You know what I hate about politics? OK, that could be a well with no bottom. But a bucket borrowed from the late Daniel Boorstin just helped me haul up an especially slimy lump from way down deep. Specifically, Raymond Betts and Lyz Bly’s A History of Popular Culture describes a term Boorstin coined in the 1960s, “pseudo-event,” meaning something enacted for the sole purpose of being reported. Click here to read the rest.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg told a press conference Monday that Americans have to give up some freedom to be safe from terrorism. Because some Canadians make the same argument it's important to see why it couldn't be more wrong. Click here to read the rest.
Justin Trudeau's knee-jerk "root causes" explanation of the Boston Marathon bombing, "there is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded", certainly shows he's not ready for prime time. But the question of root causes would be interesting if the phrase were not clearly code for "it's our fault." Click here to read the rest.
So World War I was a “bourgeois” war fought by capitalists on the backsof workers and peasants. Is that the sort of national security thinking the NDP want to take into 24 Sussex?
Margaret Thatcher was respected abroad, archetypically British and entirely at odds with her times. The three together made her great. Click here to read the rest.