Out of all of the actions taken over the past century, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi genocide campaign against the Jewish population is as close as we get to a universally-accepted notion of human evil.

Even with the world rising against him, however, Hitler still had supporters, opportunistic allies, and people who just didn’t know or care what he was doing. Despite the fervent hope for such convenience, evil isn’t an absolute, or at least isn’t universally identifiable.

Nor do those who recognize evil agree on what to do with it. Do you drown it out with something good? Do you match…

Almost a year after a Hillary Clinton became the first woman to earn the nomination for president from a major political party, Clemson graduate student Blair Durkee published a scathing critique of the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign.

Between Clinton’s nomination and the article’s publication, Donald Trump was sworn into the highest office in the nation amid a backdrop of protest marches that remain a constant early in his third year in office. As Durkee was finishing the final edits to her essay, John McCain cast the key vote to defeat the “skinny repeal” of Obamacare, Anthony Scaramucci was removed as…

Four years ago, the mother of a Scottish bride was preparing for the big day. While shopping for wedding clothes, she sent a picture of three options to her daughter. One of the outfits sparked a debate between the two, spilling over into their small community of Colonsay after the daughter re-posted the photo to Facebook.

A singer in the wedding band—having confirmed her own stance upon seeing the mother in person—published the picture on Tumblr so her followers could sound off. Buzzfeed then added their platform to the mix, enticing 39 million visits to their website to see the…

Last Friday in Washington, D.C., citizen cameras captured a moment with a messy truth. It contained hate and manipulation, with layers of aggression and questionable logic. In an era where everything is recorded for posterity, people watched the same moment and saw something different.

My first introduction to this moment is The Photo. A smug teen in a red Make America Great Again hat stands grinning at a Native American elder, who beats a drum. There eyes are locked in a staring contest. Surrounding the pair appear to be more smiling teens in more MAGA hats.

The Photo came with…

The original version of this analysis was published on March 6, 2017. The text has been updated to reflect events through the 2018 Midterm elections.

Like many political junkies, I spent much of my online time in 2016 following FiveThirtyEight to get the latest projections on the presidential election. Few credible prognosticators expected a Donald Trump victory, and on the eve of Election Day the site’s prediction engine had just lifted Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning to 70 percent. The 30 percent prevailed.

Future historians may be gentle and consider the outcome a perfect storm that doesn’t blame Silver’s Bayesian…

On Tuesday, my family dropped off my eldest son at college. It took the morning to help him unpack, and we were on the road by noon, returning home with empty bins. By the time we reached the Indiana border, it sunk in that our goodbye will take quite a bit longer.

My own college arrival 32 years earlier is understandably fuzzy. I remember my Mazda truck—which I realize wasn’t really mine—packed tight with a wooden loft my dad made, cut to fit its bed precisely and heavy enough to make moving a workout. …

We have heard this before.

Last month, Alyssa Milano used her prominence to prompt a visible showing of solidarity around survivors of sexual assault and harassment. A hashtag formed and spread across social media platforms into millions of networks.

In illustrating the pervasiveness of threat that every woman experiences, #MeToo echoed previous attempts to raise awareness. Kaye M.’s #YesAllWomen, Christine Fox’s #WhatWereYouWearing, Laura Bates’ Everyday Sexism Project, and the original Me Too support network started by Tarana Burke are movements that voiced the reality of rape culture.

This is an old and largely one-way conversation. The theme that runs through…

In the game of life, I was dealt a good hand. Though not necessarily a winning hand, I’ve got access to a lot of extra cards that could help me change my fate. Not everyone who plays has that advantage.

• I’m part of a racial demographic that constitutes 78 percent of the U.S. population. Since diversity in this country is not distributed equally, my experience living in Indiana pushes that up to almost 86 percent.
• As a cisgendered straight male, my slice of the demographic pie includes a 3:1 dominance in societal power, as indicated by representation in government and…