Western societies in general and universities in particular have not always been immune from institutional sexism. This is incontestable.
— Gad Saad
There is no gospel of atheism. Atheists don't pray at the altar of a Richard Dawkins poster.
To rightly recognize that men and women are equal under the law is perfectly removed from the fact that men and women are distinguishable beings that have been shaped by sex-specific evolutionary challenges. Accordingly, there is no reason to assume or expect that there should be equal representation of the two sexes across all contexts.
Secularism and pluralism are two of the defining ethos of Western societies. The former decouples religion from governmental institutions whilst the latter seeks to protect the rights of all citizens to freely practice their creed.
When a political party denies scientific facts, then by all means, they should be called out on their anti-science stance.
Trigger warnings are part of the West's debauchery of self-indulgent victimhood.
Offending someone's religious sensibilities can never justify a violent response. There are no 'but' qualifiers, and the sooner that this lesson is internalized, the rosier our future will be.
As a professor of marketing, I have a professional interest in examining how companies create integrated messages when communicating a corporate image.
Secular societies establish tolerance by being equally non-accommodating toward all religious demands within the public sphere.
It is an immeasurable tragedy to spend a sizeable portion of one's waking hours doing a job that does not excite you nor infuse you with a sense of purpose.
No ideology should ever get a pass simply because it is cloaked in a religious robe.
A proud and healthy society does not equivocate when it comes to stating clearly and unequivocally what it expects of its prospective immigrants. It is for immigrants to adapt to the host nation's values and never the other way around.
My family and I were welcomed to Canada more than 40 years ago. We sought and obtained refuge in a liberal, modern, and secular society, and put the ugliness of genocidal religious hate and associated tribalism behind us - or so we thought.
Let us stop pathologizing masculinity. Instead, let us appreciate the endless ways by which men and women are similar to one another, as well as the important ways in which the two sexes differ.
As members of a social species endowed with large brains, we are natural-born marketers. Capitalism, the economic system that has elevated innumerable people out of abject poverty and misery, is founded on marketing. Everything that defines your daily existence has the indelible marks of marketing on it.
Nearly everything that defines much of our daily experiences is consummatory in nature. Yes, we consume products and services. But we also consume life experiences, religious narratives, art, literature, and ideas.
My purity manifests itself in countless ways, including an utter inability to sit idly when exposed to attacks on truth, reason, logic, and/or individual dignity.
Reason and science allow us to properly think about the necessary data that are required in order to answer a given question. This is precisely why the scientific method is the most powerful framework for understanding the world.
While it is true that all individuals are equal under the law, this hardly implies that they are created equal.
In the public realm, secularism should not concede a single inch to religious intrusions. To argue otherwise is to violate the meaning of secularism.
Of all forms of diversity that should be celebrated on university campuses, none is more important than supporting, nurturing, and promoting intellectual diversity.
Any clear-thinking person should be able to engage in nuanced thinking when it comes to complex political positions.
Empires implode from within due to their own excesses.
Everyone has the right to practice their religious beliefs in private but expect that people might publicly reject said beliefs.
In the public realm, secularism should not concede a single inch to religious intrusions.
Memorable people do memorable things. Followers are seldom remembered. The herd mentality is the killer of innovation. When appropriate, be bold in your undertakings.
Life is short, and every moment is precious.
There is nothing morally objectionable in stating that a country has the inalienable right to decide on the exact number of immigrants and the exact type of immigrants that it wishes to let into its borders. As part of that calculus, it is perfectly rational to exhibit preferential treatment to immigrants who share one's cultural values.
A society is only as great as the values that it enshrines as part of its ethos. A society is only as great as the extent to which it is willing to defend its identity.
People have the right to live as equal citizens under the law. They do not have the right to demand that their identities be coddled and celebrated lest they might otherwise get offended.
The great majority of men are attracted to feminine women who do not possess the body type of Michael Phelps. Beyonce is desired not because of her 'diabolical femininity,' but simply because of her femininity.
Marketing is fundamental to what makes us human. Marketing is not solely about selling chewing gum, cars, cellphones, and tourist packages. Everything in life involves the process of marketing something to someone.
Academia is ruled by a pathological herd mentality. Stick out, and be prepared to get ostracized.
There is a natural rhythm to parent-child interactions, including the fact that some parental insights prove poignant and veridical decades after they were first shared with us.
Atheists do not seek to violently impose their non-belief onto others. They simply reject all gods inherent to the 10,000 religions known to mankind.
In some instances, a gender imbalance is indeed a manifestation of sexism. In others, it is not.
If one wishes to forgo the protection afforded by secular pluralism, then perhaps Western liberal democracies is not the right place for you to freely exercise your religion.
University students should rightly be exposed to a plurality of viewpoints as part of their intellectual growth, rather attending the 'flock of sheep association of like-minded individuals.'
There are justifiable case-by-case situations wherein an educator might exhibit targeted sensitivity to a student's unique circumstances. This is humane and laudable. In most instances though, trigger warnings are not a manifestation of justified empathy but are symptomatic of an ailing culture.
Trigger warnings are an instantiation of the West's zeitgeist of perpetual offense and victimhood that defines much of public discourse.
Freedom of religion does not entitle your religion to have a privileged position within the public sphere.
What you believe in the privacy of your thoughts and what you do in the privacy of your home or house of worship is your business. What you do in the public realm is our collective business.
My personal growth stems from the humility with which I navigate the world, namely with a reverence for all of the knowledge that I've yet to learn but that is out there available to me.
At the basis of a country's immigration policy is the recognition that a country has the right to pursue its interests first, and whenever it wishes to be altruistic and humane, this is instantiated without ever risking the danger of its citizens and/or its cultural values.
Few people are as well-situated to speak about the laudable benefits of a humane immigration policy than me.
All religious and cultural values are not equal to one another.
As someone who escaped religious persecution in Lebanon and whose parents were kidnapped in Beirut, I fully support the protection of all individuals from institutional discrimination. That said, I am weary of the ethos of victimhood that has parasitized our culture.
In no culture ever studied have women repeatedly preferred to mate with pear-shaped, low-status, tepid men possessing high-pitched, nasal voices.
To study consumer behavior is to explore human nature at its most fundamental level using the modern world as its backdrop.
To be an outspoken professor in academia is a very dangerous proposition.
