Dispatches From the Culture Wars - October 15, 2019
- Why Americans Like (or Hate) Capitalism and Socialism
- Indigenous Peoples Day
- Christian Nationalists and Baptists
- The Social Isolation of Economists
- Appropriation, Power, and Hip Hop
- Antiwar Left and Right
- Fascism, Anticommunism, and Historical Memory
- From Fight Club to Joker
Why Americans Like (or Hate) Capitalism and Socialism
October 7, 2019
Pew Research Center
Earlier this year, Pew Research Center found that 55% of Americans had a negative impression of “socialism,” while 42% expressed a positive view. About two-thirds (65%) said they had a positive view of “capitalism,” and a third viewed it negatively. But what’s behind these opinions?
By Maulian Dana
October 14, 2019
Beacon
Changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day is an opportunity for our neighbors and allies to recognize us on our journey of healing. It is an opportunity for important discussions about how we can unite and move forward as a state with honesty and respect.
Christian Nationalists and Baptists
By Frederick Clarkson
October 11, 2019
Political Research Associates
The Baptist Joint Committee launched an unprecedented campaign called Christians Against Christian Nationalism. The usual big-talking Christian Right leaders seem visibly afraid.
The Social Isolation of Economists
By Jayati Ghosh
October 10, 2019
Project Syndicate
For the last four decades, mainstream economists and policymakers have been wedded to fixed dogmas. Their blind belief in fiscal discipline and consolidation, and resulting refusal to consider more public spending even in an obvious downturn, now threatens the very stability of societies.
Appropriation, Power, and Hip Hop
By Lauren Michele Jackson
October 9, 2019
In These Times
The things black people make with their hands and minds, for pay and for the hell of it, are exploited by companies and individuals who offer next to nothing in return. White people are not penalized for flaunting black culture—they are rewarded for doing so, financially, artistically, socially and intellectually. For a white person, seeing, citing and compensating black people, however, has no such reward.
By Emily Tamkin
October 11, 2019
The New Republic
Alliances between right and left war-skeptics gained new currency this summer, with the launch of the Quincy Institute. A nonpartisan think tank founded to promote “diplomatic engagement and military restraint,” Quincy’s major funders include liberal George Soros and conservative tea-party financier Charles Koch.
Fascism, Anticommunism, and Historical Memory
By Jana Tsoneva
October 9, 2019
Jacobin
In Bulgaria, campaigns that equate Communism with Nazism aren’t about defending democracy against “Russian meddling,” they’re about rehabilitating Bulgarian fascism and its complicity in the Holocaust.
By Olivia Ovenden
October 12, 2019
Esquire
David Fincher's anti-society 'Bible for incels' has a complicated legacy, but it's aged better than Todd Phillips' laughing clown will.