Category: Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Caveat: The Union of Countries That Start With the Letter M

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

UCTSWLM. According to a graph being shared by business blogger Derek Thompson (at the Atlantic), there is some measure of economic"dispersion" – I'm not sure what that term really means in economic terms – according to which the countries in the Eurozone have a higher "dispersion" than a hypothetical Union of Countries That Start With the Letter M. And supposedly, this "dispersion" is a bad thing, if one is considering undertaking a monetary union – e.g. the Eurozone.

Better candidates for monetary union – besides the UCTSWLM – include the Market Economies of Latin America (who is being excluded, there? – Venezuala? Cuba? it doesn't say) and the Asian Tigers, among others.

Well, anyway. I like the idea of a UCTSWLM. We could just call it the M's, for short. Or maybe… Mmmmmmm. Imagine the headline: "Mmmmmmmm economy in crisis again! Will Malawi and Mongolia ever work out their differences?"

Caveat: GOEFL

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Some Dalits in India are making a new "Goddess of English" according to something I saw at BBC. She's not a Goddess of English people, but English as a subject of study – because Dalits (who are India's "untouchable" caste) feel they need Engish even more than other Indian people. I think, actually, she should be called GOEFL – Goddess of English as a Foreign Language. This suits our language's current affinity for acronyms.

Wouldn't it be funny if, hundreds of years from now, anthropologists were trying to figure out how, exactly, GOEFL arose? I think if there's a Goddess, there needs to be some holy literature to go with her – I mean, seriously, if there was going to be a new "religion of the Book," this is the candidate. It should be a dictionary, maybe? Or a grammar textbook. That would be awesome.

I think the GOEFL could be serious candidate for FSM-type status. (FSM stands for Flying Spaghetti Monster.) I won't try to explain – but I recall the anecdote of the Kansas science teacher who tried to get the "FSM creation myth" into the classroom, based on challenging the vague wording of a new pro-creationist education law in that retrograde state. Properly, the religion is called Pastafarianism. I do not make this comparison this to mock GOEFL – I genuinely and sincerely hope she's a successful and widely adopted goddess.

To celebrate GOEFL Advent, I met my friend Basil who was up from Gwangju visiting, and we went out to that Indian Restaurant in the LaFesta shopping center (about a block from my old apartment). Actually, we didn't know it was GOEFL Advent. But we had some Naan and I had Aloo Palak and Raita, anyway. There were thunderstorms but the rain was sparse and we mostly walked between the raindrops.

What I'm listening to right now.

Cafe Tacuba, "Las Flores."

[Daily log: walking, 6 km]

Caveat: Superlinearity

Banalities & Journaling / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Science & SciFi

It's probably not interesting to most people, but I find it fascinating: a scientist has decided that cities are different from anything else in the biological sphere (i.e. cities are, after all, collective organisms), because they experience "superlinear growth." Which is to say, cities grow faster as they grow bigger – whereas growth in every other biological system slows down as it gets bigger. What are the implications of this? Is this like comparing apples and oranges? Read a NYT article here, or another article by Stewart Brand here.

Caveat: Divorce and IPOs

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Tyler Cowen's Marginal Revolution blog had an interesting observation about the fact that apparently, the divorce rate in Silicon Valley goes up every time there's a giant IPO (e.g. Cisco, Google). This is apropos of the recent Facebook IPO, of course – although it should be noted that the Zuck got married on Saturday – not divorced. Maybe the divorce comes next week.

Caveat: deseo satisfecho

Español Aleatorio (Random Spanish) / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

picture“La memoria es el deseo satisfecho.” – Carlos Fuentes.

El escritor mexicano falleció. A la derecha, una foto de Fuentes con el gran escritor colombiano, Gabriel García Márquez.

Una de las primeras novelas que leí en español fue La muerte de Artemio Cruz, que me influyó profundamente no sólo literaria sino también políticamente:

“Las revoluciones las hacen los hombres de carne y hueso y no los santos, y todas acaban por crear una nueva casta privilegiada.” – Carlos Fuentes.

Otra novela que recuerdo vívidamente es La región más transparente. Me brindó un entendimiento sobre las dinámicas complejas de lo sociopolítico en México.

La novela corta, Aura… la leí como poema en prosa. Esta novela es mi favorita, y es el único ejemplar del uso de la segunda persona en literatura que nunca me pareció torpe y carente de elegancia. Cuando hice un web-search sobre este tema, encontré que existe una traducción en coreano (imágen, izquierda debajo). La cita siguiente presenta el momento en que el protagonista – el extraño “tú-narrador,” Felipe – encuentra a la fantasma Aura en la habitación de Consuelo.

picturepicture“Sólo tienes ojos para esos muros de reflejos desiguales, donde parpadean docenas de luces. Consigues, al cabo, definirlas como veladoras, colocadas sobre repisas y entrepaños de ubicación asimétrica. Levemente, iluminan otras luces que son corazones de plata, frascos de cristal, vidrios enmarcados, y sólo detrás de este brillo intermitente verás, al fondo, la cama y el signo de una mano que parece atraerte con su movimiento pausado.”

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Caveat: Diarios de Corea

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

I’ve been trying to read a book. It’s called Diarios de Corea, by the Argentinian (or is he a Spaniard? I can’t quite figure it out) journalist Bruno Galindo (I was unable to figure out if there’s an English translation available – a cursory search online seems to suggest there isn’t). I thought it would be interesting to get a non-Anglosphere perspective on Korea, but so far, I don’t much like the book. I’m reading it in my usual non-linear fashion. I’ve read maybe 15% of it, skipping back and forth between the two parts – it’s divided into a section on the North and a section on the South, the author having spent time on both sides.

pictureI suppose I can’t criticize the part on the North – I know next to nothing about the North. But his sections on the South, there is a sort of vaguely gonzo myopia (is there such a thing as gonzo myopia? Of course – perhaps that’s the point?) which can be summed up with a simple declaration, on my part: “Itaewon is not Korea, nor is it an accurate cross-section of Korea.” For those who don’t know, Itaewon is Seoul’s historically “foreign” neighborhood. It’s a zone of immigrants, of off-duty US soldiers, of hustlers and bars, of prostitutes and gray-market wholesalers, and of numerous excellent shops selling international goods. But Itaewon is hardly an accurate picture of Korea, or South Korea, or Seoul, or Korean culture, or anything at all. And Galindo’s diary, at least what I’ve seen of it so far, seems to consist largely of encounters with various Itaewonites, supplemented by extractions from the yellowest of the Korean English-Language press (which is mostly yellow).

Imagine if a foreigner came to the U.S., and stayed at a hotel on Canal Street in New York City, and then went off to write a “perspective on the U.S.” type book. Would it be an accurate picture of the U.S.? Would it even be an accurate picture of lower Manhattan?

I hate to leap to judgment. I’ll keep reading the book. But his misapprehensions with respect to the South cause me to distrust what would otherwise be fascinating portrayals of life in the North. How accurate is it, really?

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Caveat: On Marriage

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

I suppose it’s time for me to weigh in on the gay marriage debate. Actually, I’ve done so before, but the events in North Carolina and with respect to Obama’s recent speech, I felt like bringing it up again, since it’s a matter of some concern among many of my friends and acquaintances.

In this matter, my libertarian instincts predominate, and my view has remained essentially unchanged over a period of almost 30 years, from back when I first was confronted with the idea of “gay marriage.” I knew people, even when I was in elementary school – friends of my parents – who were essentially committed gay couples, living together. And at that time, what struck me as ridiculous was not that the state or that society should have some say in banning or disallowing or failing to recognize these types of relationships. No… what struck me then – and still strikes me now – as utterly bizarre is that the state should play some role in defining ANYONE’s relationship with another person.

The fact is that I don’t believe in gay marriage. But not for the typical reason. You see… I don’t believe in straight marriage, either. I believe that the state should stay out of EVERYONE’s bedroom, equally.

If people want things like survivorship rights, or co-parenting rights, or adoption, or whatever… these are legal constructs or contracts like any other (and not unlike business partnerships, for example), and they should be drafted and viewed as such, and not automatically conferred on people who take the time to go through some ritual or another, be it in a church or in a temple or in front of a judge.

I confess that I, myself, was once married. But Michelle and I agreed at the time that it was something we were doing for the contractual and legal benefits, and we both strongly resented the idea of having to get a state imprimatur on our essentially private relationship.

Rather than advocating for gay marriage, I would rather advocate for the abolition of the state-based recognition of ANY marriage. That’s not to say the state would ban marriage, but rather that it should become “blind” to whether two people are in a relationship or not, to the maximum extent legally practicable. When it comes to things like the legal guardianship of children, there are many laws in place that have nothing to do with marriage that ensure parental rights and obligations, for example – were this not the case, the extremely high levels of out-of-wedlock (and what an abhorent term that is!) births in our society wouldn’t be functionally possible. If two people want to get married, that’s a decision that lies between those two people and their families and their communities. If, on the other hand, they want to file jointly with the IRS, that’s something they can work out with the IRS as a sort of legal partnership unconnected to what they do in bed or church, without recourse to a legal concept like “marriage.”

The blogger IOZ, as is often the case, makes a brilliant case for such a view as I’m sympathetic to, by pointing out the inherent ridiculousness of public documents and figures (such as North Carolina’s constitution or President Obama) staking out important positions on either side of the “gay marriage” issue. He does this quite cleverly, by creating an extreme, satirical example of the same type of thinking:

“I know marriage is supposed to be some, like, basic physical property of the human universe, paired protons and neutrons or quark spin or some shit or whatever, but really, uh, like, what if the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania banned slightly awkward social acquaintances in which you do have each other’s cell numbers but you don’t really feel comfortable calling even though you need to borrow his pick-up and you’re pretty sure he’d be cool with it but maybe you’ll just text him instead.  Then the 3rd Circuit overturns the law on twenty-first amendment grounds.  The President of the United States says that although he would probably have sent a private Facebook message, his views on the issue are evolving.” – IOZ

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Caveat: We just call it “Missouri.”

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

At The Atlantic webiste, I saw a post by Derek Thompson, that is a very, very interesting discussion of fiscal transfers vis-a-vis the EU, the Greek crisis, recalcitrant Germany, etc. It sums it all up very simply and clearly. The key idea, at the end:

When you hear commentators say, "the euro zone must begin to transition toward a fiscal union," what they are saying, in human-speak, is that the Europe needs to be more like the United States, with balanced budget laws for its individual members and seamless fiscal transfers from the rich countries to the poor, to protect the indigent, old, and sick, no matter where they reside.

The Germans call this sort of thing "a permanent bailout." We just call it "Missouri."

Caveat: Ghosts in Electoral Maps

Life in Korea / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Electoral maps have always fascinated me. It’s interesting, for example, that when looking at modern US electoral maps, you can sometimes make out the “ghost” the Confederacy, 150 years gone.

I have no idea whether this is coincidence or whether there’s some cultural/historical reality to it – I consider myself too ill-informed to judge – but in South Korea’s recent electoral maps, I feel like I can make out the “ghost” of something much, much older than the Confederacy in North America. Specifically, something about the modern map of Korea harkens back to the so-called “three kingdom” period (i.e. before around 700 AD).

Seriously. This is not just a recent fluke. Throughout the post-WWII history of South Korea, there seems to be a clear tendency for the southwest of the country to go for the liberals (“red Jeolla” and all that) while the east of the peninsula goes for the nationalists (typically called conservatives but I’m not comfortable calling them that).

In the elections on Wednesday of this week, the same pattern continues. Take a look at this map (from the wikithing). Yellow and pink are the liberals, entirely in the southwest with some pockets at major urban areas, e.g. Seoul in the northwest and a few districts at Busan in the southeast. The rest of the country is solidly nationalist.

picture

Now take a look at this map of the three kingdoms period, ca. 575 AD (also from the wikithing). If you pretend that the Goguryeo kingdom became North Korea, then modern Silla is the nationalist stronghold, and modern Baekje is the liberal stronghold. The match-up isn’t perfect – but neither are those confederacy ghosts seen in US maps.

picture

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Caveat: Election Day in Korea

Life in Korea / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

pictureToday is election day in South Korea. The sign at right reads 투표소 [“polling place”].

My bilingual coworker summed up her attitude to these elections.

“I’ve made my decision!” she announced.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I’m not voting.”

I’m not sure what the turnout will be today – I’m going to guess it will be low. These are national parliamentary elections, but don’t include a vote for the president, which will happen in the fall – the legislative and presidential calendars are out of sync, here. The two main parties recently rebranded themselves, but they are the same as always: a roughly right wing ruling party of nationalists, now called 새누리당 [“New Frontier Party”] and a roughly left wing opposition party of liberals, now called 통합민주당 [“Unified Democrat Party”]. The current president, Lee Myung-bak, isn’t very popular, but his nationalist party remains so – that may have something to do with their recent rebranding. Both parties are currently led by women (picture below), which is striking in Korea’s historically ultra-patriarchal political system.

I predict that the left leaning democrats will gain seats in the legislature – currently they only hold 89 out of 300 – but not an outright majority. There are minor parties and if they get enough, the liberals might be able to block some of the nationalists’ efforts, in coalition. But the president holds huge power – so the really meaningful election will be in the fall.

picture

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Caveat: Dubyacare

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

I am a political news junkie, but I tend to avoid commenting too often on it. I have been following the US media coverage of Obamacare's sojourn in the Supreme Court avidly, but most of the commentary seems to not get one fundamental aspect – there is nothing innately conservative about the idea of the Court striking down the law. It's just how the cards fell: the individual mandate started life as a conservative initiative, that the Dems took over because it seemed like a good solution. And yet if GW Bush had passed something resembling Obamacare, the Court would likely be divided exactly opposite to its current division. So…

Well, I found a great piece online this morning that captures this paradox quite clearly and brilliantly. If you're interested in this topic, I suggest you read it.

Caveat: Cretan

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

pictureThis is incredibly funny. I must quote it at length.

Rush Limbaugh, modern Epimenides?

Wikipedia tells me that Limbaugh lives in West Palm Beach, FL. Yet for years now he has been telling listeners something different:

    Now, look, folks, as I’ve told you countless times, I live in Literalville.    [Transcript, 10.9.2010]

It’s an outright lie, and I know this because Rush doesn’t do metaphor. In fact, that’s what he means by claiming Literalville residency:

    If you tell me something, I take it literally. I believe that you mean it. I don’t dance around edges trying to figure out what you really meant. If you say it, I believe it. I live in Literalville […].    [Transcript, 10.9.2010]

There are only two possibilities here:

1.    Limbaugh literally lives in Literalville, FL.
2.   Limbaugh metaphorically inhabits a place devoid of metaphorical meaning or implication, which he describes figuratively as Literalville.

The first possibility is empirically false. There is no Literalville in FL, or in any other state. I checked (and no, Google, I did not mean Littleville, AL).

The second possibility can only be true if it is false. You can only live in Literalville in the metaphorical sense if you move away for a time (the time it takes to say, figuratively, that you live in Literalville), during which time you’re not a Literalville resident. It’s a neat version of the Cretan paradox: the Cretan says, ‘all Cretans are liars’. Neat, because it shares the element of local belonging as a logical class, but also because it shifts the dichotomy from Truth-Lie to Literal-Figurative. And because that shift, equating Truth to Literal and Lie to Figurative, is one that only makes sense if you live in Literalville. Note that this isn’t the same as the use of vacuous ‘literally‘ as a sort of intensifier in a metaphorical context (‘I was literally going to explode’) though maybe it’s related. Limbaugh is actually using figurative language to deny that he understands figurative language.

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Caveat: un submarino particular en la playa

Español Aleatorio (Random Spanish) / Found Online / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

Fidel Castro escribió un ensayo entitulado "El mundo maravilloso del capitalismo" que parece ser un chiste estilo "primer día de abril." Se presta de el conjunto de imágenes del movimiento "Occupy…" pero con la retórica hiperbólica típica del líder cubano. Lo chistoso: "¡Verdad compatriotas que el capitalismo es cosa maravillosa! Quizás nosotros seamos culpables de que cada ciudadano no tenga un submarino particular en la playa."

Caveat: I’m just ordinary student

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Teaching & Methodology / The Wonders of Work

My debate class students have been writing speeches for an imaginary chance to address the UN (see also earlier post). Here is another student of mine, on the topic of South Korea’s high incidence of student suicides. It’s not super well-written and it was a little short for the assignment, but I think she actually demonstrates some excellent rhetorical instincts – note her effective use of repetition and the exhortation at the end. My guess is that she is a stunningly good writer in her own language. As usual, I reproduce without corrections, with typos and all mistakes intact.

Hello. I am Kim Chae Yeon from South Korea. I’m just ordinary student you can meet anywhere. I think you wonder why I came here. I’m just ordinary student, but I think I have to say this in UN. Do you think all of the world students are happy? If you think all of the world students are happy, your thinking is wrong.

Especially, South Korea students life is all the same. School and Academy, School and Academy, Again and again and again…. Do you know how many students killed themselves in a day because of the education system? Only in South Korea, almost 42 students killed themselves in a day because of the education system. Do you think this education system is really correct? This education system takes the student’s happiness and life. I am not speaking only of student’s prospect. This is the biggest problem now.

The most serious problem is in front of your eye, buy why you only see the far from away like war or weapon?

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Caveat: Slaves of Democracy

My Photos / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / The Wonders of Work

I’m having my debate class students write speeches “for the UN” – i.e. what would you say if you could address the United Nations?

One of my students offers some harsh, harsh words. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty intense from a seventh-grader. I’m not entirely comfortable with his implicit embrace of authoritarian solutions, but in other ways he’s very perceptive. As usual, I reproduce without corrections – I’ve changed his name, however (“Hong Gil Dong” is Korean for “John Doe”).

Good evening! All members of United Nation. I am Hong Gil Dong. I am from Republic of Korea. Just call me John. Today, I am going to show some opinions what all members have to listen and practice. I`m going to tell the problems of ethics, environment, and economy.

First, don`t think democracy is always ideal and make fair democracy. I think members of UN are slaves of democracy. Do you know why? Because if there is a good policy but it damages your country, you always say sophistry. Then, you don`t choose any policies. So is the democracy ideal? In addition, if there is a good policy which was made from weak country, you just ignore the policy. And it`s not fair.

Second, it`s both economy and environment problems. I think Un makes people, the slaves of money. Why? Because, your policies are good for economy but these are just protection for big companies, and big countries which like to destroy environment and take lots of money. Such as Republic of Korea, Japan, China, some countries of Europe, and USA. These countries are rich countries, and the top of mammonism. So if you keep making these policies, these countries will kill environment continuously, and make innocent people to slave of money.

Last, this is most environment problem. You say human must  develop with good environment but you force to join all environment treaties what countries don`t kill environment. But you don`t force to join these treaties what countries kill environment. So I think you stop talking symbiosis development.

I said some criticism to you. I wanted to criticize more but other people, Earth, and me will give you some chances. So please, practice good policies and carve my criticism in your heart. Thank you.   

I will conclude with a random picture, which I took in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico in 2007.

picture

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Caveat: I felt absurd but my mind was light

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable / The Wonders of Work

pictureI recently gave my most advanced class of middle schoolers a speech assignment, based on the idea of interviewing some famous person. I have gotten some very interesting and well-thought-out results. One student imagines interviewing the late Steve Jobs (there are plenty of Apple fans in Korea). He actually did quite a bit of research, apparently, into Jobs’ biography. He asks the following question:

What did you feel when you were fired from Apple?

His answer isn’t exactly perfect, idiomatically, but it’s clear and deeply insightful, if not downright philosophical:

I felt absurd but My mind was light.

It’s worth recalling that Jobs was a practicing Zen Buddhist. This invented “Jobs quote” on the part of my student is even more insightful when considered in that light.

Now… don’t get me wrong: I’m still the ultimate anti-Apple-fanboy. But Steve Jobs as a business persona has always interested me more than the particular strategies and style that he adopted for his company, and they’re something I’m more inclined to look upon favorably.

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Caveat: 삼일절

Banalities & Journaling / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Today is a holiday. March first commemorates the 1919 uprising against the Japanese colonial rule. I’ve blogged about it before, but I read something interesting in the wikithing article on the topic today: “A delegation of overseas Koreans, from Japan, China, and Hawaii, sought to gain international support for independence at the ongoing Paris Peace Conference. The United States and Imperial Japan blocked the delegation’s attempt to address the conference.” (Emphasis added by me).  Not to be a hater, but, looking at the historical record, ain’t it wonderful how my own country stands up so consistently for human rights?

I spent the day with my sometime friend / sometime boss Curt. I’ll post more later.

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Caveat: Running for President

My Videos / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Teaching & Methodology / The Wonders of Work

In the middle of February, my advanced middle-schoolers ran for President of Korea. They gave "stump speeches" and impressed me greatly. Below is a video of their speeches, completely unedited. Note that I, too, am running for President of South Korea. This is not meant to be taken seriously, but a core aspect of my debate and speech curriculum idea is that as their teacher, I should give at least as many speeches as they do. The kids know that my ideas are not entirely serious, but a few of them address them in their own way.

I'm ready to vote for Jaehwan for president – he's not the most charismatic speaker (I'd give that prize to Haeun, maybe), but he's got a great grip on the issues, and he offered a rebuttal to everyone else's ideas. I also liked Dongyun's speech a lot.

As mentioned in my last post, these videos are "unlisted" on youtube, and, depending on feedback – i.e. anything inappropriately negative or nonconstructive by troll-like, internet-based creatures – I'll likely remove the embed.

Caveat: Bush the Socialist

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

Obama is basically socialist in the same way that GW Bush is (was) socialist. In most of the areas that I most hoped he would reverse Bushian policy, he's merely entrenched and continued it: civil liberties, various wars, Guantánamo, etc. So, since the Repubs have to "prove" that Obama is socialist, they have no choice but to plunge ever farther rightward, themselves. Even Jeb Bush is uncomfortable, now. Go figure. The quote that's circulating:

I used to be a conservative, and I watch these debates and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective, and that’s kind of where we are.

Caveat: The Other 9/11

Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

pictureI ran across this interview with Chomsky recently. I really despise Chomsky in some respects – his academic authoritarianism (in a field near-and-dear to my heart, Linguistics) reveals no small hypocrisy behind his professed syndicalist anarchism. Nevertheless (or despite this), he sometimes makes some very good points about American hypocrisies, too. Perhaps this is in the vein of “it takes one to know one”? To quote from the interview (which was with the aptly-named Guernica magazine):

Noam Chomsky: Yeah, U.S. terrorism is often far worse because it’s a powerful state. Take 9/11. That was a serious terrorist act. In Latin America, they often call it “the second 9/11” because there was another one, namely September 11, 1973.

Guernica: In Chile.

Noam Chomsky: Suppose that al Qaeda had not just blown up the World Trade Center, but suppose that they’d bombed the White House, killed the president, established a military dictatorship, killed maybe fifty to a hundred thousand people, maybe tortured seven hundred thousand, instituted a major international terrorist center in Washington, which was overthrowing governments around the world and installing malicious dictatorships, assassinating people, [and] brought in a bunch of economists who drove the economy into its worst disaster maybe in history. Well, that would be worse than what we call 9/11. And it did happen, namely on 9/11/1973. All that I’ve changed is per capita equivalence in numbers, a standard way to measure. Well, okay, that’s one we were responsible for. So yeah, it’s much worse.

pictureYes, the other 9/11 was in 1973, in Chile. And it was brought to you by Nixon/Kissinger, in the person of Pinochet, not Osama bin Laden.

The other bin Ladens.

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Caveat: اللغة العربية

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Language & Linguistics / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

pictureI tend to avoid thinking about Middle Eastern politics. It’s mostly depressing – the same way that I find Mexican politics so discouraging, maybe. But I was listening to some news reports, and then saw the video below and was feeling a twinge of optimism. Just because it makes things seem more “human,” maybe. Regardless, it set me to contemplating studying Arabic again – I studied اللغة العربية for a semester in 1996, during my time in graduate school. I’ve always thought it’s a beautiful language. Arabic was a major historical influence on Spanish, which is what I was majoring in for grad school – mabye on par with the influence of Norwegian on English, perhaps. I’ve forgotten most of it now. I can’t remember how to type it, for example – I cheated and used google translate to make that smattering of it in my title.

Anytime I contemplate studying some other language, though, I immediately realize the interest is largely being driven my feelings of despair vis-a-vis learning the Korean Language. So here I go, grumping about it again.

What I’m listening to right now.

West Elbalad (Egyptian group), “Voice of Freedom.” It’s a pretty good song, anyway.

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Caveat: The Other Point Of View

Found Online / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

Why does it take The Onion to provide genuine insight into the other point of view in the alleged Iranian nuclear crisis?

TEHRAN—Amidst mounting geopolitical tensions, Iranian officials said Wednesday they were increasingly concerned about the United States of America's uranium-enrichment program, fearing the Western nation may soon be capable of producing its 8,500th nuclear weapon. "Our intelligence estimates indicate that, if it is allowed to progress with its aggressive nuclear program, the United States may soon possess its 8,500th atomic weapon capable of reaching Iran," said Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, adding that Americans have the fuel, the facilities, and "everything they need" to manufacture even more weapons-grade fissile material. "Obviously, the prospect of this happening is very distressing to Iran and all countries like Iran. After all, the United States is a volatile nation that's proven it needs little provocation to attack anyone anywhere in the world whom it perceives to be a threat." Iranian intelligence experts also warned of the very real, and very frightening, possibility of the U.S. providing weapons and resources to a rogue third-party state such as Israel.

Caveat: A Modest Proposal

Banalities & Journaling / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable / The Wonders of Work

An elementary student of mine wrote the following essay, which was supposed to be about an imaginary trip. It could be read as a depressing reflection of shallow values and crass materialism and at least a small dosage of racism thrown in, to boot… but I've decided instead to read it as a satire in the vein of Swift's Modest Proposal. Hereforthwith I present her writing, unedited:

I will go to Africa with small boat just by oneself.
At first, I will go to African's village and give lots of money
 and play with them.
Second, I will go to the diamond mine and dig many diamonds
 with African children workers and take it to Korea and sell
 at a high priceㅋㅋ
Third, I will go to national park and photographing all of the
animals and plants and I will take small and cute animals put in
the small case.
Then I will go back to home and sell diamonds, cute animals, and
I will be very very rich person in the world.
                                                         finish..

Think of it as a perfect description of the modus operandi of contemporary global capitalism. As explained from the mouths of babes….  Even if it's utterly presented at face value, there are lessons to be taken here.

Caveat: Populists and Nationalists

Banalities & Journaling / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / The Wonders of Work

We were doing an exercise in my debate class this evening, and these four mild mannered middle-school girls were turning into the most blatent populists and nationalists imaginable.

I was having them develop hypothetical presidential campaign platforms (for president of Korea, of course, although I also talked about the neverending campaign taking off in the US this year). They proposed everything from eliminating SAT tests (pandering to students) to providing free massage-chairs to everyone over 60 (pandering to the elderly). They suggested war with North Korea as well as Japan (just for old times' sake, I guess). One girl proposed building a protective dome over the country first, which I thought was clever, but it made me think of Newt Gingrich's moon colony for some reason. Another girl wanted to execute all prisoners. I said… even non-murderer criminals? Oh yes… prisons are expensive. Hmm.

Well, next week, I'll give them a chance to try to come up with rebuttals to some of these outlandish proposals. And I hope I can lead them to some degree of thoughtfulness about these  things.

Caveat: Self Deportation

Found Online / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

This concept of “self-deportation” has come to the fore of the political debate recently due to the new law in Alabama (profiled in the radio show “This American Life” recently, for example) and references made by certain Republican candidates for the presidency. But it’s interesting that the term was not invented by the right, but rather by the left, in the form of satire: there was a group of Latino activists in LA who formed a sort of social-satire political campaign against California’s proposition 187 in mid the 1990’s. I would credit the term “self-deportation” to brilliant cartoonist and satirist Lalo Alcatraz (sample of his work below).

picture

I’m intrigued by this way that satirical ideas become “real” ideas coopted by the opposite side in political debates. Notably, Colbert has been exploring this, in a sort of “push” approach with his conservative blowhard impersonation.

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Caveat: Authenticity

Banalities & Journaling / Found Online / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

The blogger IOZ is such a talented writer that I enjoy reading what he writes even when I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment. In a recent, broader discussion of Obama's rhetorical style and the recent State of the Union Speech, he says, "What, after all, is authenticity but the habituation of the self to its own autobiographical invention?"

That's such a brilliant, memorable line. It's going on my list of favorite quotes, thusly decontextualized.

Caveat: Robohamlet

Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

pictureCan you tell I’m a political news junkie? I found a really interesting study into the father-son dynamic between George Romney and his son the Mittbot, and how the latter seems to somehow be a Hamlet-like reaction to the traumas of former’s parabolic political career. I think it’s obviously just speculation, but it’s quite interesting.

Note that George Romney was probably farther left in the late 60’s than Obama is now, in all kinds of ways, but the subsequent evolution of the Democratic and Republican parties since the 1960’s means that he was perceived as being rightish back then while Obama is perceived as leftish now. Also, somewhat interesting, is the fact that Romney the Elder was born in Mexico, yet no one seemed to really question his eligibility for the presidency in 1968. How did things change such that Obama’s Kenyan father is a problem now?

“When you want to win the hearts and minds of people, you don’t kill them and destroy their property. You don’t use bombers and tanks and napalm to save them.” – George Romney, while campaigning against Richard Nixon in 1968 (he was talking about Vietnam, of course).

pictureThere’s this funny quote about Romney’s 1968 campaign, too, in the wikithing article: “Watching George Romney run for the presidency was like watching a duck try to make love to a football.” – Jim Rhodes, once governor of Ohio. Perhaps one could view the current Romney presidential aspirations as being the unholy spawn of that weird fly-by-night romance between duck and football.

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Caveat: Carolina In My Mind

Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) / Philosophy & Cultural Criticism / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

I used to not really like Stephen Colbert – his pseudorightwingery was perhaps too convincing. But as his style has evolved, it’s become more tongue-in-cheek and, well… complicated. He doesn’t stay in character as well as he used to, but that adds tension to the performance, which, in my opinion, improves it.

Colbert is in such fine form, lately. Nothing he touches remains unscathed by his satirical, winking worldview. He’s almost a kind of Cervantes for the internet age. There are performances within performances, representations and lies about representations and lies, misdirections to other misdirections.

pictureI have no idea what he intends with respect to his “explorations” regarding the presidential race – I expect he may not know, himself. Though his individual interactions are likely more scripted than they appear, I think the broader narrative is possibly at the same time less scripted than it appears. It’s a kind of improv – writ large – across the American political landscape.

Below is an excerpt from a recent show. It’s funny (with all the visual references to his recent expropriation of Herman Cain’s identity for electoral purposes), but I also happen to think it’s a genuinely sweet rendition, with James Taylor, of Taylor’s song “Carolina In My Mind.”

[UPDATE: This video is lost to the internet as far as I can figure out. Maybe for paying customers of Comedy Central (whoever owns it now), it’s findable (eg on some streaming service). Yay internet!]

I recommend watching the whole episode – there are some really great moments when Colbert is interviewing retired Supreme Court Justice Stevens, for example.

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Caveat: Statements of Aggression

Found Online / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Quotable

Ta-Nehisi Coates remains one of the more “mainstream” political bloggers (as opposed to the rather more antiestablishment marxisty types) who most often manages that rare mix of fine writing and scathing analysis to “knock the ball out of the park,” as his commenters like to say.

pictureHe recently wrote about the Gingrich’s deployment of race-baiting code in the recent South Carolina (and the subsequent, deeply depressing standing ovation). Most compellingly, with his concise prose, in his conclusion, Coates writes,

When a professor of history [i.e. Gingrich] calls Barack Obama a “Food Stamp President,” it isn’t a mistake to be remedied through clarification; it is a statement of aggression. And when a crowd of his admirers cheer him on, they are neither deluded, nor in need of forgiveness, nor absolution, nor acting against their interest. Racism is their interest. They are not your misguided friends. They are your fully intelligent adversaries, sporting the broad range of virtue and vice we see in humankind.

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Caveat: Earthscraper

Found Online / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / Science & SciFi

I have no idea how advanced these plans are, to build a 65-floor “earthscraper” (an underground, “downward pointed” building) under Mexico, D.F.’s Zócalo (central historic plaza). And I understand people’s concerns about building such a thing in such an earthquake prone area (although it’s worth noting that during the huge 1985 quake, for example, the subway was actually a pretty safe place to be). So maybe the “earthscraper” is not a serious project. But it would be very cool.

Earthscraper

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Caveat: The Value Chain

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs

If you own an electronic gadget made in China, I think you should listen to this recent episode of “This American Life.”

picture[UPDATE 2012-03-17 It turns out this radio show has some scandal associated with it. Given that, I probably should retract my recommendation to listen to it. Most of the commentary below stands, however.]

Normally, I don’t have a lot of patience for Ira Glass’s brand of vaguely sanctimonious hipsterism, but this show hit home for me. It’s somewhat directed at Apple, which is a mark in its favor in my anti-apple worldview… but I’m well aware that Apple Corp is far from the only – or anywhere close to the worst – offenders in the realm of worker exploitation in China. I would, in fact, wager that my cheapo Jooyontech desktop was made in China without anything even resembling a passing nod to workers’ rights such as Apple presumably tries for (apparently without much success, but still, at least they pay lip service to it, right?).

Despite everything said in the above-mentioned program (which I will reiterate, I hope you listen to), I still don’t think Paul Krugman is wrong in his quote at the end – this is just another country (albeit, in China’s case, a historically unprecedentedly huge country) working its way up the “value chain” in the process of modernizing and industrializing. The US, Europe, Japan, South Korea – all these countries passed through phases where things like child labor and complete union illegalization were nearly universal, and perhaps, as a good marxist, I should accept that this is just a sort of “mode of production” that every country must pass through.

All the same, it’s sobering and depressing to think that it is somehow inevitable, even sitting in a country such as South Korea that is only now beginning to emerge from the far end of this agonizing socio-economic process.

OK. Nothing to add to that. Just listen to the show. Think about it, the next time you play with your iPad or log onto the internet on your cheap, convenient computer, or whatever.

Here’s a question: “What is stuff for?”

Meanwhile, what I’m listening to right now.

Metric, “Sick Muse.”

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