"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." - H. L. Mencken The Moronarchy is upon us. Welcome to the Dumbocalypse. The Dumbageddon Conspiracy has finally paid off. Freedumb and Dumbocracy have reached their logical conclusion. How did we get here? We can thank the Dunning-Kruger effect, the most powerful and disturbing force in the world today ... the force of human stupidity, the greatest destroyer and wrecker there has ever been. Come and explore the bizarre world of idiots, of the Confederacy of Dunces, of the Dunciad.

Social media – friend or foe? The answer is complicated and this volume – written by several of the experts in the field – is designed to provide some answers. With every new medium, questions arise about positive versus negative effects. So it is with social media. Topics covered include positive and negative aspects of social media, cyberbullying, sexting, conspiracy theories, media literacy, do social media contribute to ADHD, and should teachers “friend” their students. This is the third and last volume in the MASTERS OF MEDIA series, and like its predecessors, it is designed to provide at least a few answers to this issue and guidance to teachers, administrators, and parents who want and need answers.

America is approaching MEANING ZERO. Jean Baudrillard wrote, "We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning." When meaning vanishes, emotion fills the vacuum. Emotion is the only thing that means anything to most people these days. They slavishly worship their own feelings and experiences, and trash any notion of objective Truth. They proclaim their own truth. Everyone these days believes whatever they want to believe, regardless of any facts to the contrary. This is the post-facts world, the post-truth world. The only good news is fake news telling you exactly what you want to hear. All fake news with which you agree is true; all fake news with which you disagree is disgusting fake news! That's the way this game is played. Believe whatever serves your agenda, and dismiss anything that doesn't. This is Planet Stupid, and it's getting stupider with every passing second. Everything that could make it more intelligent is rejected and loathed. If that's not dumb, what is?

"There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women," explains the leader of the 1983-87 revolution in Burkina Faso. Workers and peasants in that West African country established a popular revolutionary government and began to combat the hunger, illiteracy, and economic backwardness imposed by imperialist domination.

Some people believe that God is the center of the moral universe. In fact, God is not moral at all. In this book, we rationally explore how it is impossible for either God or the Devil to serve any moral role whatsoever. If you want to understand morality, and how to be moral, you must understand how God can never help you.

This philosophical inquiry into the problem of human suffering is “insightful, informative and deeply humane . . . a genuine pleasure to read” (Times Higher Education). Suffering is an inescapable part of the human condition—which leads to a question that has proved just as inescapable throughout the centuries: Why? In Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, Scott Samuelson tackles this fundamental question. To do so, he travels through the history of philosophy and religion, while attending closely to the world we live in. Samuelson draws insight from sources that range from Confucius to Bugs Bunny, and from his time teaching philosophy to prisoners to Hannah Arendt’s attempts to come to terms with the Holocaust. Samuelson guides us through various attempts to explain why we suffer, explores the many ways we try to minimize or eliminate suffering, and examines people’s approaches to living with pointless suffering. Ultimately, Samuelson shows, to be fully human means to acknowledge a mysterious paradox: we must simultaneously accept suffering and oppose it. And understanding that is itself a step towards acceptance.

Huston Smith, the author of the classic bestseller The World's Religions, delivers a passionate, timely message: The human spirit is being suffocated by the dominant materialistic worldview of our times. Smith champions a society in which religion is once again treasured and authentically practiced as the vital source of human wisdom.

"What every leader needs to know about dignity and how to create a culture in which everyone thrives. This landmark book from an expert in dignity studies explores the essential but under-recognized role of dignity as part of good leadership. Extending the reach of her award-winning book Dignity: Its Essential Role in Resolving Conflict, Donna Hicks now contributes a specific, practical guide to achieving a culture of dignity. Most people know very little about dignity, the author has found, and when leaders fail to respect the dignity of others, conflict and distrust ensue. She highlights three components of leading with dignity: what one must know in order to honor dignity and avoid violating it; what one must do to lead with dignity; and how one can create a culture of dignity in any organization, whether corporate, religious, governmental, healthcare, or beyond. Brimming with key research findings, real-life case studies, and workable recommendations, this book fills an important gap in our understanding of how best to be together in a conflict-ridden world."--

According to current deabtes, ’individualization’ has frequently been proposed as the conceptual counterpart to ’globalization’. It has often seemed that nothing would be left once these processes have fully unfolded, other than individual human atoms dispersed on a globe without any political, economic or cultural structures. Regardless of whether this description is based on any good and valid observation, nobody drew the conclusion that suddenly emerges as evident after reading Rüdiger Safranski’s lucid and timely exploration of the issue: globalization, if it occurs, means a radical change in the human condition. It brings human being in direct confrontation with the world in its totality. Almost unnoticed in broader debate, the scenario of globalization entails a return - in new a radical guise - of the time-honoured question of the ways of being-in-the-world of human beings. In this compelling new book, the philosopher Rüdiger Safranski grapples with the pressing problems of the global age: ‘Big Brother’ states, terrorism, international security and the seeming impossibility of ‘world’ peace. He suggests that the era ofglobalization should not be thought of as that epoch in world history in which all human beings will see themselves in the same, indistinct situation. There will always be, Sanfranski argues, some need for understanding one’s own situation by drawing boundaries and conceptualizing ‘otherness’ and individuality.

Let the greatest minds of every generation advise you on the everyday problems in your life.