Vive La France!
Bastille Day is as good a point in history as any to mark the moment that Europe entered the modern age, for better and for worse. A mes amis français, salut!
Folklife Festival
One of the many curious facts that I learned at the Oman pavilion at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival was that the Sultan of Oman has a bagpipe band. Rachel, meanwhile, was more interested in joining the traditional musicians as they danced the qasafiya.
Road Less Traveled
Halley Suitt on the price of living on your own terms.
Leaving Camelot
When I glanced at the comics page today, I noticed that Prince Valiant had shrunk and that the art was cruder and the story more preposterous than usual. A glance at the byline revealed that the strip is now drawn by Gianni and Schultz rather than John Cullen Murphy. I never thought that Murphy was the equal of Hal Foster, but his art was far superior to the current version. I have a strong sentimental attachment to Prince Valiant because my father used to read it to me, along with "The Phantom," when I was a little boy. Reading the Sunday comics with my father is one of my fondest memories, but I do not think it will sustain me through this latest iteration of Prince Valiant.
University of Chicago Leads In Peace Corps Admissions
Students top Peace Corps' volunteer rolls, serve across the globe
The Peace Corps has recently released statistics that show Chicago ranks No. 1 among institutions with undergraduate populations of fewer than 5,000 in the number of alumni who volunteer for the corps.
For the second year in a row, Chicago has pushed to the top of the Peace Corps' annual list of smaller colleges and universities, with a total of 39 College alumni joining last year.
In my years as a volunteer with Peace Corps Morocco, we had one person from the University of Chicago. I did not go to Chicago until after I returned to the States. For different reasons, they were two of the best decisions I ever made. (I met my wife at Chicago.)
More on Crossfire
'Crossfire,' R.I.P (washingtonpost.com)
Update: Kinsley's column in the Post.
Point of View
I heard one of my heroes, Michael Kinsley, on the radio today as I was listening to NPR. In the face of a chorus of approval over the cancellation of "CrossFire", Kinsley defended the program, of which he was formerly the host. Kinsley's argument was that journalists were more honest, and issues more fully explored, when the journalists were free to be themselves and to express their own point of view. As for the shows "gotcha" format, he also defended the use of questions along the lines of "When did you stop beating your wife?" Kinsley's point was that such questions either force a politician to give a thoughtful answer or to engage in a transparent evasion. For Kinsley, Crossfire at its best was a quintessential exercise in democracy.
Kinsley made essentially the same points years ago in Slate:
To start, it is honest in a way the other shows are not. Virtually all the political talk shows require journalists to adopt one of two dishonest postures: agnosticism or omniscience. On traditional Q&A shows like Meet the Press, journalists must pretend that they are neutral observers who have no opinion about the subject at hand. This is not only dishonest, but it also limits their ability to frame sharp questions and to pursue evasive answers. On opinion-spouting shows like The McLaughlin Group, by contrast, journalists (often the same journalists) are free to have a point of view. Indeed, they are required to have, or to pretend to have, a passionate and fully informed viewpoint on every subject that comes along. How many of those opining solemnly on the Indonesian financial crisis this past week know (or care) squat about Indonesian finance?
Crossfire's basic fuel is the tendentious question. As a host, you needn't pretend to be impartial or pretend to be all-knowing. This is more honest, and it's also more effective in getting at the truth. Or at least, that is the premise of Anglo-American jurisprudence, which uses the same model. (For the neutral-interrogator approach, try France.)
Right or wrong, never dull.
Time Off
Andrew Sullivan announces that he is taking a hiatus of indeterminate length from his blog. The Internet will be poorer for it.
He also recently posted a very touching portrait of Abraham Lincoln. I had never really clued into the meaning of "Log Cabin Republican" until my wife pointed out that many people believe Lincoln was either gay or actively bisexual. Sullivan's essay makes a very persuasive case for this point of view. I imagine it is cold comfort for gay members of the Republican Party today, however.
Never put off . . .
MoorishGirl points out that writing doesn't come easily, even to great writers.
Tacky Texans (Is there another kind?)
I knew that it was Inaugural Ball time when I saw a man and a woman on the subway, he in a leather coat and she in a white fur jacket and diamond earrings, both of them wearing matching black cowboy hats and black cowboy boots. I stifled my laughter and resisted the temptation to play bait the Republicans, but it required an exercise of will.
Lisbon Redux
Apparently the recent tragedy in South Asia also reminded William Safire of Voltaire's disillusioned reaction to the Lisbon earthquake. Safire, unlike Voltaire, is not so much impressed by divine indifference as by human compassion.
Self Destructive Impulses
Web Plays Critical Role in Aid Donations
The speed and success of soliciting donations on the web for disaster victims in South Asia is unprecedented, according to the Washington Post. Not only have the large charities such as the Red Cross reaped massive donations, but also because of the relatively low cost of putting up a website, many smaller charities are able to compete more effecitively for funds.
Over There: Red Cross Seeks Donations
The American Red Cross is seeking donations to help victims of the tsunami in South Asia. To date, Americans have donated $18 million. (N.B. CNN warns donors to be sure that if they make a donation on line, they are making it to a bona fide charity.)
Bye, Bye Briscoe
I learned this evening that Jerry Orbach, who plays my favorite TV cop Lennie Briscoe, died yesterday of prostate cancer. Orbach's tough, understated character was appealing for his crusty exterior overlaying his fundamental decency. Surprisingly to one who knows him only from Law and Order, Orbach was for most of his career a successful Broadway song and dance man. MSNBC has an extended profile.
Fiction Is Stranger Than Truth
The New York Times > Fashion & Style > Revealing the Soul of a Soulless Lawyer
The New York Times describe the antics of "Anonymous Lawyer," a caricature of a big firm law partner concocted by a third year law student. Ironically, the site has been greeted enthusiastically by lawyers who see their own experiences reflected in the blog.
Taking Blogging Seriously
Michael Kinsley notes in his column in the Washington Post that a thought problem on Social Security that he posted to the blogosphere received a more serious response than he anticipated. Andrew Sullivan is not surprised.
Anti-Semitism
I disagree with Professor Joseph Massad's argument that is possible to be anti-Israel or anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish. In his article for Al Ahram, Professor Massad argues that the "real" victims of "anti-Semitism" today are Arabs and Muslims and not Jews. The crude assumption underlying his nuanced description of the various meanings of the word "anti-Semitism" is that the the Israeli/Palestinian conflict can be reduced to a simplistic dichotomy between colonizing Eastern European Jews and indigenous Arab victims. As a result, Arab hatred of Jews and Israel is merely "political" and not "racist."
Professor Massad is without doubt right that Muslims and Arabs are widespread victims of prejudice in the largely Christian United States and Europe. However, Massad caricatures arguments for the legitimacy of the Israeli state when he implies that the Holocaust is the sole justification for a Jewish state in Israel, and he glosses over the fact that the conflict in the Middle East has been characterized by copious bloodshed on all sides. Moreover, Professor Massad's argument begs the question of exactly where he thinks the Jews should go (having fled Europe, where they were massacred, and the Arab world, where they were oppressed).
The sins of Western Europe and America do not excuse the anti-Jewish prejudice of the Arab world, most of whose Jewish residents have long since departed for Israel. Professor Massad ends up catering to the very prejudice he purports to debunk, and his facile distinctions based on who is a "Zionist" and who is a "Semite," are as unpersuasive as his argument that Arab prejudice against Jews is "political" and not "racist." (By that logic, Professor Massad would have to concede that prejudice against Arabs in the United States, based on concentration of oil resources and the attack of 9/11, is all "poltical" and not "racist," a concession that I hardly think he is ready to make. The gravamen of his argument is that Arabs, not Jews, are the real victims of prejudice today, and that is an argument that is only half true.
N.B. While I find much to dislike and disagree with in Professor Massad's views, I believe absolutely that he should be free to express them, and that neither his job nor his other rights should be in jeopardy as a result of his opinions. At the same time, those who oppose his views have every right to subject him and his views to vigorous, even harsh, criticism.
Northern Enlightenment
TheStar.com - Court endorses gay marriage bill
OTTAWA — The Liberals will move swiftly to legalize gay weddings across the country now that the top court has endorsed a draft bill that would revolutionize marriage.
Canada would join the vanguard of nations supporting same-sex unions if legislation to be introduced early in 2005 is passed.
Canada once again proves to be light years ahead of the United States on social issues, as it plans to legislate equality in the country's most important institution while preserving religious freedom for those with opposing viewpoints. (A significant qualification in the Supreme Court's ruling is that no religious leader can be forced to perform a marriage that he or she opposes on religious or moral grounds.)