Author: Rithwik Shivnani

A Modest Proposal for the Return of Stoning as Moral Instruction

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Rithwik Shivnani

It is a truth universally acknowledged that modern society has lost its way. This can be traced, with remarkable precision, to the erosion of divinely sanctioned morality. In our misguided quest for “progress,” we have replaced the clarity of ancient commandments with the chaos of empathy, reason, and moral nuance. In so doing, we have […]

Crime and No Punishment: The Death of the Political Scandal

Posted on April 12, 2025 by Rithwik Shivnani

The day after Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony charges, his campaign raked in a staggering $52.8 million in donations. Let that sink in. A former president became a convicted felon, and within 24 hours, millions of Americans opened their wallets to help put him back in the White House. Fifty years ago, this […]

We Laughed Into the Void—And it Laughed Back: Understanding Gen Z Humor

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Rithwik Shivnani

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” JFK’s inaugural address is an iconic rallying cry for civic duty and national pride. Today, young people are still asking what they can do—but the answers they’re finding are increasingly unsettling. The reason? They’re turning to the internet […]

Why Your Block Party is Just You, Your Cat, and a Bag of Chips

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Rithwik Shivnani

Declining social capital in the US has worsened polarization, slowed economic growth, and led to the death of local communities. The social bureaucracies that the capitalist world has created to address this problem have only exacerbated it.  In the early 1970s, the General Social Survey asked the American public if they could trust others. Over […]

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