As usual, anxious liberals and American citizens all over the nation are waiting, with bated breath and a dollop of some old-fashioned American optimism, for the Great Abandonment: that crystalline moment when the Republican Party will decide that enough is enough, issue a condemnation–with teeth–of Donald Trump, begin scurrying away from his sinking ship, andContinue reading “The Republicans Will Ride Out This Latest ‘He Can’t Survive This’ Moment”
Tag Archives: Nazism
Dehumanization As Prerequisite For Moral Failure
In An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (§III – Of Justice, Part I, Hackett Edition, Indianapolis, 1983, pp. 25-26), David Hume writes: Were there a species of creatures intermingled with men, which, though rational, were possessed of such inferior strength, both of body and mind, that they were incapable of all resistance, and could never,Continue reading “Dehumanization As Prerequisite For Moral Failure”
Shlomo Breznitz On ‘The Mystery Of Courage’
In First Words: A Childhood in Fascist Italy Rosetta Loy cites Shlomo Breznitz‘s Memory Fields: The fascination of hiding doesn’t amount to much compared to the mystery of courage, especially courage on behalf of others. It is when fear tells you to run and your mind tells you to stay, when your body tells you to saveContinue reading “Shlomo Breznitz On ‘The Mystery Of Courage’”
Conversations (Brief Ones) With Richard Spencer, Neo-Nazi
A few years ago, while working out at my gym in Brooklyn, I was paired with a young man named Richard Spencer for a ‘partner workout’ (I learned his first name during our pre-class introductions; the rest followed once we began our workout.) We took turns performing the assigned exercises at intervals, encouraging the otherContinue reading “Conversations (Brief Ones) With Richard Spencer, Neo-Nazi”
Gramsci And Nietzsche As Philosophers Of Culture
In ‘Socialism and Culture’ (reprinted in The Gramsci Reader, Selected Writings 1916-1935, David Forgacs ed., New York University Press, 2000) Antonio Gramsci writes: We need to free ourselves from the habit of seeing culture as encyclopaedic knowledge, and men as mere receptacles to be stuffed full of empirical data and a mass of unconnected raw facts,Continue reading “Gramsci And Nietzsche As Philosophers Of Culture”
Scott Walker: Destroying Tenure, Keeping You ‘Free’
Scott Walker is well on his way to destroying one of the finest systems of public education in this country. Those who cheered his attack on public sector unions will cheer this move on too: it has everything they want. A repeal of tenure, destruction of faculty governance, budget slashing, more power to university administrators.Continue reading “Scott Walker: Destroying Tenure, Keeping You ‘Free’”