Tag: critical theory

Peter Kreko, Alan Sokal: In defence of the objective world

Postmodern ideas have gained the status of absolute truths. Relativism, selectively appropriated into the language of both left and right politics, has metamorphosed into dogma. As oversimplification distorts communication, public trust in scientific fact has eroded. Could renewed ideas of objectivity be a way out? ‘A relativism metamorphosed into dogmatic absolutism is obviously logically incoherent,… Read More Peter Kreko, Alan Sokal: In defence of the objective world

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High Court of Jammu & Kashmir upholds Sanjay Tickoo’s petition for protection of religious places and castigates communal versions of nationalism

First posted October 10, 2013 NB: The operative aspect of this case may be seen in the highlighted part of para 1 (emphasis added). It is well-known that a large number of temples all over the Kashmir Valley have been desecrated and/or abandoned. According to Sanjay Tickoo, President of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti the figure runs into… Read More High Court of Jammu & Kashmir upholds Sanjay Tickoo’s petition for protection of religious places and castigates communal versions of nationalism

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Boris Johnson: any democracy should look to his case and ask if it is enabling machiavellian leaders

Blaming the failings of an entire political culture on the moral deficiencies of one leader might make us feel righteous, but most of us know that the rot goes rather deeper than one flamboyant character. The fall of Johnson could be taken as a historical juncture to be built upon and not just in the UK.… Read More Boris Johnson: any democracy should look to his case and ask if it is enabling machiavellian leaders

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George Monbiot on Democracy vs plutocracy: Endgame for our planet / Tom Engelhardt: Life in This Literal Hell

When I began work as an environmental journalist in 1985, I knew I would struggle against people with a financial interest in destructive practices. But I never imagined that we would one day confront what appears to be an ideological commitment to destroying life on Earth. The UK government and the US supreme court look… Read More George Monbiot on Democracy vs plutocracy: Endgame for our planet / Tom Engelhardt: Life in This Literal Hell

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Redefining the American Working Class. Shamira Ibrahim

There’s no dispute that general working-class support for Democrats has fluctuated from election cycle to election cycle. The one constant, though, is that “working-class” is almost always used in the media to suggest white, male workers. The representative Reagan Democrat was, literally, a white autoworker in Michigan. Even when the white prefix is used to… Read More Redefining the American Working Class. Shamira Ibrahim

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A Christian theologian warns against Christian fascism in the USA, fueled by an ideologically corrupted judiciary

NB: This is the kind of detailed documentation that we require in India. Those interested in studying the jurisprudence of lawlessness further could read William Scheuerman’s book: The End of Law. DS Chris Hedges: Fascists in our midstSupreme Court rulings, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade, herald the ascendancy of Christian fascism in the United States…… Read More A Christian theologian warns against Christian fascism in the USA, fueled by an ideologically corrupted judiciary

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Deepanshu Mohan: American gun violence is the result of an economy aimed at maximising self-interest

Factoring in the value of human life and ethical considerations in economic and social policy making could bring about change. “To allow the market mechanism to be sole director of the fate of human beings and their natural environment… would result in the demolition of society,” warned political economist Karl Polanyi in his book The Great… Read More Deepanshu Mohan: American gun violence is the result of an economy aimed at maximising self-interest

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Lyn Alden: The credit-based global financial system we have participated in over the past century has to continually grow or die

Several of the major central banks are stuck in a trap of their own making. This includes the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and others. The credit-based global financial system we have constructed and participated in over the past century has to continually grow or die. It’s like a game of… Read More Lyn Alden: The credit-based global financial system we have participated in over the past century has to continually grow or die

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Anjan Basu: The Crisis in Civilisation that Rabindranath Tagore red-flagged Is back upon us

NB: A very well written and timely reminder. My two caveats are 1) with the word back; and 2) with the positioning of the word crisis. It is not ‘back’, because after the Napoleonic wars it never went away; and a more appropriate title description  of our time (with due respect to Gurudev), would be… Read More Anjan Basu: The Crisis in Civilisation that Rabindranath Tagore red-flagged Is back upon us

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Gideon Lewis-Kraus: How Harmful Is Social Media?

In April, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt published an essay in The Atlantic in which he sought to explain, as the piece’s title had it, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” Anyone familiar with Haidt’s work in the past half decade could have anticipated his answer: social media. Although Haidt concedes that political… Read More Gideon Lewis-Kraus: How Harmful Is Social Media?

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