From the Editors Archives - Page 69 of 172

Blue Monday

Evil Ways

Reflections on sometimes supporting politicians who make us sick, and on politicians and musicians who raise us up

August 27, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues." -Duke Ellington Last Thursday night, while watching MSNBC, I was taken aback to see a new TV ad from the re-election campaign of Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana). Donnelly, along with West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, has long positioned ...

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A12 Episode 4

The Alt-Right Rises

August 27, 2018 • by Nicole Hemmer

In this episode, Niki investigates "How the alt-right fits into the history of American white supremacy, and why they chose Charlottesville as the place to make their stand".

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Michael Kimmel’s Learning Moment and Ours

A prominent professor’s rumored #HeToo behavior prompts a fundamental rethink about gender and ethics

August 27, 2018 • by John Stoltenberg

I first met Michael Kimmel in the early 1980s, when we moved in the same profeminist men’s movement circles. We were both starting out in our writing careers, trying to reckon with what feminist women were saying and trying to reconcile it with how we understood ourselves as men. I ...

Michael Kimmel’s Learning Moment and Ours

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Ágnes Heller: Orbán is a Tyrant

From the time he became the prime minister of Hungary, Orban was always interested in concentrating all the power in his hands.

August 26, 2018 • by Jan Smoleński

Jan Smoleński: Is Viktor Orban a populist? Agnes Heller*: I do not like the term populist as it is used in the context of Viktor Orban, because it does not say anything. Populists rely typically on poor people. Orban uses nationalistic vocabulary and rhetoric, he mobilizes hatred against the stranger and ...

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Jesse Lemisch, 1936-2018

Activist, Historian, Friend

August 25, 2018 • by Lora Burnett

I just learned the sad news that Jesse Lemisch has passed away. Readers of Public Seminar and historians have known Jesse as a friend and/or a sparring partner for decades, and many more have known his name and work. I met Jesse late in his life, but at a crucial juncture in mine. ...

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Democrats: Stop Parroting GOP Talking Points

Nancy Pelosi and the future of the Democratic leadership in the House

August 25, 2018 • by John Lawrence

The dog days of August have arrived (no pun intended with respect to President Trump’s disgraceful Omarosa misogynist insult), and the topic of the week seems to be whether Nancy Pelosi should pack it in after a decade and a half as the House’s top Democrat. As Pelosi’s chief of staff ...

Democrats: Stop Parroting GOP Talking Points

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A12 Episode 3

The Statue at the Center of the World

August 24, 2018 • by Nicole Hemmer

In this episode, Niki investigates "Why Charlottesville's Confederate statues opened up a battle over history and memory".

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What Do We Even Want From One Another?

Anxiety, Permeation and Identity in the Age of a Slowly Imploding Liberalism

August 24, 2018 • by Jamieson Webster and Luce deLire

In a time identified by the breakdown of fantasy, xenophobic malaise, and the salve of identity politics, philosopher Luce deLire and psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster take us to the limits of 'the self.' They muse on anxiety's collectivizing forces, the political instrumentalization of unsolvably fractured identities, and their permeation. They suggest ...

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Tempest Tossed

‘César’s Choice’: The conditions and decisions facing reunited immigrant families–a conversation with Prof. Lauren Gilbert

August 24, 2018 • by T. Alexander Aleinikoff

Alex Aleinikoff speaks with St.Thomas University of Law, Professor Lauren Gilbert, on the detention of re-united immigrant families and the difficult choices they face: should they return to their home countries together, should the parent return and child stay in the U.S., or should the family remain in ICE detention to pursue ...

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The Destruction of Empathy, Part Two

On the political situation in Spain

August 23, 2018 • by Amador Fernández-Savater

Below is Part Two of an article originally published on the Spanish blog El Diario. It was translated to English for Public Seminar by Liz Mason-Deese. The Mandate of Masculinity According to Rita Segato, the first expression of the pedagogy of cruelty is sexist violence. Predatory capitalism establishes a battlefield on the ...