Category: Culture

How such rhetoric performs

Mr. Mileikowsky and the “seal of Netanyahu”: the perilous encounter between modern nationalism and ancient history By Hussein Ibish, August 17, 2011, 6:21pm … I may be trying people’s patience a little with my recent riff on nationalism in general, and particularly the Israeli and Palestinian versions, but further exchanges with some of my interlocutors, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/08/17/how-such-rhetoric-performs/

Manchurian candidate

The sad facts behind Rick Perry’s Texas miracle By Harold Meyerson, Tuesday, August 16, 6:41 PM … Rick Perry’s Texas is Ross Perot’s Mexico come north. Through a range of enticements we more commonly associate with Third World nations — low wages, no benefits, high rates of poverty, scant taxes, few regulations and generous corporate …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/08/16/manchurian-candidate/

Conservative solipsistic morality

Teavangelicals: in capitalism and free markets they trust By Anthea Butler, Monday 15 August 2011 12.21 BST … Charles Finney, the great 19th-century revivalist and evangelical, would have had a hard time preaching a revival in America today. Finney’s brand of evangelical fervour, called the “new measures”, emphasised saving souls and reviving worship by incorporating …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/08/16/conservative-solipsistic-morality/

A confused mélange

Fetishizing nationalism By Hussein Ibish, August 16, 2011 … For those in the grip of its authority, a clearheaded understanding of how nationalist ideology actually operates seems extremely difficult. All contemporary nationalisms are based on constructed and imagined narratives about history, geography, culture, ethnicity and religion. Such narratives invariably involve a great deal of what …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/08/16/a-confused-melange/

Tipping point

Norway’s terror, the world’s problem By Gerald Caplan, Saturday, August 13, 2011 12:32PM EDT … There are several things we must grasp if we’re ever going to understand what motivated Anders Breivik’s murderous rampage in Norway. As is well known now, Mr. Breivik was a devotee of those many strident voices on the web who …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/08/14/tipping-point/

Gone with the wind

Everyone began rasping like zombies in my Bikram yoga class By Harriet Walker, Sunday, 14 August 2011 … I might as well tell you, seeing as I’ve bragged about it to everyone else, that I’ve taken up Bikram yoga. It’s a variant of the old-lady yoga that everyone professes to be good at, but is …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/08/14/gone-with-the-wind/

On the eve of a decade later

Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream By Shane Claiborne, 8/13/11 12:04 PM ET … I was in Baghdad in March 2003, where I lived as a Christian and as a peacemaker during the “shock-and-awe” bombing. I spent time with families, volunteered in hospitals and learned to sing “Amazing Grace” in Arabic. There is one image of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/08/13/on-the-eve-of-a-decade-later/