt to develop their foraging techniques. From that process, appeared nowadays’ “man’s best friend”, also known as the dog (canis lupus familiaris). With this in mind, our very first use of animals was that of personal…
Keep readingGender and bullying in the workplace: we are our peers’ nemesis
Workplace bullying, sometimes also referred to as workplace harassment or mobbing, is way more common that we’d like to think – one reason being that it is far more misunderstood than we can imagine, therefore often overlooked. Indeed, on one hand, our definition of it has not been updated in years, and on the other,…
Keep readingSkinhead culture: from unity beyond race and working-class pride to White supremacy
It’s unbelievable the trouble we people can cause by uniting. You can see it in different ways. Whether prejudiced individuals coming together and bullying others, or same-class youth uniting across races, religions, genders or backgrounds and fighting back a system which never had their backs. Unity has an irrefutable power, but like intelligence, it’s only…
Keep readingGroup psychology and obedience: understanding how we let the worst leaders get away with the worse deeds
What is it about ourselves that makes us accept the wrong things from the wrong people? What makes us bend under the yoke of authority? Have you ever asked yourself how is it possible that millennia and millennia passed, and most of us still obey the most corrupt, dishonest, amoral individuals, only because they appear…
Keep readingFear of heavy tattooing & piercing in Western societies: The coalescence of Eurocentric beauty standards, xenophobia and hypocrisy
What is beauty? Have you ever asked yourself that question? “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” many would say. This is a correct statement, but it still doesn’t explain what beauty is. Likewise, what we find “ugly” follows the same logic. Ugliness too is in the eye of the beholder. For example, one…
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Aude Calloch 