Many thanks to Thalia Pandiri and Steven & Xuan Hohensee for their generous financial contributions. We've raised $2,160 so far and need to reach $4,000 by the end of the year. We've just spent close to $800 in the last month (had to buy a new "off-lease" computer and monitor, and renew our yearly subscription to our e-mail ISP -- we also need to replace the fans of Gilles's main workhorse). Your money helps us provide you with the original content you are used to and appreciate.
A dispiriting yet powerful Op-Ed by Neal Gabler in today's New York Times (which, remarkably, we received -- read Chapter 2 of Jan Baughman's ongoing rural delivery saga) describes the current post-idea world, overrun by facts, outrageousness, and social media, in which thinking is no longer done. If thinkers still exist, says Gabler, "...they are not likely to get traction in a culture that has so little use for ideas, especially big, exciting, dangerous ones, and that's true whether the ideas come from academics or others who are not part of elite organizations and who challenge the conventional wisdom." One should direct Mr. Gabler's attention to Swans Commentary ("The Companion of Thinking People") and the work of its resident thinkers. Gilles d'Aymery, for one, has given a great deal of thought to current events and the economy; his latest Blips analyze everything from the tracking of the stock market and the spending of the happy few; the secret behind the S&P downgrade that the corporate mainstream media ignores; to lost-generation insurrections, and much more. Michael Barker continues his hard-hitting challenges to elite organizations, this time taking on British media propagandist Jon Snow, who like otherwise intelligent individuals "can serve as hacks for ruling elites while professing to do just the opposite." Bashir Sakhawarz thinks back to the Afghanistan he knew and experienced in 1972, prior to the Soviet Union's invasion; one doubts whether the elites attempting to manipulate the future of this war-torn country have any understanding of its history or culture...
Speaking of culture, Jonah Raskin recalls his first European vacation and shares his impressions of this summer's holiday, full of joie de vivre and crisis-free locals. Harvey Whitney, Jr. thinks that the release of Captain America couldn't be any more antithetical to liberalism, as Hollywood is not immune to selling movies used to promote American exceptionalism, whitewashing dubious American domestic or foreign policy. Likewise, Charles Marowitz looks beyond the one-time villain in his liberal-leftist world, Elia Kazan, who testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Marowitz concludes that it's time to honor Kazan's unsurpassed mastery and potent imagination that fertilized some of America's most treasured playwrights and inspired many of its greatest performers. Peter Byrne gives thought to the horrifying prisoner torture and abuse recorded in the diary of a British Army private at an Iraq prison camp, the topic of the London play Tactical Questioning, Scenes from the Baha Mousa Inquiry; while Raju Peddada is tortured by dangerous, texting drivers. We close with Claudine Giovannoni & Guido Monte's multilingual tribute to the admirable poet Derek Walcott, your letters, and our sincere thanks to those who continue to support the ideas, thoughts, and opinions we present in this otherwise post-idea era.
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Gilles d'Aymery: Blips #115
A few selected issues that landed on the Editor's desk, from the secret revealed by Secrecy News on publishing whistleblower leaks -- is this Editor a felon?; increases in the stock market and increased spending by the happy few; the so-called US economic recovery and how small businesses meet their payroll; to the charade of Standard & Poor's downgrading of the US credit rating and the Bush family ties to the man in charge of S&P; youth unemployment and lost-generation insurrections; and more on self-serving calculated madness. More...
Michael Barker: Jon Snow's Big Society: (Part I of II)
Part I of a critical review of Jon Snow's autobiography, Shooting History. More...
Bashir Sakhawarz: Afghanistan 1972
The Afghanistan the author knew and experienced in 1972, prior to the Soviet Union's invasion of the country. More...
Jonah Raskin: Austerity No, Joie De Vivre Oui
The author recounts his first European vacation in 1961 and his latest one, complete with crisis-free locals and the stereotypical ugly American. More...
Jan Baughman: I Want My NYT
In Chapter 2 of Swans editors' struggle to have The New York Times delivered to their rural home, the saga becomes even more ridiculous, despite the number of people trying to make it happen. More...
Harvey E. Whitney, Jr.: The Great Satan
The release of the movie Captain America could not be anymore antithetical to liberalism, but Hollywood is not immune to selling movies used to promote American exceptionalism or give us a feel good story that blankets dubious American problematic domestic or foreign policy. More...
Charles Marowitz: Exonerating Kazan
Charles Marowitz looks beyond Elia Kazan's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and asserts that it's time to honor his unsurpassed mastery and potent imagination that fertilized some of America's most treasured playwrights and inspired many of its greatest performers. More...
Peter Byrne: Death of the "Fat Bastard"
The author reviews the tribunal play em>Tactical Questioning, Scenes from the Baha Mousa Inquiry, based on the horrifying prisoner torture and abuse recorded in the diary of a British Army private at an Iraq prison camp. More...
Raju Peddada: People And Their Personal Vibrators
A look at the history of texting, the dangers of texting while driving, and the inanity of the text messages that are sent. More...
Claudine Giovannoni & Guido Monte: Carribean Union (Walcott n.1)
Monte and Giovannoni dedicate a multilingual poem to the admirable poet Derek Walcott; they know that all things and persons are deeply and hiddenly connected, and try to demonstrate it with emotional visions. More...
On Louis Proyect's review of Henry's Demons and schizophrenia as an illness of degree; appreciating what really matters from the Big Island of Hawaii; and praise for Karen Moller's book excerpt. More...
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