Twice in my life I have been genuinely disillusioned by politics. I’ve been disappointed by politics more times than I care to count. For a progressive in a reactionary age, political disappointment becomes so omnipresent as to lose most of … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Media
Technologies of Protest and Control
Erik Loomis has a post expressing skepticism that social media and organizing technology has had a substantial causal impact on the organizational success (such as it is thus far) of the Occupy Wall Street protests. He doesn’t argue that new … Continue reading
Damn Lies, Lies, and Bovine Excrement
Being a white American male who’s spent some time in both Chicago and institutions of Catholic education, I’m a big fan of The Blues Brothers. If you haven’t seen it, please do. It’s a classic. Reading Greenwald’s latest this morning … Continue reading
Al Sharpton and the Myth of the Anti-Establishment Outsider
The recent New York Times article about Al Sharpton had an “Alan Feuer” in its byline, but it may as well have been written by the marketing team at MSNBC. The article discusses Al Sharpton’s new spot as MSNBC’s 6PM anchor and, … Continue reading
Seriously? Yes, Seriously
The line between The Onion and Syrian news is becoming increasingly opaque.
Discourse and Progressive Political Economy
Sullivan points out a couple of salvos in a long-standing progressive debate over Obama’s rhetorical tone and political tactics on economic issues. Krugman voices his frustration that the Obama Administration has basically bought into the rhetoric of the deficit hawks, … Continue reading
Religions Do Not Speak
It has become commonplace these days to present religions — particularly Islam — as entities which are possible to categorize and place in a box, whose souls are determinable, whose aims and goals can be deduced through a “careful reading” … Continue reading
American Opinion and the Israeli Left
Sometime friend of FPW Noam Sheizaf has a short post at Promised Land in which he puzzles over ‘the strange American obsession with the return of the Israeli left.’ Money section: I can’t help but think that those American who … Continue reading
When the Word “Terrorist” Is Not Used
I am struck — if not particularly surprised — by the skewed use of language surrounding the attacks yesterday in Norway. The Western press is largely avoiding the term “terrorist” when speaking of the blond, blue-eyed, Christian attacker, Anders Behring … Continue reading
On Secrets, State and Otherwise
Twitter is an exceedingly addictive medium. It’s also, by its nature, atrocious for expressing ideas with a modicum of complexity. For anyone who feels like glancing over my feed, I was briefly involved in a back-and-forth between Josh Foust and … Continue reading