. I learned at an early adult age, with only minor but memorable pain, not to hero-worship. When we lionize people, we tend to forget the natural inclination of the lion to consume the person. I prefer admiration. Admiration works from the muck up. While hero worship sets up the faithful for a fall, admiration […]
The Israeli-Palestinian Enthymeme
. This commentary first appeared in the Algemeiner on on October 18, 2012. In rhetoric, an enthymeme is an argument that contains an unarticulated premise. Commonly this is because the conversation is among a group of people with shared values, among whom one or more of those values — premises to an argument — it is assumed, […]
Jazz Is: 43 – Treme: Funeral Scene & Second Line
. The audience and appreciation are starting to build, in its third season, for Treme, just as it did late for the brilliant David Simon‘s earlier The Wire. Whether it is the worlds of the inner city drug trade, policing, municipal government, unions, education, or journalism in Baltimore, or of high end chefs and dining in Treme, […]
The Gentleman & the Boor
I didn’t even know last night was the night of the Al Smith Dinner, with which, of course, I am familiar, as the Washington and Catholic Church insider that I am. But fate set me down in front of Rachel Maddow at just the right time, so I was in virtual attendance. I’ve seen them […]
Preventing Romney: Mediating the Laughter and the Lies
. The challenge for supporters of Barack Obama, tonight and after, is to mediate the media’s mediation of reality. Mediating the mediation: in politics that’s called “spin.” Spin is a conceptually sexy, pop-cultural term for influence. It is a method of persuasion. But as the nature of the expression suggests in its physical metaphor, it […]