Social Justice Magazine
Of all of the rational things to fear about the future, nothing is more insidious and more threatening than ignorance. Nothing is more pervasive and more unrelenting in deleterious effect than being unaware of the vital matters that should command our attention, if only we recognized them and how important they are to our well being. Hindsight provides an irrefutable historical record with which … [Read more...]
Earlier this year, Scott Morrison’s The Energy Caper got me to thinking about the Vietnam War. In this highly entertaining novel of alternative history, that war never happened. Then, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s emotionally exhausting miniseriesThe Pacific reawakened my interest in World War II. Together these works have reignited my curiosity about the psychology of war in … [Read more...]
Of all of the interesting subjects in the world, time is one of my favorites. Yet the more I contemplate it, the more mysterious it seems. As human beings we can imagine time as a product of past, present, and future, although we clearly perceive of ourselves as being stuck in the middle.Albert Einstein, arguably our most celebrated scientist, muddied the notion of now, but in doing so he did … [Read more...]
Boy building a model airplane as girl watches. Robstown, Texas, January 1942. (Photo by Arthur Rothstein. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress) Political Ignorance and Tribalism in America The vast majority of us adopt the political views of our parents and, increasingly, those prevalent in the communities where we grow up. We absorb a worldview without acknowledging that we are … [Read more...]
Human consumption of animals for food is an issue that seldom gets much media attention, except when it enters the political arena. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin recently accused Sarah Palin of killing animals for fun or political gain, and now the subject is hot. … [Read more...]
Fear in American Politics Okay, the election is over. It may be a stretch for a resident of Alaska to ask what’s wrong with America, because the rest of the country has long been witness to Alaskans’ lack of good judgment. The bizarre antics of our lone congressman, for example, have for decades put Don Young in a class by himself, not to mention the unrelenting saga of Sarah Palin. So, … [Read more...]
If you can think of a better description than discombobulated wingnuttery to describe today’s Tea Party politics, I would like to hear it. Their current level of political discourse is so deeply disturbing and so out of tune with our democratic ideals, that at times I have trouble believing my eyes and ears.For more than thirty years I have been engaged in a serious effort of self-education. … [Read more...]
Freedom is a much misunderstood concept. To be truly free is to be exempt from self-imposed oppression because of something someone else is doing that is merely symbolic of something that matters.If any individual or group is going to burn a book, or a flag, or build a structure on their own property that reminds you of something you would rather not think about, the problem does not exist in … [Read more...]
Earlier this year, Scott Morrison’s The Energy Caper got me to thinking about the Vietnam War. In this highly entertaining novel of alternative history, that war never happened. Then, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s emotionally exhausting miniseriesThe Pacific reawakened my interest in World War II. Together these works have reignited my curiosity about the psychology of war in … [Read more...]
First, the bad news: Throughout history a succession of serious philosophers have reminded us that life is a dead-end journey in which everything good is fleeting. A trajectory of entropy ensures that the elation we experience in life is really an illusion, and that time will ultimately cure us of this fantasy. It’s pessimistic and sad but technically irrefutable. We are all going to … [Read more...]
Remember the movie Cool Hand Luke, where the prison warden tells Paul Newman and his fellow prisoners, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate”? Well, I’m going to go out on a politically incorrect limb and argue that when it comes to the Tea Party movement, what we have here is a failure to keep up with current knowledge about human behavior—especially when it comes to … [Read more...]
Regardless of our personal politics, a close reading of American history suggests that we need both liberals and conservatives to make democracy work. Moving too far politically in either direction is a recipe for getting the kind of government that neither liberals nor conservatives would want. What's not healthy for democracy is a populace that swallows whole the opinions and convictions of … [Read more...]
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