Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
But this system, however efficient, is valid only as a particular and subordinate sector of human relations. In the contemporary world, the market ceaselessly extends its influence, not only geographically (economic “globalization”), but also temporally (Sundays fall increasingly under the sway of the market) and socially: the market rules more and more in sports, in […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, economics, culture
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
We all have our faults, and I feel bad rasing those of our neighbours, since few other people are so optimistic, and few other Westerners are so willing to take necessary risks. There are forms of cant that the whole rest of the OECD is far more steeped in than the USA. But no other […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, hegemonism
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
The following is not an original observation, but it’s one worth repeating: Much of the talk we hear from economists and government financial panjandrums nowadays treats the national economy as a thing in itself, to be egged on and expanded and caressed and cherished, without any concern for the actual citizens of this country. Sure, […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, economics
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Since, unlike the present, tomorrow is always imaginary, such idolatry can be manipulated in many ways. On the one hand, of course, the Stalins of the world can demand the death of millions in the name of a future paradise. This is an especial concern of Camus, who complains of those who “glorify a future […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, pessimism
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
But we should all agree that the battle for Iraq is now central to the ideological struggle of the 21st century. ~George W. Bush
Without missing a beat, Mr. Bush sets up the main war as the “decisive ideological struggle” of the century, and then turns around and insists that we all agree that Iraq is […]
1 Comment »
Filed under: politics, rhetoric, pessimism
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
“The war we fight today is more than a military conflict,” Bush told thousands of veterans at the American Legion convention. “It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century.” ~MSNBC
The ideological struggle waged by revolutionary Marxism against revisionism at the end of the nineteenth century is but the prelude to the great revolutionary […]
4 Comments »
Filed under: politics, rhetoric
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
The government calculated that by eliminating Mr Bugti it would undermine the insurgency. This logic underpinned its counter-insurgency strategy, with Mr Musharraf often blaming the war on the rebellious Bugti and Marri chiefs and another aged chieftain, of the smaller Mengal tribe. It reckoned that few Baluchis, nationalist or not, would shed tears for Mr […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Charles Black, a longtime GOP consultant with close ties to both the first Bush administration and the current White House, said branding Islamic extremists as fascists is apt.
“It helps dramatize what we’re up against. They are not just some ragtag terrorists. They are people with a plan to take over the world and eliminate everybody […]
2 Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy, rhetoric
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
But here is where the issue of media bias comes in. Nearly all reporting of the issue is framed by a loaded term: the solar system. Notice that this phrase presupposes the Copernican theory, the idea that all the planets revolve around the Sun. This threatens to become the whole premise of the debate. Question […]
No Comments »
Filed under: miscellaneous
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
So according to Michael Ledeen, Mohammed Khatami, the former prime minister of Iran, is analogous to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda. Quoth Ledeen, on Khatami’s upcoming visit to the United States: “Would FDR have given Goebbels a visa while the Reich was attacking Czechoslovakia?” If Khatami–you know, the “dialogue of civilizations” guy–is Goebbels, […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, religion, ecumenism
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
But I’m amazed by the opportunity, I’m amazed by the hope that I feel down here. ~George W. Bush
Between all the “opportunities” down on the Gulf Coast and over in the Near East, I think people might just want to rethink this whole “opportunity society” idea.
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
And I suspect that what you’ll see, Toby, is there will be a momentum, momentum will be gathered. Houses will begat jobs, jobs will begat houses. [sic] ~George W. Bush
And, lo, the jobs smote unemployment hip and thigh with a great slaughter! And Bernanke spoke unto the people: ”Thus saith the Fed, fear inflation and touch it […]
No Comments »
Filed under: miscellaneous
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Philippe Beneton conjures for us the image of a horrifying future (or, if your name is Anthony Sacramone, a comforting utopia). You may, of course, replace the name of the company in question with any other, be it the corporation so many love to hate, Wal-Mart, or any other megacorp, multinational or one of their […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, economics, culture, pessimism
Posted on August 31st, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Finally, vital differences among individuals are effaced. For the economist, all human beings are alike, not of course because they have some higher calling in common but because they all rationally pursued objectives that are equally irrational. Homo economicus is cold, rational, and utilitarian; he is gifted in calculating but empty of substance. Human beings […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, economics, culture
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
It’s not as if our investment is yielding great returns. In Iraq, our coalition has neither increased the likelihood of victory nor reduced costs.
What’s more, the resources devoted to our coalition have done little to help the United States gain legitimacy. According to a recent Pew Global Attitudes survey, few people worldwide believe that the […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Moreover, reporters slowly began to pay unaccustomed attention to these “ethnic” voters and to the leaders who were rising from their ranks, such as Mario Cuomo in New York, Richard Celeste and George V. Voinovich in Ohio, Dennis DeConcini in New Mexico, Peter Domenici in Arizona, and Barbara Mikulski in Maryland. ~Michael Novak
Now, goodness knows […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
A law of history is that power tends to generate countervailing power. It is not for me to trace how this will come about. We can do little more than guard against arrogance and over-extension and minimize the pointless sacrifices they usually entail. I am proud to have taken part in this struggle, the struggle […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
The truth is that U.S. forces and the IDF looked good fighting Arabs only as long as Arab political leaders insisted on fighting on Western terms. As long as they persisted in pitting tank against tank or fighter plane against fighter plane, Arabs were never going to get the better of either the Americans or […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy, Near East
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Attempting to maintain military hegemony in the Middle East is not in U.S. interests and runs contrary to American values and that would be the case even if the majority of Iraqis would have welcomed U.S. troops with flowers. And Israel’s long-term interest lies in making peace with its Arab neighbors and ending its occupation […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy, Near East
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Rather than being inept ideologues who want to somehow Christianize science and academe, I think Dembski and Marsden have made fatal concessions to the deeper institutional and ideological structures they purportedly wish to change. They are figureheads for two strategically similar negotiations between Evangelicals and established elites in the institutions and regimes of expertise, mainly […]
No Comments »
Filed under: religion, culture, education
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Let’s try this one again:
Here is another surely-radical opinion:
Kids, if you care for your souls and desire to find a different way than that which you have glimpsed out in the world today; if you find in yourself some strange hunger for beauty and meaning, although if you have grown up as I did in […]
No Comments »
Filed under: culture, America, education
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
The refusal to meet Khatami is an admission of weakness, not a declaration of strength, and, as such, is a mistake. If the concern is that the Iranians will spin any meeting (which will almost certainly go nowhere) more effectively than the Americans, that should be a wake-up call that the US is making a […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Pessimism, to Schopenhauer, means not that our civilization or morality are declining, but rather that human beings are fated to endure a life freighted with problems that are fundamentally unmeliorable. ~Joshua Foa Dienstag, Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit
Is this really that controversial or remarkable a claim? It does not seem so outlandish to me, but then […]
No Comments »
Filed under: philosophy, pessimism
Posted on August 29th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
Lopez Obrador’s plan is to have his government help the poor, oppose privatizations and make the news media — which he has accused of ignoring him — more “truthful and objective.”
It’s not clear how he plans to do that, but his supporters are already planning to hold an alternative swearing in ceremony to rival the […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, democracy
Posted on August 29th, 2006 by Daniel Larison
The worst sort of unhappiness is produced by a lack of recognition of the limits to happiness. ~Joshua Foa Dienstag, Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit
In this statement lies a vital part of the essence of every critique of consumerism, individualism, liberalism and every doctrine of revolutionary emancipation that exists or has existed.
No Comments »
Filed under: philosophy, pessimism
