David Brooks’ Historical Perspective

David Brooks penned a column in today’s New York Times about how the presidential campaign has made him realize how much he has taken President Obama for granted and that, all things considered, he (Obama, that is) is not a monster. I can see the two reactions this column will generate. On the right, theContinue reading “David Brooks’ Historical Perspective”

The Aggrievement of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump

James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake is more coherent than Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Donald Trump yesterday in Iowa. I made a valiant effort at listening to it. It was difficult. Palin’s voice was a high-pitched screech with the speed and fury of a gale behind it, a freestyle ramble of slights, real and imagined by theContinue reading “The Aggrievement of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump”

On Random Facebook Philosophizing

Today has been a great day for comments on Facebook. Usually there’s no reason to ever remember a comment made on Facebook — Facebook is such a transient thing, after all — but today I made two that I thought with pithy and important and worth remembering. The first has to do with GameStop. DeusContinue reading “On Random Facebook Philosophizing”

On Civ-Builders and Authoritarianism

Yesterday, Andrew Sullivan‘s blog at The Atlantic linked to an essay at The American Prospect by Monica Potts on how civ-building computer games don’t really allow for liberal-progressive solutions to life’s problems. Games like The Sims and Civilization model a rightward ideology, if not by design then certainly by practice. There are many ways toContinue reading “On Civ-Builders and Authoritarianism”