From the website:
Areo is an opinion and analysis digital magazine focused on current affairs — in particular: humanism, reason, science, politics, culture and human rights.
Areo, named after Milton’s speech in defence of freedom of speech, Areopagitica, publishes thoughtful essays from a variety of perspectives compatible with broadly liberal and humanist values. It places particular priority on evidence and reason-centered pieces. Our contributors are intellectually, professionally and ideologically diverse and include liberals, conservatives, socialists, libertarians, atheists and religious believers. As much as possible, Areo aims to avoid polarizing tribalistic stances and prioritizes intellectual balance, charity, honesty and rigor.
We believe in the unfettered freedom to explore, think, and challenge ideas and concepts, and we’re intent on taking part in the conversations that will shape our tomorrow.
People
Helen is the editor of the online Areo Magazine
From the Areo website:
Helen Pluckrose is an exile from the humanities with research interests in late medieval/early modern religious writing by and about women. She is editor-in-chief of Areo. Helen took part in the “grievance studies” probe and her book with James Lindsay, Cynical Theories, looks at the evolution of postmodern thought in scholarship and activism.
Write to Helen at: https://letter.wiki/HELENPLUCKROSE/conversations
Web Properties
Recent Content
Last 50 posts on own channels (YouTube, Podcast, Medium or Website/Blog):
Against the Death Penalty
Published on: 19 Sep 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Ralph Leonard
Gender-Critical Philosophy: A Defence
Published on: 12 Sep 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Alex Byrne
The Left’s Silence on Islamic Homophobia
Published on: 8 Sep 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Jimmy Bangash
Water Shortages: A Problem We Can and Must Solve Now
Published on: 5 Sep 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Kenneth Pike
Outlawing Islamophobia: A Terrible Idea
Published on: 29 Aug 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Khadija Khan
Why Do We Get Sick? The New Science of Evolutionary Medicine
Published on: 23 Aug 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Laith Al-Shawaf
Questioning the Dream of a United Europe
Published on: 17 Aug 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Ralph Leonard
The Crazy Culture of Twitter
Published on: 27 Jul 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Iona Italia
Alexander Dugin’s Cosmic War
Published on: 25 Jul 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Matt McManus
Black and British: We’re Not American
Published on: 11 Jul 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Ralph Leonard
Marxism: The Idea that Refuses to Die
Published on: 27 Jun 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Tibor Rutar
The Case for Central Carbon Banks
Published on: 20 Jun 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Corwin Schlump
Hood-Adjacent: Place and Class in Black American Life
Published on: 14 Jun 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by John Wood, Jr.
A Feminist Against Modernity
Published on: 6 Jun 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Ralph Leonard
The Consciousness Conundrum
Published on: 30 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Steven Gussman
Stalin, Putin and the Falsification of History
Published on: 23 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Andy Owen
Ancient Warriors and Modern Footballers: An Evolutionary Explanation for Homophobia
Published on: 19 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Tania Reynolds
Compassionism
Published on: 18 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Julian Adorney
In Defence of Tinkerers: Why We Need Open AI
Published on: 16 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Toadworrier
Hindu-Muslim Tensions in the UK
Published on: 10 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Khadija Khan
Treacherous Allies: Why Anti-Wokes Should Reject the Religious Right
Published on: 9 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Gerfried Ambrosch
Claire Lehmann: Riding Out the Media Storm
Published on: 5 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Claire Lehmann
It’s Class, Not Race
Published on: 4 May 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Robert Lynch
Christopher Hitchens, the Conservative Marxist
Published on: 18 Apr 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Ralph Leonard
Demystifying Critical Race Theory
Published on: 18 Apr 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Josh Yuter
Fragile Narcissism: “Banshees” and Our Victimhood Culture
Published on: 28 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Terri Murray
Why Everyone Is a Little Bit Queer
Published on: 24 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Rio Veradonir
Mistress of Murder
Published on: 23 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Kat Rosenfield
Why Young Americans Are Rejecting the Social Contract
Published on: 22 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Julian Adorney
Advancing Our Knowledge About Sex
Published on: 17 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Michael Bailey
A Leftist Defence of Monarchy
Published on: 16 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by William Fear
Cute Authoritarianism
Published on: 15 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Ewan Morrison
The Colour Purple: Bisexual Representation
Published on: 10 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Kaylee Walker
Why Trigger Warnings Won’t Help (and May Harm) Vulnerable People
Published on: 9 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Mane Kara-Yakoubian
Nev March: History and Mystery
Published on: 8 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Nev March
Transcending Race
Published on: 7 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Ralph Leonard
Why You May Not Be as Kinky As You Think
Published on: 4 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Justin Lehmiller
Beauty Is Truth, Truth Beauty: Aesthetics and the Perception of Accuracy
Published on: 1 Mar 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Mane Kara-Yakoubian
Feminist in the Streets, Chauvinist in the Sheets: Politics and the Bedroom
Published on: 24 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Rio Veradonir
Artificial Intelligence, the Public and the Pope
Published on: 23 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Mane Kara-Yakoubian
The Depressing New Corporate Metaverse
Published on: 22 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Jeremy Ray Jewell
In Defence of a High-Energy Future
Published on: 21 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Simon Friederich
The Sex Researcher and the Furries
Published on: 17 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Kevin Hsu
Marxist Professors and Brainwashed Students: Charlie Kirk’s “The College Scam”
Published on: 16 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Matt McManus
Techno-Immortality
Published on: 15 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Amelia Averis
Sex versus Gender
Published on: 10 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Kaylee Walker
Weird Japan: Western Critiques of Anime and Manga
Published on: 9 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Carlos Miguel del Callar
The Diminishing Returns of Reducing Medical Risk
Published on: 8 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Zachary Caverley
Antisemitism at the APA? The Case of Lara Sheehi
Published on: 7 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Jon Mills
Activism as Celebration, not Victimhood
Published on: 3 Feb 23 in Areo Magazine – Website
by Ian Lawrence-Tourinho
The last execution in Great Britain took place in 1964, but Tory politicians still periodically raise the possibility of reinstating capital punishment in tub-thumping speeches designed to convince the public…
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A Conversation between Alex Byrne, Holly Lawford-Smith and John McLaughlin John: The term gender identity was first defined in two 1964 papers by UCLA psychiatrists Robert Stoller and Ralph Greenson.…
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In Muslim communities, homosexuality is intrinsically linked to anxiety, intimidation, violence and, in some cases, death. For many, it involves living a closeted existence for fear of being ostracised or…
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In 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson made a historic request: he wanted a large-scale, nuclear-powered desalination programme to address the growing need for potable water in the American Southwest.…
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In July 2023, two senior Labour councillors in Walsall were reported to police, accused of hate crimes against Ahmadiyya Muslims—a minority group within the religion. Local party leader Aftab Nawaz and…
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If you infect a rabbit with a virus or a bacterium, it’ll start to run a fever. Why? The surprising answer is that fever is not a disease; it’s a…
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Eurowhiteness: Culture, Empire and Race in the European Project by Hans Kundnani (2023). A review. The dream of a united Europe has a long and deep history. In its modern…
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An Interview with Christoph. You can also listen on Spotify here; on iTunes here and on most podcast apps. Shownotes General: Find Christoph on Twitter @Halalcoholism twitter.com/Halalcoholism?ref_s…erp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor References: Jonathan Haidt on…
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I share the vision of René Guénon and Julius Evola, who considered modernity and the ideologies derived from it—individualism, liberal democracy, capitalism, and so on—to be the causes of the…
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By Robert DarbyContinue reading on Areo Magazine »
By John Wood, Jr.Continue reading on Areo Magazine »
By Lisa MarchianoContinue reading on Areo Magazine »
By Piers BennContinue reading on Areo Magazine »
By Thomas CortellesiContinue reading on Areo Magazine »
By Helen Pluckrose and James A. LindsayContinue reading on Areo Magazine »
By Brandon WilsonContinue reading on Areo Magazine »
By Ralph LeonardContinue reading on Areo Magazine »
By O.T. FordContinue reading on Areo Magazine »
“Prohibiting capital punishment protects citizens from state overreach. Bringing it back would not protect us from the violent criminals among us,” argues Ralph Leonard. The last execution in Great Britain took place in 1964, but Tory politicians still periodically raise the possibility of reinstating capital punishment in tub-thumping speeches designed to convince the public…View Post
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“Trans women can have all the rights they want even if, literally speaking, they are not women.” Philosophers Alex Byrne, Holly Lawford-Smith and John McLaughlin debate trans rights and set out the gender-critical position for Areo Magazine. A Conversation between Alex Byrne, Holly Lawford-Smith and John McLaughlin John: The term gender identity was first defined in two 1964 papers by
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“As if the left’s silence was not detrimental enough to LGBT rights, its accusations of racism and Islamophobia towards those who seek to criticize Islamic homophobia are a blatant betrayal,” writes Jimmy Bangash. In association with Queer Majority. In Muslim communities, homosexuality is intrinsically linked to anxiety, intimidation, violence and, in some cases, death. For many, it involves living a
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“The problem is not—and never has been—how much water we have, or even how much water we use. Edge cases aside, the water we “consume” is not destroyed, only dirtied and displaced. The problem is the water’s location and condition. Changing either of these things requires time, space and energy, all of which cost money. But everything costs money—and doing
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“Muslims are not a homogeneous group and cannot be properly understood or represented in language borrowed from racial discourse,” argues Khadija Khan. In July 2023, two senior Labour councillors in Walsall were reported to police, accused of hate crimes against Ahmadiyya Muslims—a minority group within the religion. Local party leader Aftab Nawaz and…View Post
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“There’s a scientific revolution brewing, catalysed by the idea that considering how our bodies evolved will help us better understand and treat disease,” argues Laith al-Shawaf. If you infect a rabbit with a virus or a bacterium, it’ll start to run a fever. Why? The surprising answer is that fever is not a disease; it’s a…View Post
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“The EU has a democracy deficit. Most Europeans have very little influence over legislation passed in Brussels. The European Parliament is both more inaccessible and more toothless than national parliaments, and the governing structures of the EU are designed to be unresponsive to democratic pressure,” argues Ralph Leonard in this review of Hans Kundnani’s latest book. Eurowhiteness: Culture, Empire and
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“Contrary to the common mythology, what we now call the EU did not arise from a benevolent, enlightened post-1945 epiphany, in which the European nations rejected war and conquest,” argues Ralph Leonard. Eurowhiteness: Culture, Empire and Race in the European Project by Hans Kundnani (2023). A review. The dream of a united Europe has a long and deep history. In
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“Many conservative critics have condemned postmodern theory for dissolving the epistemic and moral bases of western society. Dugin agrees that the postmodernists theorists have accomplished this—and praises them for it—in the service of a geopolitical project vastly more reactionary than any Jordan Peterson would be comfortable with,” argues Matt McManus in this week’s feature. I share the vision of René
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“The so-called awokening of 2020, as Alex Hochuli has argued, represented the ‘global triumph of American idealism,’ which has led non-Americans to go beyond expressing noble statements of international solidarity and imagine themselves as participants in American struggles, ‘eagerly adopting the slogans and paraphernalia of a uniquely American protest,’ in a way that obscures their own specific problems, especially in
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“Marx’s failed theories can be propped up by reframing them with the help of non-Marxist ideas, by downplaying their distinctively Marxist tone, by modifying them to better fit new data or by stretching the meanings of words like class and economic determinism almost to breaking point. But if the original concepts for which Marx is justifiably best known are nowhere
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“An independent central carbon bank would shield climate change policy from the incentives of electoral politics, allowing its board of scientists to make decisions that would be beneficial in the long term, even if those decisions are unpopular with voters,” argues Corwin Schlump. In a speech to the 1989 UN General Assembly, Margaret Thatcher proclaimed: “the problem of global climate
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“None of my stepbrother’s friends grew up in an impoverished neighbourhood. But our social, familial and cultural bonds to such communities have had real impacts on our lives. … We’ve all experienced the streets; we’ve all been in proximity to violence and could easily have become perpetrators or victims of it,” writes John R. Wood Jr. in this week’s feature.
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“Behind Harrington’s reactionary feminism is a reactionary anti-capitalism. For Harrington, modern industrial capitalism is an almost demonic force that destroys nature and traditional ways of life. In one way, she’s right. Capitalist modernity has a thoroughly demonic element—and it’s an aspect of modernity that the progressives she rails against rarely acknowledge.” In this week’s Areo feature, Ralph Leonard reviews Mary
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“The holy grail for the evolutionist is to prove the compatibility of free will with a mechanical universe—a tall order, indeed. For the complexity scientists, it is to show that consciousness arises as an emergent phenomenon associated with any sufficiently structured information network,” writes Steven Gussman. Consciousness is among the greatest outstanding scientific mysteries. We have no direct way of
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“There is an old Soviet saying: Russia is a country with a certain future; it is only the past that is unpredictable. In post-Stalinist Russia, the battle over history continues. Vladimir Putin has recently been adopting some of the same tactics as Stalin,” argues Andy Owen for Areo Magazine. Patriotism corrupts history.—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1817) Long before the latest
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“The more a competition mimics warfare, the more men will attend to cues of one another’s masculinity. Because men use sexual orientation as a rough proxy for one another’s warfare-relevant traits, these homophobic insults may be men’s way of saying, be a better warrior; don’t let the team down,” argues Tania Arline for Areo in association with Queer Majority. Although
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“The selective exercise of compassion is inevitable if we regard society as a zero-sum game between competing interest groups,” argues Julian Adorney for Areo Magazine. As Angel Eduardo writes, the word woke “has lost all useful meaning when it comes to communication between people on opposite sides of the culture war.” We do, however, need…View Post
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“Any regulatory regime that stifles small-scale experimentation with AI is worse than useless. Such experimentation, if done openly and under the aegis of reasonable laws, would allow us to gather valuable information as to how to make safe, sane and virtuous AIs,” argues Toadworrier in this week’s feature. The release of large language models like ChatGPT has led to a
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“Britain has a longstanding and honourable tradition of diversity. We must tolerate the existence of a wide variety of views, including those characterised by religious bigotry. But we need to stop appeasing extremist groups by treating them as if they were legitimate representatives of British Muslims,” argues Khadija Khan. The violence that unfolded in Leicester in the late summer of
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“One common red flag is the theistic argument that without God we would have no objective reference point for moral values. It implies that all moral judgements can be reduced to whether they please or offend God, the ultimate moral authority. This paternalistic view not only conflicts with the emancipatory spirit of secular liberalism: it causes more problems than it
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In the latest episode of Areo’s Two for Tea podcast, our editor Iona Italia talks to Claire Lehmann, editor-in-chief of Quillette about audience capture in the heterodox sphere, the decline of the IDW, Quillette’s many controversies, the importance of scientific thinking, the attacks from both right & left & the differences between politics and culture in the US, UK and
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Areo is entirely and solely funded by small-scale regular Patreon donations. If you value the work we do, I hope that you will help make it possible. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/areo Become a patron of Areo today: Get access to exclusive content and experiences on the world’s largest membership platform for artists and creators.
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“Decades of social mobility research has come to the same conclusion: we are born into an economic caste system and our future success is largely determined by our parents’ income,” argues Robert F. Lynch for Areo Magazine. It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. — Mark
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RT @mariekehoogwout: “Throughout history, the assertion that certain ideas will ruin the world has been used to suppress them. But hell on earth has not resulted from ideas, for the most part—instead, it has more frequently been borne out of their suppression” v @AreoMagazine https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/17/advancing-our-knowledge-about-sex/
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RT @judystout1: Why Young Americans Are Rejecting the Social Contract https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/22/why-young-americans-are-rejecting-the-social-contract/ via @areomagazine
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RT @ItlMktConsult: “Had the results turned out the opposite, I would still happily publish them. Because knowledge, itself, is good.” 💯💯💯 Advancing Our Knowledge About Sex https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/17/advancing-our-knowledge-about-sex/ via @areomagazine
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“Banshees is a profound allegory about the psychology of human destruction,” writes Terri Murray. https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/28/fragile-narcissism-banshees-and-our-victimhood-culture/
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RT @IonaItalia: “The film’s re-evaluation of niceness is well timed in an era in which ubiquitous rainbow-festooned Orwellian platitudes like Be Kind pass for meaningful discourse,” argues Terri Murray for @AreoMagazine. https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/28/fragile-narcissism-banshees-and-our-victimhood-culture/
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RT @QueerMajority: Sexual freedom affects everyone. No one has a monopoly on queerness, and our language should reflect that. | @RVeradonir @AreoMagazine https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/24/why-everyone-is-a-little-bit-queer/
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RT @Ianrob12: this is a great read ⬇️ Why Everyone Is a Little Bit Queer https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/24/why-everyone-is-a-little-bit-queer/ via @areomagazine
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RT @johnjamesobrien: In a world more drawn to tribalism than to solving challenges, discernment is important. Are we building the alliances we need? “Not All Men” is Not a Fallacy. It is Humanism. https://areomagazine.com/2018/09/16/not-all-men-is-not-a-fallacy-it-is-humanism/ via @areomagazine
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RT @RobertC78726751: Antisemitism at the APA? The Case of Lara Sheehi https://areomagazine.com/2023/02/07/antisemitism-at-the-apa-the-case-of-lara-sheehi/ via @areomagazine
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RT @stevezieskidoo: An interesting Marxist take on Transcending Race https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/07/transcending-race/ via @areomagazine
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RT @RobertC78726751: Fragile Narcissism: “Banshees” and Our Victimhood Culture https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/28/fragile-narcissism-banshees-and-our-victimhood-culture/ via @areomagazine
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RT @MrEwanMorrison: There is much talk of cults again, many questions about whether political movements can become cults. So I’m reporting this article of mine from 2019 – Why We Join Cults . I hope it helps. https://areomagazine.com/2019/04/26/why-we-join-cults/ via @areomagazine
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“The need to preserve our liberties applies to all people—not just those belonging to the LGBT community,” writes @RioVeradonir for Areo in partnership with @QueerMajority. https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/24/why-everyone-is-a-little-bit-queer/
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RT @IonaItalia: “It is therefore both ahistorical and reductive for the LGBT community to claim absolute ownership over the word queer,” writes @RVeradonir for @AreoMagazine in partnership with @QueerMajority. https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/24/why-everyone-is-a-little-bit-queer/
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RT @olliewaters: The best energy is useful energy. Great article by @simonfriederich & @mboudry on why we need much more of it. In Defence of a High-Energy Future https://areomagazine.com/2023/02/21/in-defence-of-a-high-energy-future/ via @areomagazine
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RT @feeonline: “Once-sacrosanct ideas like free speech are now being dismissed as far-right. A desire for socialism is on the rise, especially among younger people. The broadly neoliberal vision…has lost its appeal.” @Julian_Liberty via @AreoMagazine: https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/22/why-young-americans-are-rejecting-the-social-contract/
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A correction has been issued to this article by @simonfriederich & @mboudry. Thanks to @oxmartinschool for pointing out an inaccuracy here. https://areomagazine.com/2023/02/21/in-defence-of-a-high-energy-future/
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RT @IonaItalia: I’ve added an erratum notice to this @AreoMagazine article by @simonfriederich & @mboudry (there was an unintentional inaccuracy in the description of one of their cited sources). Thanks to @oxmartinschool for the correction. https://areomagazine.com/2023/02/21/in-defence-of-a-high-energy-future/
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RT @IonaItalia: A NEW episode of the #TwoforTea podcast ☕️☕️🎧 is here. I interview @katrosenfield about her new book, “You Must Remember This.” https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/23/mistress-of-murder/
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In this edition of #TwoforTea ☕️☕️🎧, editor-in-chief @IonaItalia talks to @katrosenfield about her latest novel, “You Must Remember This.” https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/23/mistress-of-murder/
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RT @RobertC78726751: Why Young Americans Are Rejecting the Social Contract https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/22/why-young-americans-are-rejecting-the-social-contract/ via @areomagazine
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RT @Hatushili: Why Young Americans Are Rejecting the Social Contract https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/22/why-young-americans-are-rejecting-the-social-contract/ via @areomagazine
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RT @ToTinkCO: Why Young Americans Are Rejecting the Social Contract https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/22/why-young-americans-are-rejecting-the-social-contract/ via @areomagazine
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RT @cbbroony: Cute Authoritarianism insightful article & important comment on what is happening to our society https://areomagazine.com/2023/03/15/cute-authoritarianism/ via @areomagazine
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