Culture

A Nation’s True Test Comes After the Crisis 0
- Culture
- March 31, 2020
Perhaps it’s natural and understandable for most people to think that things like “leadership” and “character” are forged and evidenced in response to crisis. It’s quite apparent in the present moment that judgments about public figures are being shaped by how they’re handling the virus pandemic. Around the world, people are generally, if grudgingly, embracing
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The State Reemerges in the Time of COVID-19 0
- Culture
- March 31, 2020
Once upon a time, there was an illusion that the state would disappear. It was the fiction Marxists told each other at bedtime, and it was the lie of the Communists, once they had seized state power. For even as they built up their police apparatus and their archipelago of gulags, they kept promising that
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Netflix’s Messiah: A Snapshot of Our Times 0
- Culture
- March 30, 2020
The anticipation for Netflix’s new show Messiah was significant. Media coverage described the show as “controversial,” and The Royal Film Commission of Jordan asked Netflix not to stream it, fearing the show would “infringe… on the sanctity of religion. However, when Messiah was actually released it quickly fell flat. Reviews were mixed, and the fact that
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Stimulus Goodies, Good Souls, and Grifters 0
- Culture
- March 30, 2020
On March 29, I spoke with a loan agent for a bank in a medium-sized city who wishes to remain anonymous. Her desire for anonymity will become clear after you read what she told me. Her bank, like many others, often works with the Small Business Administration (SBA) in making loans. The SBA guarantees a
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Teaching Humane Literature in High Schools 0
- Culture
- March 30, 2020
In many American high schools, the teaching of literature is in the sere and yellow leaf. One reason for this decay is the unsatisfactory quality of many programs of reading; another is the limited knowledge of humane letters possessed by some well-intentioned teachers, uncertain of what books they ought to select for their students to
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Plague Humor Is Good for You 0
- Culture
- March 30, 2020
My older sister took great pleasure in telling a younger-me the dark history behind the nursery rhyme, “Ring-around-the-Rosies.” She told me that the cheerful tune was written about the Black Death: the “pocket full of posies,” refers to small bouquets of sweet-smelling herbs the healthy would carry close to their noses in order to protect
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