(9/11/11: the first in a series) Long ago loosed from popular memory, the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was not only a natural catastrophe but a crisis of the enlightenment mind as well. The quake is estimated to have lasted ten minutes, with three distinct jolts. Modern seismological estimates, based on recorded observations of the […]
What Gingrich Meant When He Called Obama an Anti-colonialist
Certainly you recall it. We had some discussion of it here, and here, and here, and here. The curious question at the root of the whole discussion was what it means at this p0int in history and the evolution of world culture to call someone an “anti-colonialist” and mean it as a pejorative? What does […]
How We Lived on It (31) – Wealth and Health
“In this spectacular section of ‘The Joy of Stats’ Hans Rosling tells the story of the world in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers – in just four minutes. Plotting life expectancy against income for every country since 1810, Hans shows how the world we live in is radically different from the world […]
This Is the End (of History, War, the Enlightenment, and Western Civilization) Or Not
Andrew Becevich is appropriately critical of the American impetus to hegemonic empire that grew out of its post World War Two ascendency and the commitment to communist containment. That was the subject of his 2008 The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism. Essential to any continuing practicability of this American role, he argues […]
A Tale of Modern Day Injustice
Through the interconnectedness, via Twitter, of people who do not in the least know each other comes to me this dreadful story of the horrible oppressiveness, in the service of their greater interests, of even the greatest modern democracies. If you have ever heard of Diego Garcia, it was likely during some period of U.S. […]