Angelica Walker-Werth's Articles
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
GMOs: Good, Man-Made Organisms
Angelica Walker-Werth August 29, 2023
Contrary to decades-long, well-financed efforts to discredit and prohibit GMOs, gene editing is a profoundly life-enhancing technology. GM crops can and have saved lives, improved health, enhanced the soils they are planted in, freed up land, and increased profits for farmers—especially in the developing world.
Arts & Culture, History, Reviews
Oppenheimer, Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan
Angelica Walker-Werth July 28, 2023
Oppenheimer was a key mind behind the invention and development of the bombs that ended World War II. He was also haunted by the question of whether producing these bombs was the right thing to do. This question runs throughout Christopher Nolan’s recent biopic, Oppenheimer, hailed by some as “the most epic WWII film yet."
Arts & Culture, Reviews
What’s Love Got to Do With It? Directed by Shekhar Kapur
What’s Love Got to Do With It? is a well-written and refreshingly thoughtful film that shows the crucial importance of honesty and independent thinking in achieving happiness. It is a sensitive yet incisive study of the clash between Islamic and Western cultures—and between collectivism and individualism.
Philosophy, Reviews
Knock at the Cabin, Written, Produced, and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Knock at the Cabin depicts the vile notion that it is moral to sacrifice the person you love most—your highest value—for the benefit of others and/or to appease God.
Arts & Culture, Politics & Rights
Are Filmmakers Finally Standing Up to Chinese Censorship?
Angelica Walker-Werth December 12, 2022
The Chinese Communist Party perpetrates some of the worst censorship in the modern world. Film companies have a moral responsibility not to sanction the CCP and its horrors by capitulating to them—much less collaborating with them.
Arts & Culture, Reviews
Hocus Pocus 2, Directed by Anne Fletcher
Angelica Walker-Werth November 4, 2022
Unfortunately, Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) features only the trappings of the original, with watered-down characters, a weak plot, and no moral message.
Education & Parenting, Politics & Rights
Does Abortion Violate Rights?
Angelica Walker-Werth October 4, 2022
To understand whether abortion violates rights, we need to understand what rights are, where they come from, and how they apply in this context.
Announcements, Ayn Rand & Objectivism
New Reading Group on Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness
Angelica Walker-Werth September 15, 2022
Should you live for others, or for yourself? Is morality a set of rules that hold you back, or a system of principles to help you thrive? Ayn Rand offered radical answers to these and related questions in The Virtue of Selfishness. Join Angelica Walker-Werth and other active-minded readers for a deep dive into this powerful book.
Economics, Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Johan Norberg on Openness, Innovation, and Flourishing
“The key to remaining an optimist,” says Norberg, “is to ignore politics, at least a little. . . . Read a science magazine to look at the interesting research and the innovations that are taking place. You’ll realize that even under the worst of circumstances, the worst politics and the nastiest tempers, people continue to improve the world.”
Reviews
Brazen: From Long Sleeves to Lingerie by Julia Haart
Angelica Walker-Werth August 10, 2022
Brazen, the story of how Julia Haart became an independent-minded, life-loving woman, is a welcome reminder of how rich and beautiful the world is—and why everyone should be free to enjoy it.
Economics, Education & Parenting, Science & Technology
Bryan Caplan on Freedom and Innovation
Angelica Walker-Werth February 21, 2022
At Students for Liberty’s Freer Future Fest in Nashville, I spoke with Dr. Bryan Caplan about freedom and innovation. Caplan is a professor of economics at George Mason University, a scholar at Cato Institute, and the author of four books (plus several in progress), most recently Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration.
Politics & Rights
Why French Revolution-Inspired Attitudes toward the Ultra-Wealthy Are Nonsensical
Angelica Walker-Werth February 18, 2022
To condemn Jeff Bezos as the next King Louis or Marie Antoinette is utterly nonsensical. Their productivity and the standard of living they make possible for millions of people should be celebrated, not condemned.
Politics & Rights
Sprinklegate and Europe’s Permission Society
Angelica Walker-Werth December 9, 2021
Europe's permission society is not only infantilizing, it hinders innovation and the creation of the best possible products.
Education & Parenting, Politics & Rights
Shame on MIT for Bowing to a Twitter Mob
Angelica Walker-Werth November 12, 2021
Part of the university administration’s job is to determine who speaks on campus. But to deplatform speakers based on unrelated political views is spineless and contrary to the mission of a university: to seek and share knowledge. Universities ought to stand up to the nonsense of Twitter mobs, not bow to it.
Education & Parenting, Politics & Rights
Peter Boghossian Shrugs
Angelica Walker-Werth October 1, 2021
Dr. Peter Boghossian, who held up the importance of rationality and independent thinking while abuse was heaped upon him, has shrugged off academia. Fortunately, he hasn’t shrugged off the role of intellectual.