Midterm Notes
The Republicans won the Senate last night, and politics will resume in two years. But regardless of the ever-so expensive election or the outcome of the next round, rest assured that: *We’ll still be...
View ArticleThe Confusion of the West
It’s only when appearance is mistaken for reality that the “Clash of Civilizations” can become a plausible interpretation of the recent violence in France. Huntington’s concept was born moribund, its...
View ArticleThe Corruption of Football
The conspiracy theory surrounding Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll’s decision to pass, rather than run, on second and goal in the final minute of Sunday’s Superbowl is emblematic of the narrow...
View ArticleLibertarian Mythologies
One modest benefit of the current recession is that politicians are less likely to declare how fortunate we are to live under capitalism. This was a common refrain during the 1945-1973 “Golden Age of...
View ArticleHow the US Lost Latin America
The end of the Cold War can be seen as both the best and worst thing to ever befall the United States. On one hand, the USSR’s precipitous collapse represented total victory for the US. In one dramatic...
View ArticleThe Subversive Conservatism of "True Grit"
The Coen Brothers occupy a Hollywood niche that implies subversion while reinforcing conservatism. “Blood Simple,” “Raising Arizona,” and “No Country for Old Men” are morality tales in which a flawed ?...
View ArticleAnother Professor Fired for Views on Middle East
Brooklyn College fired PhD student Kristofer Petersen-Overton yesterday, one day after New York state assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) sent a letter to BC president Karen Gould accusing...
View ArticleThe Evils of Bad Criticism
In his misleadingly titled essay “The Evils of Unregulated Capitalism,” Joseph Stiglitz critiques ongoing austerity measures for an incriminating reason: austerity will deprive the U.S. and the E.U. of...
View ArticleObama and “The Help”
Noble Stereotypes and the Master Class More The post Obama and “The Help” appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleForm in Front of Content
Reflections on Occupy Wall Street More The post Form in Front of Content appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleThe Queasy Liberal
Chris Hedges and the Occupy Movement More The post The Queasy Liberal appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleSlaves to the Internet
We're All Porn Stars Now More The post Slaves to the Internet appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleThe Banal Evil of Voting
Obama isn't Hitler, but... More The post The Banal Evil of Voting appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleThe Internet, Capitalism, and the State
A Review of Robert McChesney’s "Digital Disconnect" More The post The Internet, Capitalism, and the State appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleKrugman’s Austerity Blinders
Liberals Don't Understand What Work Means More The post Krugman’s Austerity Blinders appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleThe Washington Redskins, Conservatives and Bob Costas
The Deeper Injustice More The post The Washington Redskins, Conservatives and Bob Costas appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleIs BDS the Left’s "Save Darfur"?
The Perils of Identity Politics in the Middle East More The post Is BDS the Left’s "Save Darfur"? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleDid Somebody Say Fascism?
Waiting in the Wings of Ukraine More The post Did Somebody Say Fascism? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleJon Stewart’s NFL
From Concussions to Domestic Violence More The post Jon Stewart’s NFL appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
View ArticleWhat is a President? The CEO of Capitalism
Ongoing left debates regarding Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign are frequently characterized by a shared premise. Whether arguing, for instance, that Sanders is dismissive of race or countering...
View ArticleThe Most Important Election Ever!
The Nation magazine recently declared that the 2016 election “may be the most important election of our lives.” This really shouldn’t be surprising, since nearly every presidential election has been...
View ArticleWestern Civilization 101
Notwithstanding the fears of Samuel Huntington and the more overtly violent demonstrations of self-described Western chauvinists such as the Proud Boys, the term “Western Civilization” is of only...
View ArticleYelp and the Myth of Consumer Power
If you wait tables for a living, chances are that the website Yelp has affected how you think about and even perform your work. Restaurant managers and owners regularly, sometimes daily, pore over...
View ArticleCoronavirus and the Rise and Fall of Humanism
It is a truism that the Black Death helped produce the age of humanism. Through making death ever-present, the plague undermined a system of religious authority in which the church and the church alone...
View ArticleNine Predictions for Trump’s Second Term
I don’t know why criticisms of electoral politics are so often interpreted to mean that elections don’t have consequences. Of course they do, not least in the ways that elections – even as they...
View ArticleDon’t Look Up (at the Film Critics)
For at least the third time in the last year, a Netflix film has exposed a stark divide between critics and audiences. In the case of Don’t Look Up, critics have largely trashed the film, calling it...
View ArticleOy Ye
The problem with political correctness has always been that you were never going to stop people from being offensive, as our system virtually requires people to mistake appearance for reality while not...
View ArticleThe Woke and the Left
Last winter, Hamline University made national news when it fired Erica Lopez Prater, an art history professor who had offended one of her students by showing a painting depicting the Prophet Muhammad....
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The Eruption of the New Right: On “When the Clock Broke”
Eric Hobsbawm has noted that the Soviet Union saved Western capitalism two times. The first time was when the USSR defeated Nazi Germany. The second time was that by displaying an alternative...
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Donald Trump and the Limits of Liberal Criticism
Photograph Source: Kidfly182 – CC BY 4.0 One silver lining of Trump’s return is that it has undermined the central claim of a now ubiquitous school of thought professing that the fundamental problem...
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