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Michael DeMoor

@michaeldemoor.bsky.social

6K followers 1.2K following 4.9K posts

Political theorist and Dean at the King's University in Edmonton. Pluralism, democracy, history of political thought, but don’t expect much.

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · Nov 10

Hi new followers.

I’m a political philosopher posing as a political theorist, teaching in a Politics, History, and Economics program (think PPE, but with an added H) at a small but lovely Christian liberal arts university in Edmonton, Alberta.

A bit about my interests and research in replies.

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 10m

I will never join TikTok. But every medium has its metier. This is great.

George Pearkes @peark.es · 42m

Love this

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 3h

No. They accepted a paper proposal of mine last year and I'd have gone but couldn't get the $$. I know one of the organisers a bit and a few people who have participated in the past.

If you'll be there anyway, you should join in!

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 3h

Honestly a bit surprised that it wasn't the #Oilers. Small mercies, I guess.

The Athletic @theathletic.com · 5h

The Vegas Golden Knights announced Thursday that they will be signing former Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart.

Hart was recently acquitted in the Hockey Canada sexual assault case.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/652...

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 4h

I'm going to have to use my conference $ for other things, but maybe you've got some to spend. In which case, consider this!

www.interfaith.cam.ac.uk/system/files...

www.interfaith.cam.ac.uk

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 4h

A good whine is good for the spirit. Work can be fun but also taxing. I have far less justification for being tired, and you better believe that there are a couple of people who can expect to hear me whine a bit.

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 6h

An excellent question. And a just one. I do hope you have a sympathetic administration who can answer it justly.

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 6h

:) "No Tyrants" is, of course, the eminently reasonable solution to this dilemma. The only problem with it is that it is eminently reasonable.

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 6h

There really is a point at which we need to let our minds rest. After my comprehensive exams my brain was so exhausted that i could barely read anything beyond the back of the cereal box for weeks. I was afraid I'd broken my brain. Don't break your brain. Take a break :)

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 7h

If we must.

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 7h

I occasionally have dreams about an article of mine coming out that I only dimly remember. I didn’t know that could happen in real life.

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 7h

Constitutional monarchies feeling conflicted.

Simon Chauchard @simonchauchard.bsky.social · 9h

TFW you want to protest Trump from Madrid 😬😬😬

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Reposted by Michael DeMoor

Alex Usher @alexusherhesa.bsky.social · 10h

We have had this precise discussion many times before, with the invention of the book, radio, TV, the internet, etc. Knowledge of these discssions are freely available, but apparently the WSJ can't find it or doesn't understand its relevance.

Might this kind of thing be what professors are for?

When Knowledge is Free, What are Professors For?

Higher Education Must Stop Competing with AI on Information and Start Teaching What Machines Can’t Do

www.forbes.com

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 19h

The luckiest philosophers get to teach and read philosophical aesthetics.

If someone would put me in a sinecure to teach aesthetics, I would happily leave politics behind and you’d never hear from me again (unless you took my courses).

In Heaven we shall discuss nothing else.

Reposted by Michael DeMoor

Nomi Claire Lazar @nomiclairelazar.bsky.social · 1d

Nothing makes me madder than playing fast&loose w facts &logic when the matter at hand is grave as death.
So I’ve reviewed Mittiga’s Climate Change as Political Catastrophe.He argues authoritarianism may be necessary (even welcome)to save the🌎.🧵 Open access@EJPT
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Reposted by Michael DeMoor

Simon Otjes @simonotjes.bsky.social · 1d

Dutch Politics for Americans.

Updated for the 2025 Dutch elections

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

People, it turns out, are less stupid than the tech bro hype-machine seems to think.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

50% of American adults are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life. Just 10% are more excited than concerned.
🧪

Chart showing concerns about AI are especially common in the United States, Italy, Australia, Brazil and Greece, where about half of adults say they are more concerned than excited. But as few as 16% in South Korea are mainly concerned about the prospect of AI in their lives.

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

Just found myself saying to myself: "Just because it is less than a line long, doesn't mean it can't be a sentence."

My sentences are either four words or four subordinate clauses long.

I'm bad at this.

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

I wasn't super eager to have to hear his voice myself. My blood pressure is touchy enough as it is.

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

They corrected it. The quote is as bad as you all said it was.

Honest, this makes my blood boil.

bsky.app/profile/theb...

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 1d

Vance on public outrage over the "I love Hitler" group chat: "Grow up! Focus on the real issues. Don't focus on what kids say in group chats... The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys — they tell edgy, offensive jokes. That's what kids do."

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

I have zero doubt that he said it. In fact, I think they just corrected the post. I just love scolding people and my students are too good this term for me to get my fix. :)

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

I guess not. They just took it down.

It's a bit disturbing how many of us were happy to riff on a post with an erroneously attached clip (and hence one that did not allow us to verify that the pulled quote was accurate).

If bluesky is going to be better than X, it needs to be better.

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

Am i the only one for whom the embedded clip does not match the pulled quote? Everyone's responding like he says these things in the clip.

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Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

Am i the only one for whom the embedded clip does not match the pulled quote? Everyone's responding like he says these things in the clip.

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

The sociology of this is itself pretty fascinating. I sure hope there's some socio-linguist out there tracing the crossing paths of pragmatic influence between tech and sports! "Nouning and Bro-culture". I'd read that paper.

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve not heard that one yet, but I will interpret it as a subtle satire of “competitiveness” being turned into “compete” in sports-talk (a change which saves 3 syllables but at what cost?)

Michael DeMoor @michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 1d

... in an opposing way: by giving the people the sense that they can and should have DIRECT power unmediated by representative institutions, and unconstrained by the norms of those institutions). It's a complex tapestry.

But it's also because some people/parties benefit from it and foster it.