“Donald Trump and the Ghosts of Totalitarianism” Henry Giroux

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“Trump is simply the most visible embodiment of a society that is not merely suspicious of critical thought but disdains it. Trump is the quintessential symbol of the merging of a war-like arrogance, a militant certainty, and as self-absorbed unworldliness in which he is removed from problems of the real world.”

In Trump’s success Henry Giroux sees the warning signs of a society ripe for totalitarianism (anti-intellectual, militaristic, authoritarian impulses, self-absorbed, racist, ideological). While I’m not convinced that Trump is the ideal candidate to become the iconic leader of a totalitarian society (even though he has many of the necessary characteristics), I think Giroux’s critique of the current state of society is very valuable. He sets out to wake us up from our current apathy and to prompt us to think critically about the dominant neoliberal agenda in which “time presents itself as a form tyranny, an unquestioned necessity, and in speeding up the flows of work, leisure, knowledge, and everyday life it spawns a new kind of violence in which the flow of capital replaces the flow of thoughtfulness, atomization replaces a notion of shared solidarity, the spectacle undermines historical memory, privatization seeks to erase all notions of the public good, and manufactured precarity replaces any sense of security and long-term planning.”

He goes on, “What is clear in this case is that a widespread avoidance of the past has become not only a sign of the appalling lack of historical consciousness in contemporary American culture, but a deliberate political weapon used by the powerful to keep people passive and blind to the truth, if not reduced to a discourse drawn from the empty realm of celebrity culture. This is a discourse in which totalitarian images of the hero, fearless leader, and bold politicians get lost in the affective and ideological registers of what Hannah Arendt once called “the ruin of our categories of thought and standards of judgment.”[5] Of course, there are many factors currently contributing to this production of ignorance and the lobotomizing of individual and collective agency. The forces promoting a deep seated culture of authoritarianism run deep in American society.”

Read Giroux’s thought-provoking essay here: Donald Trump and the Ghosts of Totalitarianism

“There Is No Excuse for How Universities Treat Adjuncts” – The Atlantic

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Too few people are aware of this growing problem, and the problem is not just the fact that adjuncts are an exploited work force. This injustice also has broader implications for the quality of higher education.

Caroline Fredrickson at The Atlantic explains the problem, and uses an interesting analogy with companies like Uber:  “With courses that need to be taught every semester led by an interchangeable set of adjuncts, the schools seem to be doing just what trucking companies, housecleaning services, and now app-driven businesses such as Uber and Lyft have been accused of doing: misclassifying workers as contractors. Especially when a teacher is asked to carry out similar responsibilities as full-time permanent staff but for less than half the salary, there may be grounds to believe that universities and colleges are evading their legal obligations as employers. And with the overrepresentation of women in these jobs, it seems possible that many of these universities could be violating not only labor laws but civil-rights laws as well.”

Read the entire article here: There Is No Excuse for How Universities Treat Adjuncts – The Atlantic

“Why Xi Jinping’s Campaign to Suppress Western Ideas Is Bound to Fail” |History News Network

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To remain in power the Chinese government must not only use the threat of punishment, it must also control what its citizens think and believe. In a battle of ideas the authoritarian regime would likely lose against the ideals of liberty, natural rights, and democracy.  Knowing this, the regime has resorted to cordoning itself off from the ocean of ideas that flow freely outside its borders.

But as Peter Zarrow points out, “Because the entire family of notions associated with democracy, liberty, and rights has become Chinese, they are ineradicable. Indeed, the very categories of ‘Western values’ and ‘universal values’ are incoherent in our thoroughly globalized world. Furthermore, since the 1980s, Chinese have gotten used to freedoms that include the choice of where to live and what job to take, much less whom to marry—a particular focus of New Youth concern—and attempts to barricade off a sacred party-state from the realm of personal freedoms will require ever greater resources.” A problem that will only get worse. Let’s hope their eventual frustrated attempts to retain power will not require significant bloodshed!

Read Zarrow’s entire essay here: History News Network | Why Xi Jinping’s Campaign to Suppress Western Ideas Is Bound to Fail

A Book That Changed the Way Americans Saw the Poor: “How The Other Half Lives,” (1890) by Jacob Riis

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Jacob Riis profoundly changed the image of poverty in New York City after he published his photographs in 1890. Photography was still in its infancy, so Riis actually had to invent a new method of lighting up the dark spaces in which the poor lived. His photos were so shocking that they actually brought about reforms that significantly improved the conditions of the working poor (mostly immigrants) living in New York City.

If you have not seen his photos, I would highly recommend doing so. They are shocking! I posted a few below.  How The Other Half Lives, by Jacob Riis:

How-the-Other-Half-Lives-Riis-Jacob-A

How the other half lives riis bayard-st-5-cent-lodging

how the other half lives riis children sleepin on the streets 1888

 

 

“Social sciences and humanities faculties to close in Japan after ministerial decree” | Times Higher Education

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“Seventeen universities are to close liberal arts and social science courses.” The nationalist Japanese government has achieved what many conservatives in the U.S. would like to achieve.

This does not bode well for the future!

Source: | Times Higher Education

“4,000-Year-Old Egyptian Manuscript Found” – History in the Headlines

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“A 4,000-year-old, approximately 8-foot long leather manuscript, the oldest and longest of its kind ever found, was rediscovered in a museum storage space in Cairo.” How exciting!!!

Source: 4,000-Year-Old Egyptian Manuscript Found – History in the Headlines

“Lawmakers fear Islamic ‘indoctrination’ in TN classes”

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“A recent uproar over a Tennessee middle school history course that touches on Islam has federal and state lawmakers calling for changes.”

This is really sad! These politicians either don’t understand the difference between teaching the history of a particular religion and indoctrination,  or they’re exploiting this issue for political gain. Either way this type of bigotry and divisive politics is unacceptable!

They’re even railing against the “bias” in favor of Islam!! Seriously!

Source: Lawmakers fear Islamic ‘indoctrination’ in TN classes

“What History Can Teach Us About The Worst Refugee Crisis Since WWII” The World Post

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Watching the tragedy of Syrian refugees unfold makes me wonder if we’ve learned anything from the past refugee crises. It seemed that Europe had learned some lessons as they dealt with the refugee crisis from the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s. But the combination of economic crisis, anti-Islamic sentiments, and inter-E.U. bickering has set this latest crisis up to be a disaster.  The U.S. response has been lackluster as well. We are better able to handle large numbers of refugees, and given the fact that we bear some responsibility for the crisis we have a moral obligation to help the victims fleeing Syria.

Maybe it’s too late, but for what it’s worth Alexander Betts,  professor of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, discusses the history of refugee crises and lays out five history lessons.

“Anti-gay ‘historian’ leading pro-Ted Cruz PAC says Bible forbids finding an AIDS vaccine”

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The fake historian David Barton is at it again. He asserts, “The Bible says if you engage in homosexuality, your body will do things that penalize you…So if you can have a vaccine for AIDS, then you’re keeping your body from penalizing you. I don’t think they’ll ever find a vaccine for AIDS.”

No comment necessary!

Source: Anti-gay ‘historian’ leading pro-Ted Cruz PAC says Bible forbids finding an AIDS vaccine

“Honor the Past, Not the Racism” – Bloomberg View

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“How far is too far in relabeling things named for great but flawed Americans?”

Stephen L. Carter argues that we’re making a mistake when we seek to rename events, buildings, etc. because they were named after some less than perfect Americans (i.e. they owned slaves, were racist, etc.).

He concludes, “Jefferson or Jackson, Truman or Wilson, Sanger or Faulkner — all held unworthy attitudes shaped by the values of particular eras. We should accept and explore our history, with all of its complexity and horror, including the possibility that we can admire some aspects of the greats of the past without endorsing everything for which they stood. If instead we’d rather spend time on erasure, there’s a nice domed memorial on the National Mall that needs a new honoree — in a capital city itself named for a man who owned 318 human beings.”

I have to agree with Carter. Let’s recognize (and abhor) their flaws, but we shouldn’t scrub all traces of them in the public square.

Source: Honor the Past, Not the Racism – Bloomberg View