Edward Snowden’s Moral Courage
Feb 24, 2014 In a speech at Oxford University, the Truthdig columnist frames his team's argument in a debate on how we should view Snowden (left), the systems analyst who exposed the massive surveillance of Americans.In a speech at Oxford University, the Truthdig columnist frames his team's argument in a debate on how we should view Snowden (above), the systems analyst who exposed the massive surveillance of Americans.
Hannah Arendt’s Last Interview
Jan 10, 2014 “To think critically is always to be hostile,” political philosopher Hannah Arendt declared before her death in 1975. “Thinking itself is such a dangerous enterprise.”
The Last Gasp of American Democracy
Jan 6, 2014 If we fail to halt the state's wholesale intrusion into our private lives, exposed by the Snowden leaks, we will find ourselves living under a ruthless totalitarian system. (At right, NSA Director Keith Alexander.)If we fail to halt the state's wholesale intrusion into our private lives, we will find ourselves living under a ruthless totalitarian system. (Pictured above, NSA Director Keith Alexander.)
The Soldier Who Never Sleeps
May 31, 2013 Scientists are trying to construct military members who can fight without fatigue and thus be more efficient killing machines; a lot of Chinese students who hope to pursue higher education in the U.S. don't speak enough English to do so; meanwhile, an organization named VIDA was formed to create awareness about gender bias in the literary world and it's succeeding in making some publishers and reviewers uncomfortable. These discoveries and more after the jump.
Beyond the Politics of the Big Lie
Jun 19, 2012 The American public is suffering from an education deficit; a growing dearth of critical thinking which generates the ideology of the big lie -- the myth that the free-market system is the only mechanism available to safeguard democracy and ensure human freedom.
Upcoming: A Film on Hannah Arendt
Mar 28, 2012 German film director Margarethe von Trotta is at work on a film about Hannah Arendt, the 20th century political philosopher who coined the phrase “banality of evil” while reporting on the trial of Nazi officer and Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann.
Gated Intellectuals, Fortress America, and the Politics of Occupy
Mar 21, 2012 A group of right-wing extremists would have the American public believe it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of a market society.
Rosa Luxemburg and the Libertarian Left
Jan 15, 2011 “Freedom,” Rosa Luxemburg wrote, “is always freedom for those who think differently.” Those are certainly her most famous words, but they must not be mistaken for a general piety of liberalism. “Freedom,” Rosa Luxemburg wrote, “is always freedom for those who think differently.”
Happy as a Hangman
Dec 6, 2010 What is frightening in collapsing societies is not only the killers, sadists, murderers and psychopaths who rise up out of the moral swamp to take power, but the huge numbers of ordinary people who become complicit in state crimes.What is frightening in collapsing societies is not only the killers, but the huge numbers of ordinary people who become complicit in state crimes.
How Democracy Dies: Lessons From a Master
Oct 11, 2010 The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes spent his life battling the assault on democracy by tyrants. It is disheartening to be reminded that he lost.
