Saturday, August 06, 2005
(10:36 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
This will have been the link post
I just read a lot of cool stuff on my Bloglines this morning, which I will gladly share with you now. In the midst of a debunking of some conservative policy craziness, Matt Yglesias links to Jonathan Chait's column arguing that we aren't thinking creatively enough in trying to close the budget deficit:There's a simple, logical way to reconcile President Bush's foreign and domestic policies: Start demanding tribute from foreign countries.If there really is a European Graduate School, RIPope is going to be kicked out for disliking a self-indulgent presentation and saying so. Similarly, if Scott Eric Kaufman were to address his complaints about Jack London scholarship in a forthright way, he would never be hired.
In the old days, before the rise of fuzzy-minded liberal internationalists, it was considered utterly normal for powerful states to force their weaker neighbors to hand over money or material goods as a price for avoiding military punishment.
Although unfair, it was a reasonably effective method for preventing wars. Rather than go through the full invade-kill-burn-plunder cycle, which took a lot out of invader and invadee alike, both sides found it easier and more humane to simply skip straight ahead to the last stage. It worked for the Romans, the Byzantines, the Ottomans and the various peoples fortunate enough to share borders with them.
Speaking of the EGS, you can read this cool lecture on the deconstruction of Christianity by J.-L. Nancy, and potentially even watch a video on this page, which brings us the following image:
If you wish to read something completely uninformed about the deconstruction of Christianity, you might check here, where the term "deconstruction" is deployed toward apologetic ends by Eastern Orthodoxy, the portion of the Christian tradition that quietly claims to be the only real connection to originary Christianity -- everyone else has dispersed. It's probably because Derrida was Roman Catholic that he thought deconstruction, dissemination, or what-have-you were unavoidable and potentially good.
Those of us waiting for more Agamben might also check out this EGS page (by the way, did you know that Agamben played one of the minor apostles in Pasolini's Gospel According to St. Matthew?); those wondering why Zizek doesn't want us to be happy can read this.
Also, there's a pretty good discussion thread on Christian rock here.
So it didn't turn out quite like I thought -- whatever.
This has been the link post.
