The liberating truth is: they’re probably not thinking about you

What I eventually figured out – not that it ever seems to get particularly easy – is that other people’s negative emotions are ultimately a problem that belongs to them. And you have to allow other people their problems. Oliver Burkeman People-pleasing tendencies develop for different specific reasons, but right at the core of all… Read More The liberating truth is: they’re probably not thinking about you

Harris wants to bring ‘joy, joy, joy’ to Americans. And more bombs for Palestinians

Pro-Palestinian protesters at the Democratic convention have been met with stony faces, jeers – and violence GAZA casualties, live statistics NB: What does it mean, when tens of thousands of Palestinian corpses and mutilated children mean less to you than Israel’s so-called right to commit genocide? What kind of peace will descend upon Palestinians who… Read More Harris wants to bring ‘joy, joy, joy’ to Americans. And more bombs for Palestinians

Beyond the Kolkata Rape And Murder, a history of medical corruption In West Bengal

The brutal rape-murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital has an inescapable geography Saikat Majumdar The brutality of rape and murder elicits a reaction that is not only ethical and political in nature. It also evokes a response that is deeply aesthetic. By aesthetic I mean that visceral reaction to… Read More Beyond the Kolkata Rape And Murder, a history of medical corruption In West Bengal

Study arts and humanities because you love them (and so do employers, by the way)

Whatever their GCSE results, students should be told the whole story: understanding languages and cultures is a huge advantage in the workplace Xaymaca Awoyungbo I reflect on GCSE results day with a sense of pride tinged with sadness. Proud because this year’s cohort achieved fantastic results, given the challenges they have faced since the pandemic,… Read More Study arts and humanities because you love them (and so do employers, by the way)

Democratic Party Unites Under Banner of Silence on Gaza Genocide

Progressives and moderates came together to support Kamala Harris by largely ignoring the most pressing moral issue of our time. Since Harris accepted the presidential nomination, the administration approved a $20 billion weapons sale to Israel, without any conditions. on the same day… in the same convention center, among other horrors, a surgeon described treating… Read More Democratic Party Unites Under Banner of Silence on Gaza Genocide

Israel, Gaza, and the ‘Merchants of Death’ / Israeli Film Festival Cancelled in Mumbai After Citizen Campaign

Ramin Mirfakhraie On July 24, 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to a joint session of the United States Congress, where nearly half of the House and Senate Democrats were not present. In his address, which was presented in terms of a binary opposition between barbarism (“Iran’s axis of terror”) and civilization (“America, Israel, and… Read More Israel, Gaza, and the ‘Merchants of Death’ / Israeli Film Festival Cancelled in Mumbai After Citizen Campaign

Against the Illusion of Separateness: Pablo Neruda’s Beautiful Nobel Acceptance Speech (1971)

First posted December 31, 2018 By Maria Popova “There is no insurmountable solitude. All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are. And we must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence in order to reach forth to the enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance…” By… Read More Against the Illusion of Separateness: Pablo Neruda’s Beautiful Nobel Acceptance Speech (1971)

Bombed hospitals, buried children: we have become numb to Gaza’s destruction

So many of Gaza’s children have been buried. Or orphaned. Or been found clutching their dolls under rubble. Or died of heart attacks from terror. So when Netanyahu, a man with a potential arrest warrant for war crimes, receives a standing ovation from our Congress, that’s not just Netanyahu’s legacy. That’s ours As we are saturated with… Read More Bombed hospitals, buried children: we have become numb to Gaza’s destruction

Frameworks

Knowledge is often a matter of discovery. But when the nature of an enquiry itself is at question, it is an act of creation NB: Physical reality is one thing, the ethical domain another. Sometimes the two intersect, as in global warming. But in either case, the ‘framing inquiry’ is about something – otherwise the… Read More Frameworks