ABOUT: Angel Eduardo
Contributions
George Carlin Wasn’t on Your Team (Or Theirs)
January 17, 2023With all due respect to the inimitable Richard Pryor, and to all the living legends still working today, I believe George Carlin is the greatest comedian of all time. As a budding skeptic and aspiring writer, I was immediately enthralled by Carlin’s work when I discovered it in high school. I couldn’t get enough of …
I Thought I Was a Skeptic, But I Fooled Myself
September 12, 2022Once, when I was home sick from school, I noticed something odd: none of what was on TV was meant for me. The programming was either cartoons for kids under four or talk shows and soap operas for adults way older than me. I wasn’t the target audience for the advertising, which allowed me for …
No, We Don’t Need to Go Back to Church
April 29, 2022So much has been said about “wokeness” being a religion that it can fill a book—perhaps several. John McWhorter has written one, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we see more in the next few years. I’ve quibbled with McWhorter a bit about the “religion” label, not simply because many find it inflammatory and it …
Mistakes are Wrapping Paper | The Benefits of Being Wrong
December 7, 2021I love finding out I’m wrong, but I didn’t use to. In school I was that kid who, when he knew the answer, would raise his hand high and wriggle in his seat while ooh-ooh-oohing to get the teacher’s attention. I wanted the validation of being correct. I wanted to be seen as smart by …
Butterflies & Hurricanes | How Small Beliefs Can Be Dangerous.
October 19, 2021Once, during dinner, a friend of mine asked me to pass the pepper. But when I reached across the table to hand it to her, she suddenly didn’t seem to want it. “Put it down,” she said. “What?” “Put it down,” she repeated, tapping at an empty spot near her on the table. Confused, I …
The American Dream is Real. I’m Living Proof
July 1, 2021I am the product of the American Dream. There was a time when that notion wasn’t soaked in cynicism and meant something to people. It must have meant something to my father, who left a budding career as an oral surgeon in the Dominican Republic and, rather than start dental school all over again, quickly …
Science Isn’t Biased—We Are
June 9, 2021What is science? Depending on who you are, this question may seem either ridiculous or rhetorical, but there are many ways to answer it. Science is, of course, the study of the structure and behavior of the natural world and, true to its Latin etymology, the label given to the knowledge attained through that pursuit. …
Does Superman Have to Be White?
March 24, 2021All I’ve ever wanted was to be Superman. Once when I was three years old, my aunt brought my cousin over to visit me, and after giving us both a bath, she styled his hair for him. I watched as a single, black lock fell over his forehead in the shape of an “S,” just …
How to Star-Man | Arguing from Compassion
February 10, 2021Anyone who has spent time arguing on social media has heard of the straw man fallacy. It’s a flaw in argumentation in which a caricature of a point is substituted for the real thing, making it easier to refute. If someone posits, for example, that universal basic income (UBI) could ameliorate the loss of jobs …
The Virtue of Selfishness
December 23, 2020It is true that there is no such thing as a selfless good deed. The argument goes that a truly charitable act should bring no benefit to the actor, be it through profit, praise, or even personal pride. If any of these are gained, then selfishness contaminates the deed and lowers its moral value. This …