22
08, 2017
Trump’s Banality of Evil
By: Jared Marcel Pollen What does fascism smell like? It’s a question the late Christopher Hitchens used to ask, and
19
01, 2017
Women Rule – How They Took Down a King
By: Elizabeth Larkin Bouché As inauguration day approaches and women ready themselves for the Women’s March on Washington, I am
17
01, 2017
Life is More Binary than Fiction: A Writer Reflects on Political Polarization
We are living in the Fruit Loops vs. Cheerios Political System. Each Fruit Loop represents a position on an issue, and each Cheerio its “opposite.” If you are on Team Fruit Loop, you MUST accept and agree and support all Fruit Loops, likewise with Team Cheerio. This is a binary system. This is bullshit. We would never allow such simple sorting for fictional characters, so why is it being pushed in reality?
30
11, 2016
What is “Fascist”? Umberto Eco on Ur-Fascism
"There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People." -Umberto Eco
24
10, 2016
Chuck Klosterman and Relative Morality
When I was fifteen I had ridiculous opinions. Of course, at the time I didn’t think they were ridiculous, I thought they were well deliberated, intelligent, and insightful. When I was fifteen, I was of the opinion that we shouldn’t legalize gay marriage. Now, I couldn’t imagine holding this opinion, and I even look disdainfully upon those who do. How can my opinion change this fast? And how certain can I be of my current opinion, or will it too change? Chuck Klosterman’s newest book, "But What If We’re Wrong?: Thinking About The Present As If It Were The Past" explores these problems through the question of how future society will look back upon us and our opinions.
14
10, 2016
Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan’s Art
Bob Dylan’s winning the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature – the most coveted literary prize in the world – presents us with an opportune moment for looking back on his long and astonishing career as a constantly evolving musical icon. Dylan’s originality as a surrealist lyricist was elevated by his engagement with profound social and political themes, what Mike Marqusee calls “the politics of Bob Dylan’s art.”
16
08, 2016
Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties
Muhammad Ali was more than just king of the ring. He was a political figure with enormous influence. Too many people today, perhaps especially young people, are unaware of this important fact. It is a fact worth recalling. The social conflicts informing the revolutionary turbulence of the 1960s are still with us, and in some ways are more extreme now than they were then.
4
05, 2016
Silence as Speech: Reading Sor Juana’s Primero Sueño in the Light of her Final Silence
Sor Juana’s silence is difficult to “read,” but it is easy to hear. What can it show us about the way the absence of speech can itself be a mode of participation in public discourse?
9
03, 2016
Varys – His Riddle
Varys is key to both the political action of A Song of Ice and Fire and its political wisdom. The core of his political philosophy is encapsulated in a riddle: "In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two...
8
03, 2016
Varys – A Eunuch
One fact we learn early on about Varys, and are reminded of frequently, is that he is a eunuch. His castration is one of the central features of his character and lies at the heart of his political wisdom.