Help! Being #AgainstTrump is Not Easy

Charting the future of democratic politics in light of Tuesday’s elections

Even by the frenetic standards of our extremely high speed society, the past week has been an eventful one in U.S. politics. On Tuesday a historic election broke records for voter turnout in a midterm election, returned the Democrats to control of the House and to the governorships of seven important states, ...
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Help! Being #AgainstTrump is Not Easy

Constructing the Neoliberal-Neoconservative Alliance in Israel

The Role of American-funded Think Tanks

On October 15, 2010 Roger Hertog, Chairman of the New York based Tikvah Fund, gave a remarkably revealing speech. The occasion was his acceptance of the William E. Simon Prize, an award granted annually to prominent philanthropists who invest heavily in promoting free enterprise, and in the speech he laid bare the principles ...
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Constructing the Neoliberal-Neoconservative Alliance in Israel

The Blue Eraser

You can’t draw a blue wave with a red pencil

Picture five pencils. On a table. Two are red. Two are blue. One is green. Move one of each color to the center. Set two aside. First put the green with the red. Take a breath. Next put the green with the blue. Repeat this a dozen times. Two dozen. ...
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The Blue Eraser

A Tale Of Two Communities Dispels Model Minority Myths

Asian Americans as the ‘Model Minority’

The comparative success of Asian Americans on earnings and educational indicators has given rise to the “model minority” myth, which proposes that, through hard work and studiousness, Asians across the board have achieved economic success. One of the troublesome assumptions of this myth is that it overlooks the great diversity of ...
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A Tale Of Two Communities Dispels Model Minority Myths

Civilization or Barbarism?

The American election results viewed from the radical center

I voted! My vote was more a ritual offering to my political commitments, than a set of democratic decisions. It was as if I live in a one party state. I affirmed my support for the party. With my community, my friends and neighbors, my students and colleagues, and my family and loved ...
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Civilization or Barbarism?

A Few Quick Take-Aways

Reflecting on the 2018 midterm election

A short blog on the election; it will take a little while to fully digest the results. But some results seem clear and important to note. Obviously, the major news of the day is the Democratic resurgence in the House, with Democrats winning back the majority they lost so spectacularly in ...
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A Few Quick Take-Aways

Probing for Meaning in the Media

Gaslighting, data overload, and “Propaganda 2.0”

“We are in a universe where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.” Jean Baudrillard, The Implosion of Meaning in the Media On a recent Wednesday evening in a Political Media seminar I was talking about the well-known Herman and Chomsky propaganda model -- media ownership, advertising dependence, reliance ...
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Probing for Meaning in the Media

When Food Becomes Political

The Netflix series Chef’s table shows why we take cooking seriously

Cooking shows, as a genre, have long fascinated the American public. From the beloved figure of Julia Child cooking French food, to the travel adventures of Anthony Bourdain, the genre is continuously evolving and attracting a growing number of followers vicariously experiencing foreign cuisines and cultures. Netflix’s documentary series, Chef’s Table, is ...
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When Food Becomes Political

Neoliberalism with An Inhuman Face

How Bolsonaro won and how the Left failed in Brazil

The consolidation of the Brazilian extreme right is a recent fact and deserves to be debated in a more analytical fashion. Even though Brazil had significant parts of its society immersed in the tacit defense of the military dictatorship and in actions marked by the absence of any social solidarity ...
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Neoliberalism with An Inhuman Face

The Kinds of Selves We Are

Jill Stauffer’s Ethical Loneliness reveals the injustice of not being heard

Ethical loneliness is the experience of being abandoned by humanity, compounded by the cruelty of wrongs not being acknowledged. It is the result of multiple lapses on the part of human beings and political institutions that, in failing to listen well to survivors, deny them redress by negating their testimony ...
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The Kinds of Selves We Are

LIVE BLOG: Election Day, 2018

Executive Editor Claire Potter rocked an old school blog post throughout the day

This post will be periodically updated throughout Election Day, 2018, and will be featured as Purple Wednesday on November 7 2018. In true old school style, you will have to read this post backwards, as the most recent entries will be at the top. 10:23 p.m. NBC projects that Democrats will take ...
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LIVE BLOG: Election Day, 2018

Omnipotent Leviathan – or Lost in Transition?

Russia’s approach to the past as portrayed in the recent Memorial to the Victims of the Soviet Repressions

A meme surfaced recently in Russia that says, “Today you should believe in the Russian Empire, the USSR, Stalin, Putin, and God, simultaneously.” The politics of identity at play in Russia are indeed illogical. We see former KGB officers and loyal Communist Party members now wholeheartedly praying in an Orthodox ...
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Omnipotent Leviathan – or Lost in Transition?