The Killer American Self: Democracy as Suicide
Yesterday, we witnessed the Death Penalty — circa 1931 — with George Orwell’s assistance in “Taking the Mechanism Out of Man.”
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The International Orphan Myth
Most of us believe there are basketsful of orphaned babies the world over just waiting for an international adoption. The truth is more sullied and brutal than that ideal. The international children being adopted already have parents and they are being sold to the highest bidder.
Fired for Myth Telling
Adjunct instructor Steven Bitterman was fired for suggesting a Bible story could be read as a myth:
Steven
Bitterman was on his way to teach a course in Western civilization at
Southwestern Community College last fall when his car slipped off the
road. By the time he got back on the road, Mr. Bitterman’s clothes were
muddy, so he returned home to clean up. That’s where he got a telephone
call from one of the college’s vice presidents, saying he had been
fired.Three students, the vice president told Mr.
Bitterman, were offended because he had told his class that people
could more easily appreciate the biblical story of Adam and Eve if they
considered it a myth.“She said the students and their
parents had threatened to sue the school, and sue me, and she said: ‘We
don’t want that to happen, do we?'” said Mr. Bitterman, who had been an
adjunct professor at the Iowa college since 2001. “She told me I was
supposed to teach history, not religion, and that my services would no
longer be needed.”
Generational Wrongs
There are some wrongs that are so terrible and so terrifying — and that wound all of humanity so harshly — that they can never be set right in the lifetimes of those who perpetrated, and received, the cruelty.
Miracle Myth Memes and the Propagation of Hope in Wen Chuan
The recent earthquake in Wen Chuan, China gives us a moment to reflect on our mortality in sorrow, express a renewed appreciation for being alive, and an opportunity to learn how we grieve and how we always try to look for stories of hope in the propagation of news from a disaster site.
I call those propagated stories of incredible survival — “Miracle Myth Memes” — and they are a fascinating cultural salve against the unthinkable.
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Moral Futurism and the Enemies of an Open Society
Karl Popper is one of the SuperGeniuses of our time, and his brilliant book — “Open Society and Its Enemies” — is a must read for anyone hoping to understand our necessary and active place in the world.
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Deepak Chopra, the Third Jesus and the Iraqi Wonder Woman
Deepak Chopra is one of those rare gifts to the rest of us: A true SuperGenius who inspires us with the inborn rhythms of storytelling while revealing the myth-making ability to heal humanity. Deepak’s latest treading into immortality is his latest book — “The Third Jesus” — where he argues we need to celebrate a third “Cosmic Christ” as a part of our ongoing religious enlightenment:
Continue reading → Deepak Chopra, the Third Jesus and the Iraqi Wonder Woman
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