Human rights and justice
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/31351068-2dd5-4680-a778-a9698e3965f0/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Fairness and equality
idea
What is a minimally good life and are you prepared to live it?
Would you be willing to swap your life with that of the least fortunate person in your society? A philosophical test for justice
by Nicole Hassoun
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/3681dee9-cab0-4a76-bef6-efe3e799750c/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Stories and literature
idea
The plague novel you need to read is by Bachmann, not Camus
In Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina, the plague isn’t a biological virus, it doesn’t cause lockdowns, but it is killing us
by Lyndsey Stonebridge
![Abstract painting with geometric shapes in red, orange and pink hues, with black lines and shapes forming a cubist design.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/ea9b484b-2dff-4bf9-b47b-250c1bef659e/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Anger
guide
How to be angry
Anger is a fuel that’s dangerous when out of control. But managed well, it can energise you to identify and confront problems
by Ryan Martin
![Painting of people in bright clothing picking cotton in a field, surrounded by white cotton plants with green leaves.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/d0cbc521-e579-4779-8db5-9833d24f71c3/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Artists and art history
film
Should art heal the centuries of racial violence and injustice in the US?
Directed by Taylor Rees
![Medieval painting of a person in stocks, a figure holding a basket of eggs and another holding a horn-like instrument.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/f462c443-c6a4-438f-a5ea-c7d6ad2026ba/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Human rights and justice
idea
The history of humiliation points to the future of human dignity
Humiliation requires a complicit audience. To become truly ‘decent societies’, we need to educate people against joining in
by Ute Frevert
![Group of boys looking up, with one in focus and several others blurred in the background. The scene is outdoors.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/1e18bf3c-4458-4974-b5fc-d39cb2588ea9/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Gender
idea
Talk of toxic masculinity puts the blame in all the wrong places
Toxic masculinity discourse harms vulnerable boys and men and distracts society from the true sources of gender inequity
by Heidi Matthews
![Sepia-toned vintage portrait of a man in a suit, looking to the right, with sideburns and neatly combed hair.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/f647fa69-0506-494d-b899-90f4b93bf1b1/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Civic life
idea
Ralph Waldo Emerson would really hate your Twitter feed
For Ralph Waldo Emerson, political activism was full of empty gestures done in bad faith. Abolition called for true heroism
by Peter Wirzbicki
![Photo of five people smiling and interacting on wooden walkways between rustic homes built over water. Washing lines and houses are in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/4b4593a4-887b-4918-991b-bee8c62a3b03/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sex and sexuality
idea
The new genomics of sexuality moves us beyond ‘born this way’
The new genomics of sexuality reflects a social and political reality that has moved beyond ‘born this way’ and the ‘gay gene’
by Joanna Wuest