Activity Streams Directory

Gregory wrote a new post, The Unreasonableness of Insane Conspiracy Theories, on the site Understood Backwards 1 week, 2 days ago

The German right was plunged into the depths of cognitive dissonance when Germany signed the armistice agreement in November 11, 1918. Propaganda trumpeted the German armies fighting on foreign soil, mighty […]

brant wrote a new post, America Needs a Grand Strategy, Not Grandstanding , on the site Understood Backwards 1 week, 6 days ago

I co-authoerd the following piece with a postgraduate student at Cambridge University. The article was published by The Australian newspaper on […]

Gregory wrote a new post, History of English, on the site Understood Backwards 2 weeks, 5 days ago

I know this isn’t new, but Mental Floss has a cool short series of videos on the evolution of the English language. I find the nexus of language and politics to be fascinating, as language comes from people, […]

troy wrote a new post, The Death of Culture, on the site Understood Backwards 3 weeks, 4 days ago

There is an article by Kurt Andersen in Vanity Fair on cultural stagnation, especially in the US, since the early 1990s. Basically, although there has been much technological, social, and political change in the […]

Gregory wrote a new post, Putinstein’s Monster, on the site Understood Backwards 1 month ago

The Russian Communist Party has made a comeback in the December Russian parliamentary elections. That should be surprising, considering last month was the 20 year anniversary of the collapse of the USSR; what […]

brant wrote a new post, A Sunday Quote, on the site Understood Backwards 1 month, 2 weeks ago

History tends to play with predictions about the future as a cat toys with a bug. Nevertheless, once in a while musings about what is to be prove themselves down right uncanny. J.A. Hobson’s Imperialism: A Study […]

troy wrote a new blog post: A Little, Mean Country 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Few people bother to learn much about Canada (even its only neighbour seems to know little generally) as it is an unimportant, remote, and unsexy country. Although the contours of Canadian society may be vague to most foreigners, the overall impression is one of country that is fair, kind, co-operative with other states. In this [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Empirical State of Mind 2 months ago

Wealth, knowledge, entertainment, love, and companionship. Everything I do is a means to one or more of those things. Why? These things are all intrinsically good and they are nearly universally desired. Politics is the allocation of scarce power to balance competing interests. Everyone cannot be fully satisfied, even in theory, as fulfillment…[Read more]

Gregory commented on the blog post Whose False Consciousness? 2 months ago

I counter that the tea party isn’t making a conscious trade-off between their social goals and economic well-being; the rank-and-file really think that huge tax cuts for the mega-rich helps themselves. Politicians like Rick “Frothy” Santorum think that state-enforced morality is the only way to solve America’s economic problems. Michele Bachmann…[Read more]

Gregory commented on the blog post You Go, Girl 2 months, 1 week ago

If only because studies have shown that prejudices tend to go together. Or should I say, the kinds of minds that hold prejudices against women are fertile beds for racism, sectarianism, etc.

troy commented on the blog post You Go, Girl 2 months, 1 week ago

why is sexual discrimination related to other forms of prejudice? If anything, racial discrmination is quite taboo, but sexism continues.

troy commented on the blog post To be Modern is to be Nervous 2 months, 1 week ago

Well, some factors make this stress worse, e.g. not having public medical insurance or difficulties in getting some time off. Yes, there is more pressure to succeed, which is an integral part in giving the opportunity for people to have social mobility, but this can be managed to an extent as well.

troy wrote a new blog post: Whose False Consciousness? 2 months, 1 week ago

It is a perennial complaint among lefty intellectuals that the working classes do not know their proper interests and are too often fooled by right wing politicians flaunting socially-conservative values. Examples of this are easy to find in history, but let’s stick to the contemporary tea party movement. I have a couple problems with the allegation [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics 2 months, 2 weeks ago

I’m sure everyone knows that particular Mark Twain quote. Like most popular quotes (and clichés), they usually contain some truth, though I’m a little less cynical about statistics than Twain (thanks MATH 252). Statistics is just a way to get answers to a question, but asking the right questions is crucial, which brings me to [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Herman Cain and Left 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Herman Cain has finally suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination. Good riddance to the Sarah Palin model of knowing little, lashing out at “elites” and fighting the media at every turn while running a messy personal life. Might be bad news for Mitt Romney though, since he’ll need a crowded field of “not Romneys” to [...]

Gregory commented on the blog post To be Modern is to be Nervous 2 months, 2 weeks ago

I figure that the rat race is a result of the rise of the bourgeoisie. In pre-modern times, social mobility was limited (especially in Christian Europe). Peasants would toil and suffer and nobles would hunt, make war and party (but never work), but there would not be doubt as to one’s place. Whereas, meritocracy means [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Fuck Tha Police 2 months, 3 weeks ago

The title of this post is a little provocative, but I felt it fit the theme started with my post before last (no one loves old school rap more than white people). Anyway, the actions of the Occupy demonstrators at UC Davis have finally got me to post about OWS. Those OWS protestors at UC Davis have real [...]

troy wrote a new blog post: To be Modern is to be Nervous 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Does modernity make us sick? Can stress due to society’s constant acceleration cause fatigue, nervousness (and neuroses), even mental disorders? Within this question lies a potent criticism of modernization—what is the use of wealth if one does not have their health? Before the nineteenth century people (if sources are to be trusted) were not…[Read more]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: Unnecessary Prognostications 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Historians tend to be lousy at predicting the future. Humans in general are bad at big, long-term predictions, but people expect more from historians. Anyway, with less than a year to go, I’m going to make my prediction for the 2012 American presidential election. I expect the Republican nominee to be Mitt Romney. It’s going to [...]

Gregory wrote a new blog post: You Go, Girl 3 months ago

My last post addressed the most recent eruption of latent sexism in politics. Sexism isn’t divided by left and right. The left has shown itself to be home to all sorts of odious sexism: Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the suppression of rape reporting at Occupy Wall Street just to name two examples. I don’t even think I [...]

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