Popular Posts
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This is the title of an article by Theodore Dalrymple (the author of the opinion piece making “the case for cannibalism” we assembled and...
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Peter Wehner, a former Republican official, reviews a new book about the author of Narnia . He believes the great writer’s political views...
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A fun article on the uses and misuses of literature in business education. Despite some negative examples, good literature could be truly ...
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This blog post contains a curious comic illustrating Neil Postman’s fear that “Huxley, not Orwell, was right” in describing the totalitari...
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I hope this isn’t too good to be true. Though, if this is to be believed, you have to be careful what you wish for...
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This is a review of the movie which gave the name of this blog. It did not achieve Oscar glory, but can definitely make you think – partic...
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A hopeful piece on one of my favorite topics – the dystopian imagination. Here is a brief quote that sums it all up: “As with Orwell, Brad...
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Our pet bunny, Zhuzhi, died the other day. She was very, very old (close to 10 years and 5 months), and had become weaker and weaker over t...
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Mark Edmundson, English professor at the University of Virginia, asked this question of the incoming class of 2015 a few years back. In his...
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In this article , Susan Faludi ( a prominent American feminist) criticizes what she sees as an unfortunate transformation of feminism. She ...
About
This is a collection of curious articles for students who have taken POS 101 - and would like to keep reading and thinking about some of the issues we discussed (plus some we missed).
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About Me
Monday, September 26, 2016
Peter
Wehner, a former Republican official, reviews a new book about the author of Narnia. He believes the great writer’s political
views were influenced by his religious background – and were close to those of “classical
liberals” like John Locke and John Stuart Mill.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
In
this essay, Stanford classicist and poli sci professor Josiah Ober tries to
explain why Socrates chose to accept the verdict of the Athenian jury – and commit
suicide. Ober introduces several different interpretations, and challenges the
conventional view doubting the legitimacy of the whole trial.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
The
title says it all – Mike Judge was planning to release spoof campaign ads
featuring the hilarious U.S.
president from the future. But the studio would rather avoid some troubling
comparisons…
Saturday, August 20, 2016
This
blog post contains a curious comic illustrating Neil Postman’s fear that “Huxley,
not Orwell, was right” in describing the totalitarianism of the future. Of
course, with the growth of government and corporate surveillance, it has become
a lot harder to dismiss Orwell. Postman was the most famous media critic – and skeptic
– since Marshal McLuhan.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
This article tries to explain “why apocalyptic fiction and film haven’t caught on in
the Middle Kingdom.” It makes a curious comparison to American mass (and
high-brow) culture, rife with dystopian visions. It also suggests things may be
changing, but quite slowly…
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
The
strapline for this article says “the Enlightenment philosopher’s attack on
cosmopolitan élites now seems prophetic.” The piece also suggests Rousseau knew
from personal experience haw hard it is to resists temptation without fear of
God. The author of the profile is a famous Indian writer – and I assume the
title comes from the editors.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
A contemporary American conservative
argues that John Stuart Mill’s understanding of liberty and the harm principle is
a poor guide in addressing today’s drug epidemic.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
A
hopeful piece on one of my favorite topics – the dystopian imagination. Here is
a brief quote that sums it all up: “As with Orwell, Bradbury recognised that
tyranny is at its most potent when it’s superficially most benevolent, when it
dresses up coercion and censorship in kindly, caring language.” On my laptop, the
article ends with a stark pro-Brexit ad. If this is targeted advertising, I
guess they need to fix their algorithm – for the next campaign.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Artistic
masterpieces are sometimes born under the most unusual of circumstances. This
piece describes the peculiar writers’ workshop that 200 years ago gave birth to
Mary Shelley’s literary masterpiece – when she was not yet 19.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Joel
Klein is the in-house satirist of Time
Magazine. But in this piece he is only half-joking...
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The author
of this op-ed piece is someone who “leveraged” a humanities degree (and a
penchant for evocative writing) to pursue a successful career in IT. Perhaps this
could be a way to hug the Zeitgeist with only one arm? Speaking of computers, there is some recent research indicating that
reading from a screen facilitates focus on details – and can make it harder to
see the forest, connect the dots, etc. I guess Carr would not be surpsised…
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
This is a provocative piece
from the English site of the German magazine Der Spiegel. At the bottom of the
article, there is a link to a response which takes the opposite point of view.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
This is a heartfelt plea to readers to
cherish and keep books in pristine condition –particularly, to never break
their backs. The author seems to be a bit oversensitive – but perhaps this is
what it takes to be a real reader.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
See if you can
take with a smile this provocation from Carlin Romano, professor of philosophy
and humanities, who laments the waning of reading among American college
students.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Our pet bunny, Zhuzhi, died the other day. She was very,
very old (close to 10 years and 5 months), and had become weaker and weaker
over the previous couple of weeks. We were all very attached to her, and took
good care of her until the very end, when she finally stopped breathing. I am also
thinking, even if this is a bit narcissistic, that Zhuzhi probably loved us
back. And this may have helped her hang in for so long – if this wonderful, at
times heart-breaking article, is to be believed.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Mark
Edmundson, English professor at the University of Virginia, asked this question
of the incoming class of 2015 a few years back. In his article, he gave advice
to students on how to acquire a real education, even if the stakes were stacked
against them.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
This is a review of the movie which gave the name of this blog.
It did not achieve Oscar glory, but can definitely make you think –
particularly in the context of Donald Trump’s political (or post-political?)
triumph.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
A fun article on the uses and misuses of literature in business
education. Despite some negative examples, good literature could be truly illuminating
for those who do not just skate through the default major…
Saturday, February 13, 2016
This is a fun article from Harvard Magazine describing the lives of Ivy League superachievers.
It reminds me of an older piece by David Brooks, “The Organization Kid.” That title, of
course, is a spoof of the 1950s sociological classic, Organization Man.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
A few years ago, psychologists Josh Foster and Joan M.Twenge published a book called The Narcissism Epidemic. In this blog post, Twenge says they have done another study “showing that narcissistic traits are increasing even faster than we previously thought.” Some of their colleagues disagree, pointing to other data or methodological flaws in the work of Foster and Twenge. They could be right. But this is precisely the trend Christopher Lasch diagnosed in The Culture of Narcissism. And the outcome Tocqueville, Mill, Webb, Hobhouse and others once feared. One could argue that Foster and Twenge describe a mostly American cultural tendency. Tocqueville once felt, however, that in the United States he could observe the future shape and character of the whole civilized world. And that could still be the case.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
This
is a slightly controversial (and short) op-ed piece linking the
countercultural revolution of the 1960s to the increasing inequality
in the US in recent decades. The author, American writer Kurt
Andersen, seems to suggest that the youth rebellion of half a century
ago unleashed a force Thinkers like Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill
had warned about – asocial individualism.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
In this article, Susan Faludi ( a prominent American
feminist) criticizes what she sees as an unfortunate transformation of feminism.
She thinks until a few decades ago feminism was a broad social movement aiming
to create a better world for all – and liberate men, too, from the shackles of
an oppressive socioeconomic success. Now much of what passes for feminism apparently
focuses on personal success (and perhaps equal opportunity self-indulgence?) for
women belonging to the educated elite.
Monday, January 11, 2016
This is the title of an article by Theodore Dalrymple
(the author of the opinion piece making “the case for cannibalism” we assembled
and discussed in class). He makes some disturbing observations and draws insightful comparisons between Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine, Jack London’s The Iron Heel, and George Orwell’s 1984 (and there is also a great dystopian book that is not
mentioned – since it was written in Russia – We, by Evgeny Zamyatin). I would rather not give away too much –
and would be curious as to what you make of it all. I will post a great article
here perhaps once a week for those who would like to continue to read great non-fiction outside of course assignments (which might be the best way to improve your written English). And I will try to respond to all comments
and questions. Enjoy!
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