Brad: Introduction

Hello,

Where to start? As my co-blogger Alex has said, I am also a university student and an atheist. My majors are political science and sociology (though I've taken several philosophy courses as well).

Also, I won't mince words---as Alex hinted at, I am a communist. I'll save the details of my political perspective and arguments surrounding it for other posts, but suffice it to say that I reject the Leninist experiment of a bureaucratic "vanguard party" as seen in the USSR and its client states (and China, although it's a bit of a more complex case). My views are more influenced by genuinely communist intellectuals and activists, many of whom were imprisoned, killed, or lived in virtual exile for their political views, such as Antonio Gramsci, Rosa Luxemburg, or members of the "Workers' Opposition", which was banned in the early years of the Soviet Union. More details for those interested can be found here: http://marxists.org/subject/left-wing/index.htm

Some may criticize my views as extreme and hence somehow irrational or unfounded, but in this era of global "neoliberalism", my political views are something that's come about from a lot of research and that I've constantly been challenged for, so it's not something I take lightly. Also, since Marxism is based on dialectics, I like to think of this as meaning that you can't understand one idea as well as possible without having some grasp of the opposing idea(s).

Although I'm interested in philosophy, I switched my major to sociology both for practical purposes (a philosophy degree would be tough to find many careers with), and because sociology is more grounded in history and scientific studies. Of course, both political science and sociology tie into philosophy in a number of ways, so it's still something I study on the side.

I follow both Canadian and international politics closely, and many, probably most, of my posts will focus on issues in these areas.

That pretty well sums it up for now.