Category: Essays

“White supremacy” defines our society. Our nation’s founding was actually in 1619 with the coming of the first ship carrying African slaves. If you’re “white,” check your “privilege.” The sheer fact of disparate outcomes in schools is obvious proof of racism. To deny that you’re complicit in racism only proves that you are. Such ideas … Continue reading The New Religion of “Woke”

Twenty years have passed since jihadists carried out attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., killing almost 3,000 Americans. That fateful Tuesday in September marked an inflection point for the United States, which responded with military operations in Afghanistan and later Iraq. Nearly a generation later, American combat forces are set to withdraw from both … Continue reading ARI’s Uncompromising Voice for Reason Since 9/11

If you leave meat uncovered on the street and a cat eats it, whose fault is it? The problem is not the cat, but the uncovered meat. Growing up, Ayaan Hirsi Ali heard this kind of attitude from her grandmother in Somalia. It’s a loathsome attitude widespread in societies defined by Islamic culture: if only … Continue reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Migration, Islam and Women as Prey

Yesterday the Taliban entered Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, after a rapid takeover of the country. Amid the chaos, the U.S. is attempting to airlift its diplomats to safety. Twenty years after the horrific 9/11 attacks, the long-range effects of decisions taken in the immediate aftermath have become increasingly clear. In case after case, those … Continue reading New ARI Book Examines What Went Wrong After 9/11

By many of her fans and critics, Ayn Rand was often seen as belonging within the “conservative” movement. Isn’t her philosophy, people wondered, “just another form of conservatism”? That assumption outlived her. Rand’s ideas, one journalist claimed in 2019, are the intellectual backbone of everything that’s reprehensible about “conservatism.” This linkage in the public mind has been … Continue reading What Was Ayn Rand’s View of ‘Conservatism’?

Amid the war between Hamas and Israel, Trevor Noah voices a widely resonant position. Is he right that the imbalance of “power” between the adversaries is the crucial issue?

The Dissident, a new documentary about the Khashoggi scandal, prompts us to look more closely at how the U.S. and Western countries engage with Saudi Arabia.