“Empire Of Illusion,” A Book I Haven’t Read Yet
One of the great things about the bookstore business is you get to be the first to see what’s new. And when you work for a small, used bookstore, the…
Politics
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Writing on politics at The Rumpus!
Small Is Not Cute, It’s Huge
“I was traveling and barely understood how I’d ended up there on a Ferris wheel at night, dangling above a town I didn’t know, thousands of miles from anyone I…
The Irresistible Illusion
Rory Stewart’s LRB article “the Irresistible Illusion,” analyzes the language current Western leaders use when speaking about Afghanistan. Then he compares it to similar speeches made by others since 1868.…
VQR Interviews Michelle Orange
The Rumpus’s own Michelle Orange has a contribution in the Virginia Quarterly Review‘s most recent issue. The piece, entitled “Beirut Rising,” “entertains with its amusing depiction of the Lebanese passion…
Politico Profiles HuffPo
From Michael Calderone at Politico’s recent profile of The Huffington Post: “While (The Huffington Post) wants to be taken seriously, much of its traffic is driven by entertainment and sex. While…
We’re Paying People to Play Our Video Games for Us
The very idea of a “virtual world” scares me. I don’t understand Second Life, and it makes me a little sad. I understand this makes me a bit of a…
Who Needs Philosophy?
Back when I was a little boy, living in a yellow stucco house in San Diego, I would sit in the hot tub at night, under desert-clear stars, listen to…
The Triumph of Woman
In “The Death of Macho,” Reihan Salam says “the era of male dominance is coming to an end.” Finally!
Saddam Hussein the Poet
On Thursday, the National Security Archives obtained and released 20 FBI “interviews” with Saddam Hussein. One of the things Hussein did, apparently, was read his interviewer some of his poetry.…
Nietzsche and a Reverend Walk into a Blog…
An interesting look at atheism, Nietzsche, the Genealogy of Morals, and religion by Reverend Dr. Giles Fraser (the vicar of Putney). Yes. Reverend. Fraser has been a lecturer in philosophy…
Scientology Defectors: Why Did They Stay?
I attended a Scientology service a few years ago as part of a Stanford psych course taught by Phil Zimbardo. My assignment was to act as a target of social…