"What's the matter with Kansas?" Thomas Frank asks. That's a good question, and a fair one. The majority of Kansans, after all, continually vote against their own economic self-interest. That's how Frank puts it, anyway. I would put it somewhat differently: The majority of Kansans continually vote against the economic interests of the majority of Kansans. I don't really care whether or not you cast your vote in your own economic interest, but when your vote betrays the interests of... Read more
"Tell me about it if it's something human." — Robert Frost, "Home Burial" So the more difficult empathy seems, the more necessary it probably is. And probably vice versa. This is inconvenient, but there you go. For each of us, there are certain people, and categories of people, whom we find it difficult to consider with empathy. By that, I don't just mean people with whom we disagree, but people we just plain don't get — people we just don't... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 206-208 Thinking about the evangelistic sales-pitch he has just heard, Rayford sure is sure that he's pretty sure he's interested: He wanted to remain sensible, yes, analytical. He wanted to study, to pray, to be sure. But wasn't that just insurance? Could he be more sure? … He had found the truth, and Bruce was right. We return to Rayford and Chloe driving back from the church. Apart from Rayford pestering his daughter to watch the In-Case-of-Rapture... Read more
"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." — Groucho Marx Be back this evening with the next installment of Left Behind and a bit more on empathy, but allow me to quickly draw your attention to this strange article by Pauline Jelinek of the Associated Press. This ran in the paper today — and in at least 140 others according to Google News — despite failing the sniff test: Uncle Sam wants YOU, that... Read more
In an earlier post, I asked "What are newspapers for?" That's a two-edged question, meaning both what are they in favor of, and why are they there at all. A couple of hints of an answer today, which is a big day for our medium-sized paper. A bit of background first. In February of 2005, the paper ran a weeklong special report on violent crime in the city of Wilmington, Del. Most of that report was descriptive, but it included... Read more
First principles, Clarice. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek? Strange but true: I used to write training manuals for a private security company. One of those manuals was about protecting against and responding to terrorism. Working on that handbook was a fascinating and sometimes terrifying project as I got to interview several security experts, each of whom had his own nightmare... Read more
I wouldn't want to risk the wrath of John Rodgers of King Fu Monkey by suggesting that there is such a thing as "liberal Hollywood." If by "Hollywood" we mean the film industry, then we're talking about a profit-chasing, profit-maximizing machine which has only one agenda — and that agenda has nothing to do with politics or social causes. In that regard, talking about "liberal Hollywood" makes about as much sense as talking about "liberal Wal-mart." But within and despite... Read more
I spent three weeks in the West Bank and Israel back in 1990 as part of a student tour. We stayed at the Intercontinental, on the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem. Our official tour guide was a little bald man named Tony. He looked like an Armenian version of Danny DeVito. Standing outside the Lion's Gate to the Old City, I asked him about another famous gate in Jerusalem — one I'd heard about my whole life growing... Read more
Since I managed to find, yet again, an excuse to quote from George Orwell's essay on Charles Dickens, let me quote two more passages. The first is, again, relevant to tomorrow night's Oscar festivities, as it helps to explain why host Jon Stewart is funny: If Dickens had been merely a comic writer, the chances are that no one would now remember his name. … He is always preaching a sermon, and that is the final secret of his inventiveness.... Read more
As usual, the Academy Awards arrive with me having not seen many of the nominated films. Saw 'em: Crash; Good Night, and Good Luck; Junebug; Pride & Prejudice; Walk the Line Didn't see 'em: Brokeback Mountain; Capote; Cinderella Man; The Constant Gardener; A History of Violence; Hustle & Flow; Mrs. Henderson Presents; Munich; North Country; The Squid and the Whale; Syriana; Transamerica But even though I missed so many of these, I've read enough about them to disagree with John... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In