OUDaily.com | Gerard Keiser

April 25, 2011 | 1 comment

People pay millions to listen to a person ramble for hours about how to do good, how to be good or how to feel good, so why is it that nobody bothers to explain what this good is? READ MORE

COLUMN: U.S. culture reflected in overly violent language

April 4, 2011 | 4 comments

All the war-like imagery used in our political debates rips the out the heart of citizens’ ability to think clearly about the issues, and incites others to violence. READ MORE

COLUMN: The news is not necessary for life

March 21, 2011 | 9 comments

Most of the news is worthless. READ MORE

COLUMN: A little Lent is good for the student's soul

March 7, 2011 | 5 comments

Lent begins this Wednesday. The ancient and venerable 40 days is celebrated with prayer, fasting and good deeds in preparation for Easter. READ MORE

COLUMN: Robin Hood effect proposed

February 22, 2011 | 3 comments

Even the stingiest congressman seems uninterested in closing our $1.6 trillion federal deficit anytime soon. So Scott Adams, most famous as the cartoonist behind Dilbert, proposed ideas to put us on a slightly slower slope down toward national default. READ MORE

COLUMN: Scientific method has its flaws

February 8, 2011 | 4 comments

Recent studies suggest that the majority of recent studies are false, according a December article by Jonah Lehrer published in The New Yorker. In “The Truth Wears Off,” he points to a frighteningly disparate set of accepted scientific findings that are now becoming uncomfortably difficult to replicate, including research on the benefits of widely-prescribed anti-depressants, or on what birds like to find in their mates. READ MORE

COLUMN: Anonymity in modern relations

January 25, 2011 | 0 comments

Our generation must have some phobia about saying both names aloud. This supremely useful species of noun, its fancifully derived variations spread through the continents and the centuries, is seldom heard on today’s campus; aggressively invasive strains of casualism began to alter its habitat in the 1960s, and have now made much of its former range inhospitable to it; the things must now live a dull and mostly silenced existence on Facebook pages and news channels and stacks of forms, or when speaking of President Barack Obama and other disagreeable characters. READ MORE

COLUMN: Let's put the Great Society to work

November 12, 2010 | 3 comments

Some long-term recipients of unemployment benefits in Britain will soon be told they either must do 120 hours of community service during four weeks, or go without for the next three months. Or at least that’s what Work & Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith wants. READ MORE

COLUMN: Do democracy a favor — vote 'no' to sloppy voting

November 1, 2010 | 2 comments

Please don’t vote if you’re not interested. I don’t mean you should gorge on collective irresponsibility by saying, “my vote doesn’t count anyway;” I just mean, if you lack a firm opinion backed by personal thought and research, stay home and don’t sign a social contract before reading it, as is the habit of Congress. READ MORE

COLUMN: Raise an aristocracy for a brainier U.S.

October 15, 2010 | 6 comments

Supply-siders assert that giving tax cuts and scrapping estate taxes will boost spending and help the economy. Opponents fear the rich will just hoard it. I say on with the tax cuts, because we want them to hoard. READ MORE

COLUMN: Housing and Food Services — learn from the Scottish

September 20, 2010 | 5 comments

In comparison with other systems, a number of Housing and Food Services policies might be considered unfair and dishonest. For example, there is the $30 fee just to apply, interestingly close to the $40 to apply to OU itself, leading one to wonder where that money goes. READ MORE

COLUMN: There is no room for co-ed housing arrangements

September 7, 2010 | 16 comments

Last Monday’s column for dual-gender housing by Mary Stanfield may be reduced to four main points: we are mature adults, dual-gender housing will provide valuable life experience, we behave better because we tailor our conduct around the opposite sex and we must protect those who cannot handle the harsh realities of living with members of the same gender. READ MORE

COLUMN: Consider implications of investments

August 27, 2010 | 1 comment

Following BP’s distressing incident, it is likely that the company’s stock, though risky, is undervalued, poisoned by the suffocating fines, the sticky, clinging lawsuits and the unending media glare. This raises a question: Can you invest in BP and not be a scoundrel? You may, in response, argue that BP did nothing particularly evil or risky. Plenty of wealthy gentlemen in suits are screaming about that right now. READ MORE

COLUMN: Does our tax code goad us to action? Complex, but quite effective

May 7, 2010 | 1 comment

Our federal internal revenue code, a marvelous example of murky obfuscation and intricate bewilderment, with more than 9,000 sections of baffling legalese, is forever criticized for its needless complexity. READ MORE

COLUMN: Labels are not always something students should run from

April 30, 2010 | 2 comments

Last year, one of our professors began ranting about how terrible it is that we mentally label things, about how monstrous it is that we dare to categorize such complicated, varied and subjective objects as artistic forms and historical events and human personalities. READ MORE

COLUMN: A philosophical challenge to justification

April 7, 2010 | 4 comments

In his Vindication of the Rights of Brutes, Thomas Taylor the Platonist, following Wollstonecraft’s famous works, admirably demonstrated the equal rights of animals as long ago as 1792, and still many disregard his blinding insight. READ MORE

COLUMN: Don't let petty intolerance hold out change

April 1, 2010 | 0 comments

In the past, we have been intolerant. We have excluded people from these towers of Ilium; we have arrogantly built up walls and shields against other cultures; we have slain myriads of foreigners in hateful spear-fighting against our enemies who should have been our friends. READ MORE

COLUMN: Save some dough by raising some

March 23, 2010 | 0 comments

Even on the day-old shelf one is unlikely to find any bread for less than $1 per pound, which is considerably more per calorie than most other staples like rice, beans or potatoes. READ MORE

Point-Counterpoint: Finish off those foul phrases

March 3, 2010 | 3 comments

I am ashamed to be associated with this yellow rag. READ MORE

COLUMN: We have the right to be right, not wrong

February 23, 2010 | 2 comments

For quite some time now, it has been popular to have a profound jealousy of free speech; that is, we insist upon our right to say things, whether or not they are true. READ MORE

COLUMN: Bread quality is abhorrent

February 18, 2010 | 3 comments

In the midst of the furious wrangling over our morals and mores, it is natural to neglect the physical in favor of the metaphysical. READ MORE

COLUMN: A problem we can fix by throwing money at it

February 9, 2010 | 3 comments

An unusual amount of wrath seems to have been directed toward the Supreme Court in the last few weeks, following its decision to let companies spend as much as they want on political ads. READ MORE

Point/Counterpoint: Authority is natural and healthy in moderation

January 26, 2010 | 0 comments

A certain professor of history, his voice free from any irony or sarcasm, ordered his students last semester to “always question authority.” When asked if he were certain of the expediency of this contradictory demand, he simply repeated it with additional emphasis. READ MORE

COLUMN: Are our attitudes toward ideological violence justified?

December 2, 2009 | 2 comments

For whatever reason, violence justified by philosophical and religious positions has become a target of unending contempt. READ MORE

COLUMN: Brevity not always best

November 20, 2009 | 1 comment

“The speech of man is a magnificent and impressive thing when it surges along like a golden river, with thoughts and words pouring out in rich abundance.” READ MORE

COLUMN: Video games dangerous because of their boredom-conquering abilities

November 6, 2009 | 2 comments

Our society has a great fear of boredom. It is the quotidian complaint, the source of innumerable protests, the great enemy of fun. READ MORE

COLUMN: Costs outweigh benefits of new software

October 7, 2009 | 5 comments

Later this month, Microsoft will release Windows 7, another needless operating system. XP and Vista, despite their problems, still do what nearly everyone needs them to do. READ MORE

Point/ Counterpoint: Contemporary artists don’t create works ordinary people can understand, but focus on conversing among themselves

September 28, 2009 | 0 comments

Columnists debate merits of contemporary art READ MORE

COLUMN: Unfair practice of usury still exists today

September 3, 2009 | 3 comments

Our entire global economy is built on a practice that has been condemned by great thinkers since antiquity, and nobody is saying a word against it. Aristotle insisted that it was unnatural, Plato abhorred it, Muslims despise it and the Romans and the Chinese, though more tolerant, enacted harsh penalties if it was taken to excess. Even Adam Smith said it should be held in check. READ MORE

COLUMN: Divisively partisan politics here to stay

August 20, 2009 | 1 comment

One of today’s popular pastimes seems to be found in endlessly writing condemnations of the lack of tolerance and compromise in our culture. READ MORE

Articles by Gerard Keiser