This is the most profound thing I have read all week. And possibly in this entire year: “The level of emotional health that any person has (and also at any one time), will have to do with how much of the ugly they are able to take in and sublimate (turn it into something necessary and true, if not quite beautiful).”
“Mental health problems are on the rise among UK academics amid the pressures of greater job insecurity, constant demand for results and an increasingly marketised higher education system. University counselling staff and workplace health experts have seen a steady increase in numbers seeking help for mental health problems over the past decade.” This totally reminded me of that joke were a Soviet man says, “These French women are so dirty! They take showers every day!” The possibility that people might simply be getting more comfortable with the concept of psychological hygiene doesn’t even occur to the authors.
Please read this short but crucial post on the neoliberal academic evolution.
A weird experience at a scholarly conference.
A very informative post on Qur’anic Revisionism.
Of course, anybody can make fun of David Brooks. But few people can do it in such a brilliant way as the linked blogger.
An interesting recipe for scholarly productivity: “At the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Matthias Krapf, Heinrich W. Ursprung, and Christian Zimmermann looked at the publishing output of people with and without children, quantifying productivity by how much the academics produced. They found that women with at least two children at home are more productive, on average across their careers, than those who have only one child, and mothers of one child are more productive than those with none.”
Important musings on grad-school work ethic. A long but very valuable post. Beautifully written, too.
“Paul told CNN’s Candy Crowley on Sunday that his strong statements weren’t driven by a 2016 presidential run (although he said his position would help in that endeavor, should he enter the race). “I want the Republican party to be bigger and more successful because I think our philosophy will help the country more,” he said.” It would be amazing if somebody finally revealed this philosophy to the masses. I’ve been waiting for years.
A disturbing development: “China is…making a less-noticed push in the west to enforce claims along its 2,200-mile (3,400-kilometer) frontier with India. India says the number of what it describes as Chinese “transgressions” across the two countries’ ill-defined boundary has climbed sharply—to more than 400 last year from 213 in 2011.” The last thing we need is for the world’s next greatest superpowers to start fighting openly.
A very upsetting video about the attempts to block Bill Maher from coming to speak at Berkeley.
Why, why, why doesn’t every car come equipped with this amazing, phenomenal, fantastic object?
“Thus research cannot be planned and managed like, say, teaching duties or a Walmart store. If you could manage it, then it would not be research.” This must mean that my research isn’t really research. Always good to know.
I keep suggesting to people that they see a sexologist but if this is the kind of advice American sexologists offer, it’s better to stay away.
“Sontag died a decade ago, but there is something compelling about knowing that she was on Sephora’s mailing list.” And what does it compel you to do? Shop? Freaks abound.
Clarissa's Blog 
Thanks for the shout-out, Clarissa!
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I don’t think mock Spanish is usually racist, although I don’t think ‘cultural appropriation’ is usually racist either. The simple answer is that Mexico is close to the U.S. and these countries exchange lots of culture including words.
The areas closer to Latin America like San Diego and Miami tend to have more mock Spanish but I’m skeptical this is due to racism.
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There is also such a thing as Spanglish, which is the heavily anglicized Spanish of the Hispanic immigrants, especially in California. But that’s different from this phenomenon of “mock Spanish.” Although I personally hate both equally. 🙂
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Thanks for the link!
Yes. By the way, this advice is ….just like everything that comes out of the USA. I really think that platidinizing has to go. They need to stop it with the truisms. And with the weird machine-like sensibilities like this::
“You need to focus on your five senses, and to focus so fiercely on THAT incoming data that you have virtually no bandwidth left over to think about anything, or to miss any other incoming stimulation. ”
That’s like: “I’m going to give you a sumptuous feast, but you will not be able to feel any of it so I want you to focus with all of your senses on every bit of the stimulation coming in.”
Overfed monkeys perhaps have no fantasy life, but that may be a symptom of already having all one needs without having to yearn for it.
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Алексей ЛЕВИНСОН: Нельзя кричать: «Россия сдурела»
Социолог, руководитель отдела социокультурных исследований «Левада-центра» Алексей Левинсон – о массовом сознании, новом двоемыслии, символическом Путине, желании вставать по одному гудку и о том, сколько может просуществовать страна с двоящимся сознанием.
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/65985.html
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Thank you for the linkback! I have many more thoughts to share about academia and neoliberalism after a rude phone call from my old school this morning.
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I don’t usually look at graphic novels, but was interested in “The Arrival” by Shaun Tan, describing an immigrant’s experience. (I haven’t “read” it, but what I’ve seen looks interesting.) Some beautiful drawings are here:
http://www.shauntan.net/books/the-arrival.html
There is also a video:
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“British police foil Islamic terror suspects’ alleged plot to kill Queen of England”
They wanted to stab her (had guns too) when:
“Queen Elizabeth was due to attend a military event at Royal Albert Hall, the British paper reported.It was a lead up event for Remembrance Sunday, which commemorates the end of WWI in 1918.”
“Despite the security threat, the Queen is reportedly insistent that she carry out her responsibility on Remembrance Sunday, which involves her laying the first wreath to “The Glorious Dead” this weekend.”
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\\ Also, can we limit this thread to discussing Michael Brown?
I moved to links thread. Regarding stones’ throwing:
“A three-year-old boy suffered a light head injury from stones that were thrown at the car he was a passenger in […] paramedics took the boy to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem.”
How many years should this person get, in your eyes? People have been killed this way before.
// – Call me old-fashioned, but I expect police officers to save lives, not to take them.
In Israel one expects police to fight terror, among other things. Many commenters refer to what is going on as “a battle over Jerusalem” or “a battle over home,” when “home” = “control of the state.”
Somebody said “they hate the state, lets give land with Israeli Arabs to future Palestinian state, even if it means losing a part of Jerusalem and some other areas.” May be, if riots continue after death of every terrorist, more people will think this way and we’ll “divorce” at last.
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“How many years should this person get, in your eyes? People have been killed this way before.”
– I’m sure there is a criminal code in Israel, or whatever is the name of the equivalent. I know that in Illinois, aggravated battery is punished by 1 year in jail for light bodily injuries. It differs somewhat from state to state but I’m not well-aware of the statutes in other states.
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// I know that in Illinois, aggravated battery is punished by 1 year in jail for light bodily injuries.
So, a person who hits another adult in a quarrel in a pub and an Arab throwing stones to injure / kill some Jews because of nationalistic reasons should get the same punishment? Even in cases of murder, motivation isn’t ignored. Why should Israel ignore the Middle East national conflict and cases of our Arab citizens choosing to participate in it on the side of Hamas? Violence in Israel began before this shooting, as you remember. I don’t understand why you are against treating nationalistic crimes and / or participation in terror as such.
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“Even in cases of murder, motivation isn’t ignored.”
– Actually, in the US motive is not one of the elements of the crime. The prosecution can address it but it is not an obligation.
“So, a person who hits another adult in a quarrel in a pub and an Arab throwing stones to injure / kill some Jews because of nationalistic reasons should get the same punishment?”
– The question is: has he taken the stand in his own defense and declared his nationalistic motives? If not, we have to agree that all we can do is guess about those motives. And this is precisely the problem with motive: it involves too much speculation. I don’t know how it is in Israel, but in the US a defendant is not and cannot be obligated to take the stand. It’s one of the basic rights guaranteed by the constitution.
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\\ – The question is: has he taken the stand in his own defense and declared his nationalistic motives?
Clarissa, honestly, do you think those stone throwers and / or trying-to-succeed murderers are not driven by nationalistic motives? Or that, to remain a democracy, Israel must not say they are and treat them as such?
In Israel, one can f.e. destroy a home of a terrorist without that terrorist being alive already, let alone declaring nationalistic motives.
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“Clarissa, honestly, do you think those stone throwers and / or trying-to-succeed murderers are not driven by nationalistic motives?”
– I can’t possibly know about each individual case. Criminals should be tried in a court of law and they should be tried individually. If there is another riot in Ferguson tomorrow, I will consider it horrifying if the police opens fire into the stone-throwing crowd. If they are all declared “terrorists” and shipped off to Guantanamo, that will be wrong, too.
“Or that, to remain a democracy, Israel must not say they are and treat them as such?”
– There is no democracy without individual rights. The degree of democracy is judged by the extent to which an individual is protected in his or her individual rights from the state. The moment when “common good” (obviously defined by a tiny minority) begins to trample individual rights, democracy begins to die.
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Seems informative and interesting:
The battle for Jerusalem
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4589339,00.html
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\\ “Clarissa, honestly, do you think those stone throwers and / or trying-to-succeed murderers are not driven by nationalistic motives?”
– I can’t possibly know about each individual case. Criminals should be tried in a court of law and they should be tried individually.
Today:
IDF soldier stabbed at Tel Aviv train station
Victim in critical condition after attack by 18-year-old Palestinian from Nablus, evacuated to hospital; suspect, illegally residing in Israel, flees, arrested several streets away.
Jewish man narrowly escapes attempted lynch
Masked men attacked Jewish driver at entrance to Arab town of Tayibe, but is saved by locals only to have car set ablaze, as violence continues to spread throughout Israel.
Egypt’s most active militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has sworn allegiance to Islamic State […] Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said Egypt faces an “existential threat” from Sinai-based militants who have killed hundreds of police and soldiers since the army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last year.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4590043,00.html
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Iran’s Khamenei presents: How, why to destroy Israel
In infographic posted to his twitter account, Iran’s top spiritual leader Khamenei describes reasons and means to destroying Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4589942,00.html
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The only tried and true way of removing a fanatical dictator or a topple a totalitarian regime is through a sudden and fast arrival of Western capitalism and the attendant soaring in the standard of living. Just saying.
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\\ The only tried and true way of removing a fanatical dictator or a topple a totalitarian regime is through a sudden and fast arrival of Western capitalism and the attendant soaring in the standard of living. Just saying.
The question is what he’ll have time to do, while still in power and with money and all possible weapons.
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The War Nerd: Crunching numbers on Kobane
http://pando.com/2014/10/31/the-war-nerd-crunching-numbers-on-kobane/
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TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 10 – A young Israeli former soldier left Tel Aviv in recent days to join Kurdish combatants in northern Iraq fighting against the Islamic State (ISIS). In a telephone conversation with Radio Jerusalem from the battlefield, the woman – whose name has not been released, but who also has Canadian nationality – said on Monday that she wanted to offer the Kurds the benefit of her military experience.
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Israeli novelist wins prestigious French prize
Zeruya Shalev is the second Hebrew author after Amoz Oz to receive the Prix Femina Étranger. Her winning novel, ‘What Remains of Life,’ has been published in many languages around the world.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4587803,00.html
Would’ve been interesting to read your book review of an Israeli author.
I think Amoz Oz’s “A Tale of Love and Darkness” is good, but have no experience with Zeruya Shalev, so I can recommend only Oz.
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Guess Israelis hoping for Putin wish for more of this:
Netanyahu invites Israeli-Arab protesters to leave Israel
Prime minister says Israel won’t stop those ‘shouting their denunciation of Israel and support of a Palestinian state’ from moving to the PA or Gaza.
[…]
Tibi accused Netanyahu, who has publicly pledged to explore the possibility of revoking the citizenship of Israelis who “call for Israel’s destruction”, of pandering to far-right potential challengers in Likud.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4590418,00.html
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‘I think I’m on the autism spectrum’: Jerry Seinfeld reveals struggles with social engagement
[…]
When questioned further about his revelation, Seinfeld explained he is ‘never paying attention to the right things’.
He said: ‘Basic social engagement is really a struggle. I’m very literal. When people talk to me and they use expressions, sometimes I don’t know what they’re saying.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2825501/Jerry-Seinfeld-believes-autism-spectrum-reveals-struggles-social-engagement.html
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Since we have been talking about the correct reactions of police before (here it’s not police but army forces):
TEHRAN (FNA)- Israeli forces will respond to fireworks shot toward them with live ammunition at protesters, an army official said.
“Palestinian protestors are increasingly shooting fireworks recently,” an army official told Israel’s Mriv newspaper.
“We see these as dangerous weapons rather than toys,” he said.
Mriv described the fireworks, adapted to be let off through metal pipes, as a new symbol in the latest wave of protests.
It said an incident at Qalandia checkpoint, in which a Palestinian protester was shot dead by Israeli forces, was the catalyst for the Israeli army’s decision to respond to fireworks in the same way soldiers respond to Molotov cocktails, by shooting at protesters’ lower bodies.
Soldiers thought the protester was firing a gun, but he was actually shooting fireworks, it said.
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“…talking about the correct reactions of police…”
The article that you posted was off-topic!
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\\ The article that you posted was off-topic!
SB, this is “Tuesday Link Encyclopedia and Self-Promotion” thread. Things can’t be off-topic here since there is no one topic. 🙂
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I think that for some people there is, indeed, just one topic. 🙂 🙂
Kidding, kidding.
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Also, in Israel, police too may have to deal with terrorism, f.e. after a recent terror attack in Tel Aviv. Or police in East Jerusalem dealing with riots, while in other places – army may have this role.
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\\ I think that for some people there is, indeed, just one topic.
Not true, I posted about Israeli writers too. 🙂
I began talking more about Israeli news since we now seem to be in the third intifada. Somebody in Israel even said that (a few symbolic) missile attacks from Gaza may begin again.
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“\\ I think that for some people there is, indeed, just one topic.
Not true, I posted about Israeli writers too.”
– And what makes you think that is not the topic I had in mind? 🙂 🙂
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You have probably seen, but in case somebody hasn’t – great Aerial View and also close photos:
German Artist Christopher Bauder has commemorated the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall by rebuilding it with 8,000 glowing balloons
The installation is part of the 25th anniversary of the Wall’s destruction.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/berlin-wall-recreated-using-8000-4588437
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That’s kind of funny – ISIS vs Lebanese Pot Growers of Hezbollah:
Cannabis Wars: Lebanese Pot Growers Arm-Up Against ISIS Invaders
http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/11/01/cannabis-wars-lebanese-pot-growers-arm-up-against-isis-invaders/
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Sounds interesting:
Greek or Turk?
Bruce Clark’s exploration of a conflicted history raises profound questions of politics and national identity.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/rev2006-04-04td.html
QUOTE
In the ensuing peace settlement, the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, Greece and Turkey agreed to a mutual exchange of populations, irrespective of those populations’ wishes: Greece forcibly expelled 400,000 Turks, while the Turks expelled 1 million Greeks. The nationalists of both countries wanted ethnically uniform countries, though a few Turks received permission to remain in western Thrace, and a few Greeks in Istanbul.
In the splendid and moving Twice A Stranger: Greece, Turkey and the Minorities They Expelled by Bruce Clark—a journalist whose background in Northern Ireland allows him to understand, in his flesh and bone as it were, the deep complexities and ironies of communal antagonisms—we hear about the human costs of the population exchange agreed to by the nationalist leaders of Greece (Venizelos) and Turkey (Kemal Pasha, known as Ataturk). It is a well-written, skillful, and subtle blend of high politics and personal testimony from the victims of that policy. The author’s desire to record that testimony before no one can record it—for of course, the population-exchange survivors must soon die, as all survivors of the First World War have now died—is a noble one, above praise. He has performed a real service to the world.
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First I read Ю.Фельштинский: о Путине и России here
http://trim-c.livejournal.com/261286.html#comments
and then found his blog, which seems interesting:
http://www.kasparov.ru/author.php?id=4B338CEF253CA
Юрий Фельштинский родился в 1956 году в Москве. В 1974 году поступил на исторический факультет Московского педагогического института. В 1978 году эмигрировал в США, продолжил изучение истории сначала в Брандайском университете, затем в Ратгерсском, где получил степень доктора философии по истории (Ph.D.). В 1993 году защитил докторскую диссертацию в Институте истории Российской академии наук, став первым иностранным гражданином, которому в России была присуждена ученая степень доктора. Редактор-составитель и комментатор нескольких десятков томов архивных документов по русской истории. Автор книг «Большевики и левые эсеры» (Париж, 1985); «К истории нашей закрытости» (Лондон, 1988; Москва, 1991); «Крушение мировой революции» (Лондон, 1991; Москва, 1992); «Вожди в законе» (Москва, 1999, Москва, 2008, 2-е изд.).
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Turns out trim_c quoted from this article:
http://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=54101DCC09A4E
Do you think Фельштинский is exaggerating? He writes:
Путин готовится к большой войне. […] Мировая война? Нет. Она не неизбежна. Сейчас предвоенный период. Он не для России и Украины предвоенный (эти страны уже в войне). Он предвоенный для остального мира. Конечно, возможность остановить войну есть. Такая возможность всегда есть. И многие большие войны, наверное, были предотвращены, и мы поэтому про них не знаем и их не изучаем. Но те шаги, которые делаются сейчас Россией, не могут не привести к большой войне. Речь идет не только о Крыме или Донбассе — Луганске. Речь идет не только об Украине. Речь идет о всей Европе. Военные учения проводятся Россией во всех приграничных зонах, от Курил до Калининградской области, от Черного моря до Балтийского. Аннулируются в одностороннем порядке достаточно технические двусторонние военные соглашения, на что даже внимания никто не обращает. Например, 5 мая 2014 года под шум столкновений в восточной Украине российское правительство в одностороннем порядке разорвало подписанное в 2001 году с Литвой двустороннее соглашение о дополнительных мерах укрепления доверия и безопасности.
And from another article:
Третья мировая будет первой термоядерной войной
[…] Россия с марта 2014 года угрожает всем, причем угрожает в том числе и применением ядерного оружия. […] считать, что по России нанесут молниеносный ядерный удар, может только Путин, его окружение и вслед за ними российское телевидение. Ни один нормальный человек так считать не может. Но, поскольку мы сейчас определили, что Путин может опасаться превентивного ядерного удара по России со стороны США, то, к сожалению, вывод, который мы обязаны сделать, следующий: параноидально настроенное российское правительство, опасаясь ядерного удара США по России, само нанесет по США превентивный ядерный удар и ввергнет мир в ядерную катастрофу.
http://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=545934B1C5579
Aggression against Ukraine is real, Russian aggression’s spread to other FSU members sounds possible, but using nuclear first against America ?
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I think the next step is attacking a peripheral and small NATO country. And seeing the G20 leaders smile and bob their idiot heads approvingly.
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The War Nerd: Farewell Islamic State, we hardly knew ye
http://pando.com/2014/11/10/the-war-nerd-farewell-islamic-state-we-hardly-knew-ye/
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An academic reacts to the following statement:
// The Republican agenda for next year also includes several changes for the University of Wisconsin, according to Vos. He said that he wants to ensure that faculty spend more time teaching, and that research is geared toward helping the state’s economy.
“Of course I want research, but I want to have research done in a way that focuses on growing our economy, not on ancient mating habits of whatever,” said Vos. “So we want to try to have priorities that are focused on growing our economy.” //
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When I was submitting a grant proposal for a study on the Spanish Golden Age theater back in 2002 (this was the biggest grant I ever wrote, for the amount of $60,000), I argued that my research would help battle Al Qaida terrorists. And I got the grant. 🙂 🙂
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In case you missed, one more Mike’s link about universities. In my comment above, Wisconsin. Here, Texas. Have the attacks against universities become stronger lately?
// Should the Government Fund Only Science in the “National Interest”?
Texas lawmaker steps up a fight over control of research funding.
The glass-and-concrete headquarters of the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia, normally hosts scientists who decide the fate of fellow researchers’ grant proposals. But in a nondescript spare office on the 12th floor, new players have set up shop: congressional aides reviewing the merits of scientific studies conducted with government funding. //
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141029-congress-science-investigation-research-funding/?jm.npa=
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Israel to issue gay-friendly ID cards for children of same-sex couples
New ID cards of same-sex couples’ children will include gender appropriate titles for the parents, with ‘Father’s name’ or ‘Mother’s name’ appearing twice.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4592576,00.html
I checked and USA solved the problem in a different manner by switching from “father” and “mother” to “Parent One” and “Parent Two.”
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Was interested in this article (via Mike’s blog):
The One-State Reality
Israel’s conservative President speaks up for civility, and pays a price.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/17/one-state-reality
I have always believed in two states solution, but after reading this article it seems further than ever. You think we will have two states in the end, right?
Today in the morning two terrorists entered a synagogue in Jerusalem and killed 4 people, in addition to ones they wounded, before getting killed by police.
“The families of the two terrorists who killed four people in a brutal attack in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday morning have hailed the two as heroes, as candies to celebrate the attack were handed out in the West Bank and Gaza.”
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About SB’s country and mine:
Under Modi, Israel and India forge deeper business ties
Relations between two countries at peak of development as free trade agreement expected within year, jointly developed aerial defence system passes major trial; ‘there is great momentum in cooperation’, Bennett says.
India is now the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment, while Israel is India’s largest customer after Russia. In the first nine months of 2014, bilateral trade reached $3.4 billion, on target for a record this year.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4593689,00.html
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