Tag Archive | "politics"
Excerpts on education
The blogosphere is rife with discussion of education, with a particular focus on higher education. In the spirit of beating a dead horse joining the fray, I’ve dredged up a few excerpts from Letters to a Young Academic, a book I wrote in 2003-2004 (and which was published in 2006). This book is my most [...]
Continue reading...We are all Tea Partiers now
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Members of the Tea Party take a lot of heat, and justifiably so, for blatant hypocrisy. They want the government out of their lives, and they want to retain all the benefits of Empire. Just like the rest of us. Who doesn’t want the government out of his life? And yet, who wants to give [...]
Continue reading...A review before the exam
Monday, August 16, 2010
Actually, this review is too late for the many people who have already endured economic collapse. As any of those folks can tell the rest of us, we do not want to receive the lesson after the exam. I’ve written all this before, but I have not recently provided a concise summary. This essay provides [...]
Continue reading...Surveying the field and charting a course
Friday, April 16, 2010
It’s all the rage to talk about a double-dip in the industrial economy. That would be an economic trend in the shape of a W. I think an M is far more likely. The assumption of never-ending growth underlies all neoclassical economic assessments, but I think that assumption is about to break up on the [...]
Continue reading...Throwing off the shackles of debt
Monday, March 1, 2010
by Guy R. McPherson, Keith Farnish, Dave Pollard, and Sharon Astyk Indebtedness is a form of servitude, usually involuntary, and, in extreme cases imprisonment. Consider, for example, current rates of interest, usurious compared to what savers earn on their savings in the same banks that charge that interest. Many religious organizations loath interest rates as [...]
Continue reading...The morality of imperialism, continued
Sunday, December 20, 2009
My latest post stirred considerable interest, as indicated by my email in-box as well as several thoughtful comments online. Although I tried to be clear about my position, questions continue to flow in, suggesting my no-holds-barred approach lacked clarity. I’ll try again in this post, recognizing that my position is so nuanced it is likely [...]
Continue reading...Twilight of the Machines
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Shortly after Cain murdered Abel and then founded the first city, more cities began to dot the Mesopotamian landscape. The rewards of civilization allowed relatively few people to feed the majority, with the biggest rewards going to a select, powerful minority. From those days forward, cities have allowed, in Stanley Diamond's words, "conquest abroad and repression at home."
Continue reading...A partial explanation, with more to come
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Sometimes my attempts to stir the pot are not successful. And sometimes they result in shaking instead of stirring.
Continue reading...The role of a social critic
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
One of the honors students was in Zimbabwe last summer as the Zimbabwean economy crashed. His description of the human horrors, which included starvation and mass murder, was quite a lesson for those who believe we'll behave when the grocery stores are empty. And also quite a lesson for those who believe the mainstream media are providing relevant world news.
Continue reading...Reason: four classics
Monday, September 29, 2008
Mysticism has proven an insufficient foundation for conserving nature. Ultimately, I suspect it will prove inadequate for saving humanity as well. Although we could blame the lying clowns who represent us, the politicians merely reflect the populace, and therefore contemporary zeitgeist. Like it or not, the politicians we elect are six flights below the lowest common denominator in large part because we cannot reason our way up the stairs.
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Thursday, April 14, 2011
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