Joanna Sharp How do free spirits endure a tyrannical technocratic order? Do they succumb to endless rules, or do they keep doing their own thing? And what is the spiritual price of totalitarianism? These are the questions which seem to be guiding Gods of Their Own Religion, a dystopian movie written and directed by Naeem …
Edward Curtin “The most incomprehensible talk comes from people who have no other use for language than to make themselves understood.” Karl Kraus, Half-Truths & One-and-a-Half Truths Things, possessions, life on the installment plan or credit card. This is the season to buy, to accumulate more folderols, to give things to one’s children and each other, …
Charles Chevalier To what extent was Enlightenment one of human emancipation? As Hampson (1968) describes the period “an embarrassment of wealth for the historian and the danger of being buried under his own treasure”, this essay in the explanation of the question is in danger of not only being buried by treasure but embarrassed by …
Edward Curtin “Ditto,” said Tweedledum. “Ditto, ditto!” cried Tweedledee. Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking-Glass Sometimes a trifling contretemps can open a window onto significant issues. As a case in point, The New York Times, a newspaper that regularly publishes U.S. propaganda without a bit of shame or remorse, recently reported on a controversy involving Simon …
Todd Hayen “Sheep, I don’t know what’s wrong with sheep these days.” (sung to the tune of Kids! from the musical Bye Bye Birdie). So what else is new? Sort of feels like Ground Hog Day (the movie). Every morning I get out of bed thinking that something must be different. Where is the sheep …
Last Thursday, the International Monetary Fund spooked the markets and surprised the commentariat by chiding the U.K. Conservative government for fiscal irresponsibility. The shock was palpable. For the IMF to criticize the government of a major Western economy was a little like the janitor scolding the landlord for putting the building’s assessed value at risk. That sense […]
Edward Curtin Neurosis to a greater or lesser degree is the norm in western industrialized societies. Drawing on this fact is the key to effective propaganda. It is well known that neurotics always return to the place they are running away from. It’s a circle game of frustration in which being frustrated is actually the …
Todd Hayen About three years ago, before this Covid swill was poured down our throats, my wife pointed out an article in the Toronto Star about a proposal to have cars fitted with bumper cameras, or some other nonsense intended to cut down on illegal parking, hit and run offenses, and various other “bad” things …
Ryan Matters There is a willingness in this world for people to adopt new things because they are told to do so. There is also a willingness for people to sit back and let the course of human evolution be decided for them. Who said that merging with AI is inevitable? It’s only inevitable if …
Edward Curtin “Nothing is more real than nothing.” Samuel Beckett, Malone Dies Those who are never lost are forever lost. Only those who know they are lost and that life is a shipwreck have a chance to find their way to shore. The world’s great religions, including Taoism and Existential philosophy, understand that at the heart …
