Words That Bind: How Professionalisation Speaks Us Into Silence

In this essay, I analyze selected texts on professionalisation to expose the power structures they sustain. My intent is twofold: to invite those shaping these bodies to reflect on how their language may silence or sideline others - and to equip those who feel excluded with a sharper lens to see how language itself can become a quiet instrument of control.

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Slavoj Žižek's Definition of Critical Reading

A critical reading, Žižek suggests, works like a short circuit—by connecting unlikely texts or ideas, especially pairing major works with marginal or disavowed ones, it shocks us into seeing what the original text disavows or cannot articulate. This method doesn’t reduce meaning but reveals its hidden assumptions and ideological blind spots.

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When a Cybersecurity Standard Becomes the Villain

Nothing says “we’re here to help small businesses” quite like charging $95 to read the rules - and threatening to sue if you share them. This is the story of how one closed standard gave birth to an open-source revolt that refuses to play by its rules.

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Todd McGowan uses Hegel to refute Ayn Rand

In Emancipation After Hegel, Todd McGowan refutes Ayn Rand’s use of the Law of Identity as the foundational axiom underpinning her political defense of laissez-faire capitalism.

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Will professionalisation prevent the next Veronica Theriault?

Professionalisation should stand on its own merits — not on the illusion that it will prevent the next fraud. If we build professionalisation on that fantasy, we are not protecting businesses or consumers — we are deceiving ourselves.

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