Last week, on 5 August, the Prime Minister of India laid a foundation stone and helped bury a distinctive period in global history. Narendra Modi had travelled to Ayodhya, a city long identified by Hindus with one of their most beloved gods. Lord Rama — avatar of Vishnu and hero of the Sanskrit epic, the… via …
‘Mrs America’, and where feminism failed — UnHerd
Why hasn’t feminism done better? It’s a movement that represents approximately half the world, and yet – as is driven home by the miniseries Mrs America, currently on iPlayer — its cultural force and legislative success arguably peaked well before the end of the twentieth century. Mrs America dramatises the battle by US feminists to… via …
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Today’s Front-Line Warriors for Justice are Tomorrow’s Demons
It just keeps going around and around, this time it's white women in the crosshairs: Torch-carrying neo-Nazis in Charlottesville were the face of white supremacy in 2017. Today it’s “Nice White Parents.” That’s the title of a new podcast distributed by the New York Times which argues that many black and brown children are not …
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How white radicals hijacked Portland’s protests — UnHerd
The overwhelmingly white, anarchist activists who populate the ongoing protests in Portland, Oregon should not be underestimated for their strategic savvy. In seizing the mantle of “Black Lives Matter”, they’ve discovered a work-around to arrogate moral cover for whatever insurrectionary upheaval they would have been ideologically committed to fomenting anyway. The Left/liberal political and media… via …
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The Answer, Fleming Rutledge, Is Blowing (in Part) in the Lectionary
This interesting exchange between Danté Stewart and the well-known Episcopal theologian Fleming Rutledge appeared in my Twitter feed: It's not a simple subject to unpack but it's not as hard to understand as Rutledge thinks it is. First, no matter how you try to make it happen the New Testament doesn't really advocate changing, let …
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It’s Back to the 1960’s and 1970’s for Urban Decay, but Some Have Had Enough
Including this now ex-Washingtonian: During the last night in my condo in DC, I had to walk my dog an extra lap around the block because a crazy person was outside screaming obscenities. I wasn’t afraid. I just didn’t feel like getting into it with him or having to listen to his story—his “Let me …
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Dollar Hegemony Will End, But Not Voluntarily
Wishful thinking from Foreign Affairs: Dollar hegemony isn’t foreordained. For years, analysts have warned that China and other powers might decide to abandon the dollar and diversify their currency reserves for economic or strategic reasons. To date, there is little reason to think that global demand for dollars is drying up. But there is another …
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Two months since the riots, and still no “National Conversation”
We are now approaching the two-month mark since the riots that erupted across the United States in late May and early June. There is a reasonable argument to be made that these riots were unprecedented in U.S. history — or at the very least, since the 1960s. Yet if one surveyed the national media today, …
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A Lesson From the Middle East About Useless Jobs
Many jobs is our so-called capitalist economy aren't worth much: What’s going on? Surprisingly, one of the more convincing explanations comes from an anthropologist who has looked beyond narrow economic reasoning to examine the actual social or psychological functions served by many of the jobs in today’s service and knowledge economy. David Graeber of the …
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Those Elusive Free Speech Rights
In wandering through some old posts, found this one from 2010, with certainly bears repeating, on free speech: Americans have always considered their rights–especially the one of free speech–as “inalienable.” And why not: after all, it’s in our fundamental national document, isn’t it? Isn’t that why we make such a big deal of “rights?” Because …
