I can’t overstate how happy watching this made me. The dance, the soundtrack by Girl Talk, the infectious joy of the whole thing. After you’ve viewed that trailer, set aside 70 minutes or so to watch the whole thing and be prepared to watch it a few times more.
“Thanks.” “No problem.” You’ve probably heard this nonsensical conversation today at some point. It’s as if two separate exchanges have fused into a couplet of collective insanity. Those two exchanges: Exchange I “Thank you.” “You’re welcome.” Exchange II “Is this a problem?” “No problem.” Both of those exchanges makes sense on their own, but it … Read more →
[L]iberalism and fundamentalism form a “totality”: the opposition of liberalism and fundamentalism is structured so that liberalism itself generates its opposite. So what about the core values of liberalism: freedom, equality, fraternity? The paradox is that liberalism itself is not strong enough to save them against the fundamentalist onslaught.
Fundamentalism is a reaction – a false, mystifying, reaction, of course – against a real flaw of liberalism, and this is why it is again and again generated by liberalism. Left to itself, liberalism will slowly undermine itself – the only thing that can save its core is a renewed Left.
Slavoj Žižek - Only Communism can save liberal democracy
The question I’ve heard pretty often since moving into an intentional community is “how can you live that way?” This is said in all sincerity—often in not so many words—as though I’d moved to another planet or joined one of those isolated tribes you see on National Geographic. At this point I usually make a … Read more →
Individualism is the air we breathe. It surrounds us like the water that fish swim in, inescapably. If you have grown up in North America in anything other than abject poverty, being against individualism is like being against breathing. Like many other demonic inventions, invidiualism offers us the world at the price of our souls. … Read more →
Jonathan Franzen contemplates technology, “liking,” and love in an excellent essay for the New York Times that was adapted from a college commencement speech. Some choice bits: [O]ur technology has become extremely adept at creating products that correspond to our fantasy ideal of an erotic relationship, in which the beloved object asks for nothing and … Read more →