by Jack Gilroy Why do Americans tend to believe the myth that terrorists are mainly people of the Middle East — dark skinned people, mostly Muslim people who want to kill Americans? Long before the extremist Saudi Arabian terrorists crashed planes into the Twin Towers, Americans used terror against the people of the Middle East. It took 64 years before the United States … [Read more...] about Who Are the Terrorists?
terrorism
Orwell’s Doublethink, Alive and Well in Trump’s America
Anthony DiMaggio George Orwell’s 1984 is a dystopian novel about authoritarianism, and is widely understood as a critique of Stalinism and centralized communist states. But Orwell believed that propaganda functioned in both communist and capitalist states alike. His insights about the uses and abuses of propaganda are remarkably relevant when studying American and … [Read more...] about Orwell’s Doublethink, Alive and Well in Trump’s America
Boston & ‘the Muslim exception’ to the Bill of Rights
A lot has been written about the Boston bombings, the Tsarnaev brothers, and the way the case was handled. I don't want to add to that, but here are links to some of the more insightful articles, along with a brief excerpt from each: Lockdown, USA: Lessons From the Boston Marathon Manhunt, by Henry Giroux The collective expressions of relief, compassion, and adulation were … [Read more...] about Boston & ‘the Muslim exception’ to the Bill of Rights
The Road Not Taken
(With apologies to Robert Frost and his poem by the same title) When I saw the headline 'Attitudes on Arabs, terrorism shifting' in today's Morning Call, I expected to read that people here in the Lehigh Valley were finally getting over their prejudices and stereotypes about Arabs & Muslims. Instead, I learned that even as other fears have decreased, ‘wariness of … [Read more...] about The Road Not Taken
What did we learn from 9/11?
By Gary Olson In the wake of the despicable atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001, I authored an opinion piece in which I argued that painful as it was to write or read, 9/11 was “blowback” for a long trail of abuses perpetrated by the United States in pursuit of a misguided notion of “national security.” While people around the globe — including the Muslim world — grieved at our loss … [Read more...] about What did we learn from 9/11?
Two Republicans Who Saw the Danger
Among the many Republican presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower anticipated the current self-reinforcing aggregation of wealth and power to corporations and the already-wealthy. In 1864, in a letter to William F. Elkins, Lincoln wrote: “As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power … [Read more...] about Two Republicans Who Saw the Danger
Killing bin Laden leads to questions…
By Gary Olson — It may be too early to draw absolute lessons from the U.S. military's assassination of Osama bin Laden, but here are a few observations and questions. First, why have 7,000 Americans died in Iraq and Afghanistan and hundreds of thousands of civilians been killed, only to have bin Laden executed by Navy SEALs in a location only 35 miles north of Islamabad, … [Read more...] about Killing bin Laden leads to questions…