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POPSThe Growing Hunger for Political Shallowness Author Robert Harris has some biting words about the political situation we find ourselves in today. Robert Harris' new novel features a once-popular former British prime minister who becomes fiercely criticized for collaborating with the United States in the war on terror. The character's name is Adam Lang, not Tony Blair, but otherwise the similarities are unmistakable. Full interview here .
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POPS"We're Not Dangerous...We're Persian!" While it's hard to beat the hilarity of his opening bit, Iranian comedian Jobrani's entire politically incorrect routine is online: 1 , 2 . Sometimes you just gotta laugh at the seriousness of the world.... (Via The Daily Dish.)
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POPSZogby Survey Uncovers American Bias, Hypocrisy Detailed results worth viewing at source. Pollster John Zogby said, “Over my years of polling, I’ve learned that Americans tend to offer socially acceptable responses when questioned on their own views about race and prejudice. That’s why in this poll we predominantly asked people about “most Americans’” views on race and prejudice. We believe this provides a far more accurate window into how people really think about these issues. Americans are more forthcoming when discussing the problem in the context of their neighbors’ lives than in the context of their own lives.”
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POPSThe Danger of Cognitive Blinkers From Steven Pinker's preface to What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable . In this regard, it's disconcerting to see the two institutions that ought to have the greatest stake in ascertaining the truth — academia and government — often blinkered by morally tinged ideologies.
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POPSThe Importance of Self-Deception in Politics Almost nothing is more human and yet more dangerous than the capability for self-deception. When amplified through politics, it has the power to change the course of history. More on this Trivers podcast . "Remember, Jerry: It's not a lie if you believe it" — George Costanza
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POPS How modern evangelicals are ignoring their own history Today's Christian conservatives often note that Jefferson's famous line declaring that the first amendment had created “a wall separating church and state” was not in the Constitution but in a private letter. But in that letter, Jefferson was responding to one sent to him by a group of Baptists in Danbury, Conn. We usually read Jefferson's side of that exchange. It's worth re-reading what the Danbury Baptists had to say because it reminds us that for the 18th-century evangelicals, the separation of church and state was not only required by the practicalities of their minority status, but was also demanded by God. “Religions is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals,” the Baptists wrote, warning that government “dare not assume the prerogatives of Jehova and make Laws to govern the Kingdom of Christ.” Government had no business meddling in the affairs of the soul, where there is only one Ruler.
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POPS"Politics and the English Language" - George Orwell Geroge Orwell on the art of writing clear English and how the language is abused at the hands of politics. One of Orwell's most famous essays and still as relevant as ever. Advice from the author: 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. 2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. 3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. 4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.
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POPSThe God That Never Failed (Book Review) Interesting review of Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction , David Kuo's wide-eyed, first-hand disillusionment with the Bush Administration's cynical exploitation of faith-based initiatives for political purposes.
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POPS"Spore": The Long Zoom Great article about what looks to be an incredible online, massively-multiplayer game (from the creator of the Sims and SimCity series) where "players" master the entire phenomenon of life; from ecology, to atmospheric science, to anatomy, to evolution, to civilization, to planetary politics, and on to galactic diplomacy. If anyone can pull it off, it’s Will Wright. This is the guy who made the urban planning simulation SimCity into one of the all-time top-selling games in history. There is probably no one alive who has a comparable track record of combining arcane scientific theories and compulsively addictive entertainment.
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POPSBorderline Catastrophe: How the fight over immigration blew up Rove’s big tent When policy and election politics collide. Did the Conservative base's nativist zeal for anti-immigrant rhetoric cost them the crucial Latino vote and majority power for generations to come? But perhaps the real casualty of the GOP’s immigration meltdown is the Rovian model of Republican politics. Part of the near-mythic aura of infallibility surrounding Rove stems from the sense that his tactics seem to defy all known political laws—that it shouldn’t be possible to reach out to minorities while fanning the flames of a base that is often hostile to them. And as it turns out, it probably isn’t.
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POPSDoes God Want You To Be Rich? Yes, say some megachurches. Others call it heresy. The debate over the new gospel of wealth TIME cover story for the week of Sep. 18, 2006. For subscribers only. I've only read part of it so far myself.
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POPS"God's Country?" - Walter Russell Mead Summary: Religion has always been a major force in U.S. politics, but the recent surge in the number and the power of evangelicals is recasting the country's political scene -- with dramatic implications for foreign policy. This should not be cause for panic: evangelicals are passionately devoted to justice and improving the world, and eager to reach out across sectarian lines. From Foreign Affairs , September/October 2006.
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POPSFor the GOP, a Heartland Plunge - David Broder Also, a Republican governor confirms that anti-incumbent sentiment crosses party lines: "What has this Congress done that anyone should applaud?" he asked scornfully. "Nothing on immigration, nothing on health care, nothing on energy -- and nothing on the war. They deserve a good kick in the pants, and that's what they're going to get."
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POPSEvangelical Christians plead for Israel Last month, John Hagee led the first summit of Christians United for Israel in Washington. As the Mid-East continues to roil, more and more of his fellow end-time-focused groups are making their voice heard in American politics, influencing our foreign policy decisions for their purposes. "When they see what's going on in the Middle East, a whole range of enemies arrayed against God's people, they see God's word being played out on their television sets"
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POPSCharlton Heston, Gun-Control Advocate The White House Memo using Heston's name and celebrity that helped push through the 1968 Gun Control Act, "by far the most sweeping gun-control measure ever enacted into law in the United States." Asked about his previous support for gun control in a December 1998 interview with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, Heston replied, "I've made a number of mistakes in my life, Mike."
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POPSWW4? Don’t Flatter Them - John Derbyshire Derbyshire grants the Cold War as worthy of the moniker "WW3", but all this talk of World Wars 4, 5, & 6 is "nonsense on stilts." Leave it to grumpy, old Derbyshire to keep raining on the parade of his fellow young, flighty, reactionary neocons at the National Review with heavy doses of realism, skepticism and conservatism...in the true sense of the word. This is not a war, and by calling it one, we flatter the jihadists far beyond their deserts. No jihadist nation — let alone any jihadist group — can field an army against us. We are frightening ourselves with bogeymen.
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POPSRegretful former neocon Fukuyama audio interview A short piece on NPR. It's prudent to keep in mind that Fukuyama has his own agenda for breaking with the neocons (not the least of which, an upcoming book). And he also conveniently fails to mention his own key role in penning the manifestos that originally urged the US into war. But to hear him say things like calling Iraq a "clear bait-and-switch" is satisfying nonetheless.
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