![In Defense of Coal Miners – Centering Corporate Cultural Manipulation in the Age of Environmentalism](http://thepolitic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Schermata-2021-06-30-alle-16.01.50.png)
Opinion
![The Capitol Riot Attacked Democracy. Things Have Only Gotten Worse Since.](http://thepolitic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-07-02-at-11.25.36-PM.png)
The Capitol Riot Attacked Democracy. Things Have Only Gotten Worse Since.
Nearly six months ago, a violent and deadly mob stormed the U.S. Capitol at the behest of an outgoing president in order to prevent Congress from certifying his successor’s victory.
![Market Design: Tackling One Element of HFT’s Imbalance](http://thepolitic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Schermata-2021-06-30-alle-18.50.21.png)
Market Design: Tackling One Element of HFT’s Imbalance
Technology has the potential to reform the market, but it usually stifles change to please satisfied investors.
![The Final Countdown: Indignation, Inoculation, and the Tokyo Olympics](http://thepolitic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/download.jpeg)
The Final Countdown: Indignation, Inoculation, and the Tokyo Olympics
Last March, the highest caliber athletes around the world were forced to put their dreams on hold. The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo could not have taken place in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the official announcement still arrived as a shock to the thousands of athletes vying for the chance to represent their countries and prove themselves on the world stage.
![Idle and Vain: The Inverse Relationship Between Intellectual Pursuits and Morality](http://thepolitic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/frontispiece-rousseau-first-discourse.jpeg)
Idle and Vain: The Inverse Relationship Between Intellectual Pursuits and Morality
As we study in university, passing daily through an academic institution (toward our next station in life), Rousseau suspects we are only contributing to the deterioration of societal morals. “Morals” for Rousseau translates the French word mœurs, which is used in the general sense encompassing social manners, norms, and custom. From a thinker of the Enlightenment period, Rousseau’s stance inspires a double take.
![Political Art on Campus: How Laptop Stickers and Zoom Backgrounds Became a Beacon of Political Identity](http://thepolitic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Schermata-2021-06-30-alle-18.33.19.png)
Political Art on Campus: How Laptop Stickers and Zoom Backgrounds Became a Beacon of Political Identity
On a college campus like Yale, visible declarations of people’s political affiliations are practically ubiquitous. Laptop stickers, Zoom backgrounds, backpack pins, and the like are plastered everywhere, announcing to the world what is right, what needs change, and who is fit to make that change.
![Sisyphus, Sartre, and Searching for Meaning during COVID](http://thepolitic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Sisyphus-e1557869810488-1.jpeg)
Sisyphus, Sartre, and Searching for Meaning during COVID
One freak occurrence across the globe froze our lives in place. A microscopic fleck of protein prevented us all from seeing our families and friends, from attending parties and movies, from even showing our faces in public. How can we continue to live, knowing that existence itself is so fragile, so chaotic, so absurd?
![In Defense of Coal Miners – Centering Corporate Cultural Manipulation in the Age of Environmentalism](http://thepolitic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Schermata-2021-06-30-alle-16.01.50.png)
In Defense of Coal Miners – Centering Corporate Cultural Manipulation in the Age of Environmentalism
The modern environmentalist is an intellectual individual, armed with vast amounts of data, robust environmental theory, and no shortage of protest tactics. They recognize their role in the climate crisis, opting to switch to plant-based diets, transitioning to public transportation, buying second-hand apparel, protesting for climate justice, and learning to recycle more effectively.