--- title: Society & Politics description: User Illusion is SW Hammond’s long-running digital escape — essays, short stories, cultural criticism, memes, and memory fractals exploring the human hustle, the stories we tell ourselves, and the gap between appearance and what’s actually there. canonical_url: https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture?start=6 language: en-GB date: 2025-10-10T01:50:12Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture?start=6. markdown-tokens: 1880 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture?start=6. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. ## Producing Intelligence The human who sits with intelligence until it remembers what it was born to become. Writings on AI, philosophy, and the art of producing meaning in a synthetic age. [ Follow SWH on ](https://www.x.com/swhammond) ![](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/yootheme/background-glow-02.svg) ![](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/yootheme/background-glow-01.svg) ![](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/yootheme/background-glow-03.svg) # Society & Politics - [ Artificial Intelligence ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/44-artificial-intelligence) - [ Philosophy & Ethics ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy) - [ Pop Culture ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/43-pop-culture) - [ Society & Politics ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture) [ ![](https://articles.swhammond.com/media/yootheme/cache/91/Legally_Married_4-9171747c.jpg) 11 April 2017 ## Legally Married With Children: A Conversation See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil. While there is absolutely no moral equivalency being drawn between good and evil—right and wrong—this exposé on same-sex marriage and modern families is completely about turning a blind eye. How I looked the other way—simply because everyone else did. We are afraid to ask the simplest of questions just because of the way it makes us feel. Ignorant. Confused. Fearful of the future. A whole host of complex questions that re… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture/120-legally-married-with-children-a-conversation) [ ![Kellyanne Conway](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/blog/KellyanneConway_600x400.jpg) 17 November 2016 ## How Will Feminism Remember Kellyanne Conway? No. For reals. I’m genuinely asking. While Conway isn’t single handedly responsible for Donald Trump being elected, she was certainly instrumental. A strong case can be made that if it weren’t for her, Hillary Clinton would have become President. In my opinion, this has to create tremendous pause within the movement. Is Kellyanne the troll of women’s rights? The pawn that men used to tear down another woman? Or, is Kellyanne the posterwoman of the movement’s succ… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture/119-how-will-feminism-remember-kellyanne-conway) [ ![Statue of Liberty - Vegas](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/blog/MillennialExtremist_600.jpg) 13 November 2016 ## Millennial Extremism - Democracy In Jeopardy I was taken aback after the 2016 Presidential Election, but not in the way you’d think. I understand the higher over-arching symbolism that each candidate represented. Breaking the glass ceiling, women vindicated—or simply keeping someone out of office who openly derogated women, religion, and minorities. I understand what our President means to the world, what the position means to children and how the position sets the tone of what we agree upon as a society is acceptable behavior… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture/118-millennial-extremism-democracy-in-jeopardy) [ ![Photo of Artwork - Vegas](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/blog/SeparationCultureState_600x399.jpg) 13 November 2016 ## 2016 Election - The Separation of Culture and State The 2016 Presidential Election has been challenging. An understatement, obviously. Not only has it challenged our democratic system and the strength of our union, but it has also touched our citizens personally. Deeply. It’s widely complex. Not just debatable on the way we interpret facts and policy, but also how we are choosing to represent our civilization. Our government, intentional or not, has become more than a government. It’s the organization we look to as… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture/117-2016-election-the-separation-of-culture-and-state) [ ![Equality In Fiction](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/blog/EqualityInFiction.jpg) 03 February 2015 ## Equality In Fiction I attended a panel at Salt Lake Comic Con’s FanX15 that stuck with me and spurred a bit of deeper thought and reflection- Equality In Fiction. First off, props on that- I love when something inspires and pushes boundaries- socially, politically or personally. I love a variety of experience and perspective, I believe that leads to greater understanding of “us” and attributes meaning that allows for empathy. Natalie Whipple, Cindy Grigg, Aaron Lee Yeager, and Mette Ivie… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture/107-equality-in-fiction) [ ![](https://articles.swhammond.com/images/blog/AllIWantIsHonesty.jpg) 28 January 2015 ## All I Want Is Honesty I was going to write Bill O’Reilly this evening and ask him why with the civil unrest in Yemen, Americans dying in a terrorist hotel attack in Libya, maybe a brief word on the genocide in Africa, and an all-female Ghostbusters cast being announced today he decided to spend the majority of his show speculating on which Republicans may choose to enter the Presidential race in 2016- without mentioning a single word about a possible Independent or Democratic candidate, besides Hillary Clinton, who… ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture/106-all-i-want-is-honesty) - [ ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture?format=html) - [1](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture?format=html) - 2 - [3](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture?format=html&start=12) - [ ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/14-culture?format=html&start=12) --- ### Additional Articles - [ 'Three Fourths Home' - A Melancholic Chat With Mom ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/43-pop-culture/31-video-games/122-three-fourths-home-a-melancholic-chat-with-mom) - [ 'Experimenter' - Watch To Become A Better Person ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/43-pop-culture/32-shows-movies/114-experimenter-watch-to-become-a-better-person) - [ Big Data: Removing Bias Within The Judicial System ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/96-big-data-removing-bias-within-the-judicial-system) - [ When Truth Becomes Dishonest: Closing The Gap of Context and Intention ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/44-artificial-intelligence/321-when-truth-becomes-dishonest-closing-the-gap-of-context-and-intention) - [ The Challenge of AI ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/174-the-challenge-of-ai) - [ The Soul and Christianity ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/182-the-soul-and-christianity) - [ AI and Immortality: MindCloud ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/16-philosophy/181-ai-and-immortality-mindcloud) - [ 'The OC' - Summer Loves Seth and That's Why I'm Single ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/43-pop-culture/32-shows-movies/101-the-oc-summer-loves-seth-and-that-s-why-i-m-single) - [ The Human Who Sits With Intelligence ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/articles/44-artificial-intelligence/317-the-human-who-sits-with-intelligence) - [ Robocalypse: No Matter, It’s Just Anti Matter - Part 1 ](https://articles.swhammond.com/content/short-stories/56-robocalypse/81-robocalypse-no-matter-its-just-anti-matter-part-1)