Political reality is multivariate, although you would never know it based on news reporting, political commentary and the rhetoric of politicians and activists alike. This is because we all, consciously or unconsciously, refract the multivariate political reality we live, or more often observe, through political filters. These filters perform the…
Donald Trump
Disaster Communism, Disaster Capitalism, Or Simply Disaster? Thoughts On Žižek’s PANdemIC! (Carl Raschke)
“There is no return to normal, the new ‘normal’ will have to be constructed on the ruins of our old lives, or we will find ourselves in a new barbarism whose signs are already clearly discernible.” Thus writes the Slovenian philosophical “rock star” Slavoj Žižek in his quick and dirty…
The Technological Transformation Of The Public Square (Joshua Ramos)
We are witnessing the political and cultural transformation of the global public square through internet information technology and digital social media. The public square, once formerly centered around localized, material centers such as town halls, literary café’s and salons, has now become the global virtualized public square, decentralized in transnational…
“Fake News” And Political Polarization In America (Christopher Layton)
Fake news has flourished in the current politically polarized climate that has persisted over the past thirty years. In the year leading up to the United States 2016 presidential election fake news has produced misinformation on social media platforms and served to diminish the credibility of mainstream news networks, further…
Migration And “Waning Sovereignty” – Humanitarian Challenge Or Crisis Of The Political? (Carl Raschke)
Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, albeit not by a popular majority of votes, largely on his promise to “build the wall” that would stem the tide of illegal immigration across the southern border. Two and a half years into his administration the trope of the “wall”…
Meditations On Aesthetics In The Wake Of The 2019 State Of The Union Address (Roger K. Green)
It is easy to debate the usefulness of commenting on the 2019 State of the Union Address. In a media sphere mostly concerned with who said what in a fleeting instance, what is the importance of the decorum and epideictic rhetoric surrounding the occasion of the State of the Union…
Anti-Semitism Old And New – The Pittsburgh Massacre In Today’s “Imperial” Context (Carl Raschke)
The mass murder of 11 Orthodox Jews at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh by a crazed gunman shouting “all Jews must die” was not only one more tragic episode in an intensifying drama of political division and violence in America, it was an agonizing reminder of how…
On Enduring Borders And The Erasure Of Indigeneity, Part 3 (Roger Green)
The following is the third and final installment of Roger Green’s ongoing article. The first installment can be found here. The second can be found here. I have been posting regarding the concept of Indigeneity as a necessary category, stressing the conceptual nature of the term to emphasize the ethical implications for…
In Defense Of Politics (Jonathan Cole)
In an age in which the degeneration of politicians, political institutions, and political culture—let’s call it “politics”—is fast becoming something of an unquestioned article of faith, a defense of such politics sounds decidedly unfashionable at best, and insolent at worst. I maintain that too much of the widespread negative evaluation…