Normally, I complain about the ubiquitous misuse of the term “deconstruction.” I find that, more often than not, when people say “deconstruction” they actually mean “destruction,” but they also want to show that they went to college. (See the “deconstructed” fashions hyped on Project Runway, for example, which are just ensembles of shredded or otherwise…
Read MoreI just saw “The Last King of Scotland”, the film about Idi Amin (starring Forrest Whittaker). Although I think that Whittaker’s performance was impressive, I am slightly disturbed by a recent trend in filmmaking that portrays “African conflicts” in a reductively “nativist” kind of way. Here’s my problem– in the recent films I have seen…
Read MoreI want to give kudos to a friend of mine, Alex Stehn, for being such a fantastic teacher. He was telling me the other day about his desire to teach a class on Christianity and Marxism–a really fantastic proposition in my view–and it got us talking about the way many of our students think about…
Read MoreI recently viewed the excellent documentary “The Fall of Fujimori” about Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori was elected President in 1992 on a populist platform, during a time when Peru was being sacked by both radical insurgent groups and abject poverty. As you can probably see from the photo (left), Fujimori’s win was surprising, as…
Read MoreI know that we all have our own horror stories of bureaucratic asphyxiation…but recently in my life, I have found myself increasingly strangled by red tape. I suspect that it may be a particularly pronounced struggle in academia–maybe politics is as bad, but it can’t be much worse–and I’ve found my patience (and diplomacy) wearing…
Read Moreso i heard (again) on NPR today a debate about the morailty of torture. and this is what i have to say about these debates in general, which i am hearing all-too-frequently thse days: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IS THIS REALLY AN ETHICALLY “GRAY” AREA? WHEN DID IT BECOME DIFFICULT FOR US TO SAY– WITHOUT…
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