Tag Archives: responsibility

White Paper: The Psychological Implications of Young Adult and Teen Protagonists as Saviors in YA Literature

Executive Summary Young Adult (YA) literature—particularly dystopian and fantasy works—frequently casts adolescent or teenage protagonists as society’s last hope. From Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games to Harry Potter in Harry Potter, this narrative choice has shaped generations of readers. … Continue reading

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White Paper: George R. R. Martin, His Audience, and the Fate of His Unfinished Works

Introduction George R. R. Martin (GRRM), creator of A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF), has long stood at the center of a paradox. He is one of the most commercially successful fantasy authors of the modern era, yet his … Continue reading

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On Failure To Launch, Or, No One Ever Is To Blame

Why Some Cultures Fail to “Takeoff”: An Exploration of Contributing Factors The concept of cultural “takeoff” refers to a society’s ability to achieve sustained economic growth, social development, and technological advancement, often transitioning from stagnation or traditionalism to modernity and … Continue reading

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What Is Ignorance A Defense Of?

“Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” “Ignorance is no defense of the law.” If we look at the weight of teachings, regardless of their sources, we will find that the strong weight of what we read … Continue reading

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On The Boundaries Of Lying

[Note: This is the prepared text for a sermon given to the Dalles congregation of the United Church of God on Sabbath, August 7, 2021.] If your family is anything like mine, you have had the experience of people selling … Continue reading

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Found On Roadside, Derelict

One of the more amusing things about looking through various discussions of vehicles is the way that one can blend one’s own personal experience with one’s knowledge. It is admittedly difficult to prove anything from anecdotal experience, because no matter … Continue reading

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That Ah-Ha Moment

One of the interesting aspects, at least as far as personal conversations went during the recent Feast of Tabernacles, was how quite a few of the people I was chatting with were still drawing lessons and insights ten years later … Continue reading

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Not Written In The Stars

One of the most common, if lamentable, tendencies of humanity is to seek to avoid taking responsibility for our choices and our behavior. This frequently presents us with a dilemma, in that we seek to defend our own agency and … Continue reading

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A School In Self-Government

How does one go about raising human beings who are capable of responsible self-government?  One of the characteristic problems of human history has been that we are hypocritically an order of beings that refuses to be restrained or governed from … Continue reading

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Juneteenth And Salvation

In many ways, the festival of Juneteenth can be seen as an analogy to the process of salvation.  Although I have written about the festival before [1], it has gotten a lot more attention as of late as a celebration … Continue reading

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