Category: Long-Form Essays
Essays typically exceeding 1500 words previously published across various publications on Medium and Substack.
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I do not speak of that greatness which is achieved by the fortunate politician or the successful soldier; that is a quality which belongs to the place he occupies rather than to the man; and a change of circumstance reduces it to very discreet proportions. The Prime Minister out of office is seen, too often,…
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by Aidan Vanhoof 9 min read And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh. — Friederich Nietzsche Like many teenagers, Nietzsche was my philosophical gateway drug. As a burgeoning political agent…
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by Aidan Vanhoof Aug. 23, 2025 “A great man is not missed until you feel the loss of his greatness.” -Juan Miguel Torres My uncle — Juan Miguel Torres — was a truly great man. In March of this year, I visited some family in Florida. I’m not sure when or why, but at one point we started talking…
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by Aidan Vanhoof 11 min read “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” — Marshall McLuhan Having been born in 2005, just prior to the iPhone and just in time for social media, it didn’t take long for my father to familiarize me with the internet. He taught me technological literacy from a young…
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by Aidan Vanhoof Oct. 19, 2025 12 min read In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wooden Shoe Books is the state’s only leftist bookstore. Selling anarchist, Marxist, and generally anti-fascist leftist literature, they serve an important role: to preserve radical ideology in a world in desperate need of it. Their anarchic ideology isn’t just posing: they’re fully volunteer-led…
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Aidan Vanhoof 6 min read Sep 20, 2025 Charlie Kirk’s death has become among the most vicious battlegrounds in American politics. AOC delivered a speech condemning Kirk to a Congress ready to honor him as a true American hero; Trump’s pseudo-fascistic nature continues to reveal itself as he begins a campaign of repression against the…
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by Aidan Vanhoof 9 min read Sep. 16, 2025 In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster is defined as a ‘monster’ per its relation to its creator. It was created; therefore, it’s not ‘human’ like everyone else, despite being made of humans, having a conscious mind, desires, and so on. It is worthy of scorn, hatred,…
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Aidan Vanhoof 6 min read Sep 5, 2025 I’m not the first to say social media divides us, makes us less social, and by and large alters the way people interact in strange ways. It’s not hard to see in everyday life: even some of my classes integrate social media and modern communications technology into…
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Aidan Vanhoof 13 min read Aug 29, 2025 The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters. -Antonio Gramsci Trump played us, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Trump is a product of an unregulated market, a desperate people, and a crumbling system holding on to…
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Aidan Vanhoof 9 min read Aug 22, 2025 It seems like ‘freedom’, maybe the most abused term in politics, is practically undefinable. Each ideology has its own definition of the word. Two of the top 10 most powerful conservative organizations are named after it. Even those that don’t do so still use ‘freedom’ as an…
Aidan Vanhoof 