The Nation explains that Ned Lamont was successful tonight because he was much more than an anti-war candidate. Lamont continually pointed to the domestic losses caused by the diversion of big money to finance the Iraq occupation: How did Lamont succeed where others – including 2004 presidential contender and current Democratic…
Ever since the tragedy of September 11, 2001, there has been a fairly constant refrain heard in the United States. Americans, who once thought their country invulnerable, their culture beyond reproach and their global image impeccable, are asking, “Why do they hate us?” Human emotion being what it is, there is no single or simple answer to that question. They hate us for a number of reasons, some illogical, but some very understandable. And, while hatred is never productive, never defensible, its causes should never be ignored because its consequences can be catastrophic.
One of the things I hear Americans say they hate about us is our freedom. I would have to agree. There are those in the rest of the world who are as offended by our freedoms as are we by their despotism. They hate the fact that we have freedom of religion, that we have freedom of speech, that our women are becoming increasingly free to determine their own destinies. They believe that all these freedoms are an offense against all that is decent and holy.
I believe they are wrong. It is because of our freedom that I am able to write what I write, however controversial, however offensive to some. It is because of our freedom that my family moved to the United States in 1960. We left South Africa when the white government there was stripping the people, both white and black, of their freedom to speak out against injustice, to live wherever and …
Wal-mart is where America shops, right? Therefore, the magazines offered by Wal-Mart must be what America reads. On this assumption I traveled to a sprawling St. Louis Wal-Mart supercenter yesterday to photograph the magazine rack. There were many titles, indeed. You’ll see them in the photos embedded in this post. Because there are so many titles, there must also be quite a breadth of information, right? You’ll be the judge. I’m putting up this post with the hope that we can all put our heads together and do a bit of anthropology.
Now for the tour. Here are the magazines of Wal-Mart from left to right):
The first thing you might notice is that the literature is categorized a bit differently than it is in a public library. For instance, the Dewey Decimal System uses the following major categories:
000 Generalities
100 Philosophy & psychology
200 Religion
300 Social sciences
400 Language
500 Natural sciences & mathematics
600 Technology (Applied sciences)
700 The arts
800 Literature & rhetoric
900 Geography & history
It’s a bit different at Wal-Mart, where you’ll find these categories:
There doesn’t seem to be any overlap at all. Perhaps the Dewey system can be revamped to take advantage of this cutting edge Wal-Mart catergorization. I realize, now, that these Wal-Mart topic labels are not literal and exact. For instance, the fact that one section is called “Information” doesn’t mean that there is …
Would we harm our selves in ways that we would never let others harm us? Yes, actually. We do this all the time. This common occurrence has long intrigued me.
About fifteen years ago, I was trying to lose weight. A diet book I was reading presented a hypothetical, which I have embellished:
…Imagine that a gang of strangers repeatedly broke into your house. Each time they broke in, they brought a large basket of food with them. Each time they broke in, they tracked you down and forced you to eat food that you didn’t need or want. “Stop that!” You would yell. “I’m not hungry. Go away!” Nonetheless, the strangers forced you to eat food that you didn’t want. They returned every few hours and repeated his attack on you. Every time you tried to exercise, the strangers appeared and made you sit on the couch to watch television instead.
Over the course of months, the excess food the strangers forced you to eat caused your body to bloat larger and larger. Your clothing stopped fitting. It became difficult to get in and out of your car. Most of your acquaintances gossiped about how you had become “fat.”
And it got even worse. You became diabetic. You got depressed. You constantly cursed those strangers for making you obese and unhealthy. You bought special burglar-proof doors and windows (but they didn’t work). Because this gang repeatedly violated your rights, you even considered buying a gun to defend yourself from
Once regarded as a Generation-X anomaly, social scientists and news publications around the world now observe a frightening trend in young adults: a marked failure to leave home, find a career, attain what most regard as “adulthood”. The reported lack of maturity manifests itself not just in observation, but in real-world statistics: the percentage of 26-year-olds that live with their parents has nearly doubled since 1970, from 11% to 20% according to a University of Michigan study. The average college experience now takes five years, not four. This new agegroup of immature adults has a variety of names around the world- boomerang kids(Canada), nest-squatter(Germany), adultescents (a few US social scientists), and so on. Japan’s parliament even staged a debate on the disturbing reliance of today’s 20-somethings on their parents. But in some ways, this trend follows historical example.
Before the Renaissance, children did not exist. Of course, the age group did not fail to appear, but pre-Renaissance peoples thought of children as miniature adults more than their own stage in human development. Accordingly, children of the pre-Renaissance had to undertake much higher responsibilities, and enjoyed less education and emotional feedback than their modern equivalents.
Then, some time around the Renaissance, childhood came into existence. Society began to see its younger members as less than fully molded, emotionally delicate and needy. At the same time they receive more coddling, longer educational lives, and more parental patience with less physical punishment. In time it became psychologically clear that children did not posses …