In the first draft of my review–forthcoming in Jacobin–of Doug Henwood‘s My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets The Presidency, I had included some lines that did not survive the first editorial take on my submission (I await, with some trepidation, the next editorial lowering of the boom.) Here is how it read: Hilary is no…Eleanor Roosevelt…sheContinue reading “My Daughter And The Hillary Clinton Candidacy”
Category Archives: Politics
Democracy, The ‘Anti-National,’ And The Seditionist
In my essay in The Los Angeles Review of Books on the Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar López Rivera, currently serving a fifty-five year jail term in Federal prison for seditious conspiracy, I had written: The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 remain a blot on American democracy; John Adams deeply regretted — till the dayContinue reading “Democracy, The ‘Anti-National,’ And The Seditionist”
The February 16th Brooklyn College Student Coalition Protests
On Tuesday, February 16th, in my capacity as departmental delegate for the philosophy department, I attended the monthly Faculty Council Meeting at Brooklyn College. During the meeting, members of the Brooklyn College Student Coalition, who were attending the meeting (as non-voting observers), staged a protest action, which consisted of a reading out of their demandsContinue reading “The February 16th Brooklyn College Student Coalition Protests”
Antonin Scalia And His Incoherent, Hierarchy-Loving, Theory Of Constitutional Interpretation
I taught Antonin Scalia‘s writings–as found in his court opinions–on three occasions in my philosophy of law class. His theory of constitutional interpretation–originalism–was incoherent. His aggressive rhetoric, directed at those who would dare petition the highest court of the land for redress, was tasteless. He was a bully, and a blowhard. Like Christopher Hitchens, he willContinue reading “Antonin Scalia And His Incoherent, Hierarchy-Loving, Theory Of Constitutional Interpretation”
Madeleine Albright, Simone De Beauvoir, And Hillary Clinton’s Responsibility To Women
There is a truth, however uncomfortable, to be found in Madeleine Albright‘s recent remarks–at a Hillary Clinton campaign rally–that women who don’t support other women (in politics) have a special place in a very hot place reserved just for them. (Albright, justly notorious for her infamous remark suggesting the deaths of thousands of Iraqi childrenContinue reading “Madeleine Albright, Simone De Beauvoir, And Hillary Clinton’s Responsibility To Women”
Martin Shkreli Will Have The Last Laugh
‘We’ hate Martin Shkreli. What’s not to hate? He is rich; he gets rich off the misfortunes of others; he buys pop culture icons, treating them like trophies for decorating his den; he postures on video streams as he talks back to those we think can’t be out-talked; he talks smack on his Twitter feedContinue reading “Martin Shkreli Will Have The Last Laugh”
Hillary Clinton And The Supposed Political Windfall For Feminism
The ‘feminist legacy’ of Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi is an ambiguous one. These women, in varying fashion, rose to great political power, and exerted it with varying degrees of aplomb. (They both earned nicknames that assimilated their visible displays of ‘steel’ into a stereotypical vision of male toughness.) Gandhi came to power in aContinue reading “Hillary Clinton And The Supposed Political Windfall For Feminism”
Nietzsche On The Interpersonal Dynamics Of Social Networks
This afternoon, I sat down to read through the portions of Human, All Too Human (Section VI – ‘Man in Society’ or ‘In Relations with Others’) that I had assigned to my Social Philosophy class, and once again, was struck by how acute and perspicuous so many of its aphorisms are–especially when it comes to anticipating theContinue reading “Nietzsche On The Interpersonal Dynamics Of Social Networks”
Writing On The Bernie Sanders Campaign: The Denial Of Agency
Bernie Sanders cannot win the general election. He is unelectable. He will not win Ohio, Virginia, or Florida. The Republicans will eat him–a self-proclaimed socialist who keeps talking about ‘revolution’ and ‘economic inequality’–alive. The most interesting of these several proclamations–all speaking to the hopeless, Quixotic, quest that calls itself the Bernie Sanders campaign–is, by far,Continue reading “Writing On The Bernie Sanders Campaign: The Denial Of Agency”
Bilinguality And Being ‘Different People In Different Languages’
Over at LitHub, Ana Menéndez asks that age-old question ‘Are We Different People in Different Languages,’ and, by way of a partial answer, writes: For me, language was a kind of initiation into multiple realities. For if one language could be certain of a table’s gender and another couldn’t be bothered, then what was trueContinue reading “Bilinguality And Being ‘Different People In Different Languages’”
Samir Chopra 