After nearly four centuries of Republican government, Rome began its century-long descent toward tyranny1 beginning about 133 BC with the murder of the Gracchus brothers.2 Perhaps the chief facilitator of that descent was the conservative/traditionalist group of elites in the Roman Senate—a group that came to be dubbed the optimates (“the best”).3 They claimed to […]
Beware the Optimates! Read More »
(va: The Ann Coulter Conversion)Sondra’s telephone call came before I was ready to face the day. My clock read 5:21 AM. “I’m not here,” I mumbled into the receiver. “You will not believe what just happened to me!” she exclaimed. (The enthusiasm in her voice seemed unhealthy for such an early hour.) “Oh, I know
“In The Making of the President, 1960,[1] Teddy White lamented that TV might spell the death of serious politics: to give a thoughtful response to serious questions, a politician needed a good thirty seconds to ponder, but television allowed only five seconds of silence at best. DDB [the ad agency of Doyle Dane Bernbach[2]] found
The Speed of Emotion Read More »
(All indented paragraphs are partial quotes from, or are based on portions of, the Judgment at Nuremberg film script, screen play by Abby Mann.)Sixty-three years ago (1947), the United States conducted a trial examining the issue of individual complicity of justice officials in crimes committed while in the service of the German state. This trial
(“Private” reflections for Miltonites*) What does one do when captured by a phrase? The phrase, “Our minds tell us, and history confirms …” comes from page 2 of Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom. He uses it to protest excessive government, and he is probably (mostly) right, BUT somehow, he seems entirely unconscious of the “private”
What …? If …? How …? Read More »
▪ Free of civility so anyone can say anything in passionate defense of one-sidedness.1▪ Free to demand that the American eagle fly as a one-winged bird.2▪ Free of laws and regulations so every business and financial institution can be a profiteer and scrutineer unto itself.3▪ Free of memory so the re-cycling of “boom and bust”
Technology as servant can and does bless the world in numerous ways. Technology as master is another story. Consider: ▪ reams of paper that computer printers spew into scrap bins in endless pursuit of the perfect document;▪ WALL•E1 landscapes of electronic scrap trashed in pursuit of the latest, greatest;▪ electronic-sitters that are too overwhelmingly convenient
Technology: Servant or Master? Read More »