Hey America. I know you’re at war and all that, making the world safe for democracy America. I know you want to be in control of everything. But guys… this is a heads up. Not from someone who is out to do anything himself… I live far away and can’t speak enough Korean to say anything to most people around me. But just you keep at it this way. You never know where this kind of thing will lead. (For those nations sick of the regime, I think this strategy is intriguing… and America, that is a heads up for …
Tag: politics
“We’re Not Losing The Culture Wars Anymore.”
Is the American media closed? What does this do to the American mind? How about Korea, and Quebec, and English Canada? And what are the ethics of publishing inside a closed-media nation?…
Right, Left, and Wrong About History
So I was reading this article about how Francis Fukuyama’s declaration of the coming of the End of History when the Berlin Wall came down is something that seems, retrospectively, naive and totally mistaken. The article is called Why History Has No End by Victor Davis Hanson and it’s online over at City Journal. Never mind that, in my opinion, one shouldn’t have need of hindsight to see that statement was very foolish. No, I read on anyway… here’s a snippet: European animosity toward the U.S. also has a snobbish component—an anti-bourgeois disdain that is the dual legacy of Europe’s …
Global Warming and The State(s) We Are In
While I don’t agree fully with this article‘s seemingly skeptical take on global warming, I do agree that science and state need to be separate, with state reacting to science’s findings (instead of dictating them) and that politics in general have no place in science. If climate science is to have any credibility in the future, its pursuit must be kept separate from global politics. The affluent nations should support research programs that improve the theoretical understanding of climate change, build an empirical database about factors that influence long-term climate change, and increase our understanding of short-term weather dynamics. Such …
Art, Science, West and Rest
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research has posted an article called Measuring Achievement: The West and the Rest by one David Murray. The article is supposed to be an explanation of why, when Murray inventories “Great Achievements” in science and art, the West after 1500 came out profoundly ahead of the rest of the world. A snippet: Eurocentrism has in recent years joined racism and sexism as one of the postmodern mortal sins. The Left’s fight against Eurocentrism explains why students in elementary school are likely to know more about Mayan culture than French culture, and why liberal …
On Governor Ahnuld
Over at the Infinite Matrix, Eileen Gunn’s editorial #36 has some comments from various SF writers about the election of the ludicrous Governor of California. Mr. Schwartzenegger is still shocking me, and it’s been a few days. I think I mostly agree with Ursula K. LeGuin, though I lament the coming collapse a little less than she does; I don’t understand Womack’s comment… but Terry Bisson and Pat Cadigan are right on the money. Maybe I should read their stuff, huh? Thanks to Melissa of Use Your Words for the link, even if she got it at Bookslut…
Politics and Religion
I was browsing on Arts & Letters Daily (again, as I do daily) when I found an article about the so-called “Brights” and the politics facing them. A snippet: What do you call someone who is not religious? Is there a need for a new name for such people? And should not politicians acknowledge them? Well, I have two thoughts on this. First, the term “Brights” to mean nonreligious people was just a stupid choice. It’s far too like to push too many sensitive buttons. I’ve met a number of really obnoxious atheists who think they are atheist because they …
Total Recall, Like, Totally
Yes. They made the Terminator a Governor. I thought people would have learned after that whole Reagan thing. This puts it more clearly than anything else I can imagine: Voters traded a career Democratic politician who became one of the state’s most despised chief executives for a moderate Republican megastar who had never before run for office. Davis became the first California governor pried from office and only the second nationwide to be recalled. What’s next? Van Damme takes over the Pentagon? Traci Lords for President? I thought a WWF wrestler as governor of Minnesota was as ridiculous as things …
Watchblog
Gee, I seem to be posting a lot about political stuff. Well, anyway, here’s one more, called WatchBlog. It’s a great multi-author blog that presents news and opinions on American politics from three different perspectives: Republican, Democrat, and Third-Party. While the scope of perspectives in American politics is rather limited in my opinion, it’s nice (and sometimes rather illuminating) to find examples and commentary on all three in the same venue. Personally, I think the whole left vs. right thing is pretty damaging to the public’s ability to reason about political issues. But it’s what America has to work with …
Korean Sweatshops, Sweatshops Abroad
In this article, Chinese Girls’ Toil Brings Pain, Not Riches, I found something that got me thinking: She and her friend Wei Qi, also 16 and also a Chinese farm girl barely out of junior high school, had been lured here by a South Korean boss who said he was prepared to pay $120 a month, a princely sum for unskilled peasants, to make false eyelashes. I sometimes hear from friends here how their siblings are starting businesses in China, and how it’s the land of opportunity for young Koreans who want to make a lot of money. But I …