ARTICLES
Below are links to articles and essays I have published.
Bioethics, philosophy, religion, society, culture, mental health and human flourishing.
WONDER WOMAN VS. KAMILA HARRIS
CITY JOURNAL
December 30, 2020
A new superhero movie subverts the core message of modern Western life.
THE LATENT FASCISM OF TODAY’S ANTI-FASCISTS
PART III OF III IN THE SERIES, "THE CRISIS OF OUR TIMES"
ARC DIGITAL
REPUBLISHED IN FOUNDATIONS
June 26, 2020
Why do so many contemporary social movements come to resemble their enemies?
REVOLUTIONS VS. THE TOTAL REVOLUTION
PART II OF III IN THE SERIES, "THE CRISIS OF OUR TIMES"
ARC DIGITAL
June 26, 2020
Why do today’s misbegotten revolutionary ideologies produce only nihilism?
POLICE BRUTALITY AND THE SUICIDE OF REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE
PART I OF III IN THE SERIES, "THE CRISIS OF OUR TIMES"
ARC DIGITAL
June 4, 2020
Why has the normalization of violence become one of the most characteristic features of our time?
MORAL GUIDANCE ON PRIORITIZING CARE DURING A PANDEMIC
PUBLIC DISCOURSE
April 5, 2020
In the next few weeks, as the pandemic perhaps reaches its zenith, we will have the opportunity to decide once again what sort of society we intend to be. We should eschew all invidious discrimination and recommit ourselves to treating all who are ill as bearers of profound, inherent, and equal worth and dignity.
THE IMPOSSIBLE ETHICS OF PANDEMIC TRIAGE
THE NEW ATLANTIS
April 3, 2020
Is there a formula for deciding which patients doctors try to save?
BATTLEFIELD PROMOTIONS
THE NEW ATLANTIS
March 18, 2020
A call to action for medical students during the Covid pandemic.
FIRST TAKE NO STAND
THE NEW ATLANTIS
June 2023
On assisted suicide, the medical profession ducks behind “neutrality.”
THE PHYSICIAN'S VOCATION
MERCATORNET
Sept 14, 2018
An address given to the incoming medical students at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony on August 3, 2018.
CARD-CARRYING PRECADAVERS
FIRST THINGS
June/July 2018
"It has been almost twenty years since I dissected a dead human body. It still seems strange: My first encounter with a human body to learn the art of healing was an encounter with a corpse. What is more, I took this body to pieces. In any other context, this act would have been a felony..."
CYBER SELF-HARM
FIRST THINGS
Jan 29, 2018
The widespread practice of digital self-harm reveals sad truths about our culture of victimhood.
DYING OF DESPAIR
FIRST THINGS
August/September 2017
"On November 4, 2014, sixteen-year-old Cameron Lee, a popular, athletic, straight-A student at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California, leapt in front of a commuter train. His suicide note provided no clear reason for his act; there were no apparent signs of mental illness, and he was not a bullied misfit."
KILLER SHOW
FIRST THINGS
May 8, 2017
The typical suicidal person is not a tragic figure fated for self-destruction, but a vulnerable individual suffering treatable mental health problems. 13 Reasons Why portrays suicide inaccurately and irresponsibly.
APOSTOLATE OF DEATH
FIRST THINGS
April 2015
"On November 1, after posting a Facebook message stating, 'Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer,' twenty-nine-year-old Brittany Maynard took a lethal dose of barbiturates, prescribed by an Oregon physician, and ended her own life."
THE DANGEROUSLY CONTAGIOUS EFFECT OF ASSISTED-SUICIDE LAWS
THE WASHINGTON POST
November 20, 2015
The debate over doctor-assisted suicide is often framed as an issue of personal autonomy and privacy. Proponents argue that assisted suicide should be legalized because it affects only those individuals who — assuming they are of sound mind — are making a rational and deliberate choice to end their lives. But presenting the issue in this way ignores the wider social consequences. What if it turns out that the individuals who make this choice in fact are influencing the actions of those who follow?
WHY ARE DOCTORS AFRAID OF THE WORD “DEATH”?
THE WASHINGTON POST
October 26, 2015
When I began as a medical student on the wards, I discovered that there was a word that physicians almost never used. In fact, they often played elaborate language games to avoid it. My first encounter with this occurred one night on call. The resident and I were eating dinner in the cafeteria when he got a page. He excused himself saying, “I need to go declare a patient …” I remember thinking, “You need to ‘declare’ a patient … what?” He avoided saying that he was going to declare a patient dead.
THE ERA OF THE NARCISSIST
FIRST THINGS
February 16, 2010
"'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,' saith the preacher. 'Hell, yeah, I’m hot!' saith the Facebook home page. This is vanity on steroids, and it is becoming the norm.... Either we will become the salt and light that purge and dispel the insipid narcissism that surrounds us, or our culture will continue to descend deeper into the loud, crass, and aggressive cult of self-worship."