In These Times

I'm not quite sure what the author means when he says the "left." Is there a distinct group out there that can be identified who share the same practice of using "hostile rhetorical assaults" to criticize Israel? Is he referring to select individuals who personify "left" leaning positions? I find that in general the "left," if we are to assume that the left consist of people who oppose Israel's military occupation and settlement expansion, want to see a more just solution rather than a biased position favoring those in power, namely Israel and the U.S. The question isn't just whether or …

Posted to Israel, Gaza and the Left

Abstinence as a government funded program is a total waste of money. It's an ideological and religious-based agenda that has no practical value. The program will increase clandestine masturbations and extra-marital affairs that will go on continuously because religious folk don't believe in getting a divorce. People need to be in touch with their bodies and with each other. Repression and authoritarianism does not teach us that.

Posted to At What Price Victory?

Before the right wing think tank knuckle heads contaminate this post, I would like to make some important comments about his topic. People tend to confuse sexuality with the body itself. Even the terms homosexuality and bisexuality imply reference to a binary sex dichotomy. You either have sex with a member of the opposite sex, same sex, or both. Sex is an act that offers a plenitude of sexual experiences, irrespective of who you are having sex wtih. The politicization of sexuality is largely in response to the heterosexual norm which places the gendered body at the center of the sexual …

Posted to Bisexual Healing

Unfortunately, Pelosi and the democrats are weak in many other areas and only support the status quo when they cease to speak out on issues of oppression and state violence, as in the case of Israel's apartheid treatment of the Palestinians. Like the rest of the media, I wonder how repressed Inthesetimes will be in regard to Jimmy Carter's new book. I guess they will respond the same way they reponded to the attack in Lebanon. The repression and silence is truly unbeliveable!

Posted to The CBC and Speaker Pelosi

The Politics of Disposability is an appropriate title for the attack on poor people and the powerless. Binary frameworks that are used to distinguish the privileged from the dispossessed, the powerful from the powerless, when used in the service of domination, always manage to reverse the terms. Poor people, for example, who are abandoned by societies institutions are later described as abandoning themselves. In other words, those who have the least resources are expected to take most of the blame. It is also apt to connect this to the larger political realm. The people who are destroyed by the thousands by …

Posted to Katrina and the Politics of Disposability

Things can get confusing if the word terrorism continues to be used with no real analysis of what that actually means. As the late Eqbal Ahmad explained, terrorism is mostly used to arouse emotions: "Terrorism is a threat to Western civilization." Terrorism is always applied to someone else but is never applied self critically. Despite the barbarous crimes committed in our name - the United States - we never commit terrorism. "We spread democracy." Ahmad identifies five forms of terrorism: State Terrorism, Religious Terrorism, Criminal Terrorism, Pathological Terrorism, and Political Terrorism. As the author of this article indicates, political terrorism evolves …

Posted to Examining Irans ties to Hezbollah

We are very fortunate that Salim is able to address issues in the black community that never get covered. The case of Fred Hampton has always been covered by underground organizations but it rarely makes it into the mainstream. Nonetheless, It's still unfortunate that Inthestimes is so out of step with the times in its inability to cover the crisis in Lebanon.

Posted to Police Torture and the Need for Repair

Inthesetimes needs to "get with the times" and pay attention to the crisis in Lebanon. Hollywood occupies enough of our attention.

Posted to Enough With the Celebutantes!

Sorry to use this opportunity to address another subject matter. but why has Inthesetimes chose to avoid the middle east crisis? This is clearly the most significant event of the time.

Posted to A Terrifying Distraction

Nice article from brother Mumia. I think it is also important to emphasize the diversity and complexity of a given society. Black people, brown people, white people - never really exist as totalities. People will differ in opinion depending on their personal perspectives - political, cultural, social, economic, educational, regional, and historical. Simplifed narratives and explanations are usually formed by those who control the media and how information is disseminated. The masses rarely have a voice; instead, we get snippets to satisfy our lazy thinking habits. Black people have never been a homogeneous people, so it is inaccurate to say that …

Posted to Immigrations Echoes

Mars: Nice commentary. Thanks for reminding people of what a farce our criminal justice system can be. FREE MUMIA!!!

Posted to Immigrations Echoes

tina1 Liberalism - A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority. Liberalism has also been applied to free markets and competition - features that conservatives embrace as well. "Liberalism" in the context of modern-day democracy seems very compatible with our system of government. Yet you refer to this as A MENTAL DISORDER? DICTATORS, RAPISTS, CHILD MOLESTERS? TRY READING. IT HELPS.

Posted to Immigrations Echoes

Right on Mars! Very well put.

Posted to Immigrations Echoes

A very interesting proposal regarding the two books that could "make history." I love for this to be a possibility but the political structure of the U.S. is overdetermined by militarism. Yet, militarism derives its ontological mechanism from the ideological ground that supports it. Almost every institutional sphere of social life, - the goverment, schools, the workplace, the media - are all shaped by authoritarianism and repression. These forces all share the common use of force - military or otherwise - to stifle dissent and freedom of expression. if a book is to make history today, it will need to articulate …

Posted to Regime Change and Its Discontents

As Muwakkil indicated, terrorism can be defined as "assymetrical" warfare. This is important if we are to understand the relationship between those with a legitmate right to enact violence and those who cannot. The asymmetrical relationship of power and violence is determined by a subject/object binary. The powerful are the privileged "subjects" who have the power to enact violence, as a kind of divine right, make laws, determine punishment (in the form of sanctions or prisons), and control the dissemination of information, including visual and textual media. Groups like Hamas are on the weaker side of the binary and are thus …

Posted to Diplomatic Hypocrisy in the Middle East

Once again, I'm moved by Talvi's human interest in the dispossessed and the cruelty that characterizes our institutional and social practices. I was particularly moved by the stories she shared of the innmates and former innmates who expressed their hopes and sorrows regarding their futures. Underpinning the social policies and beliefs that have led our country to criminalize society is the history of intolerance. Intolerance is supported by self-righteousness, which functions as a veil to conceal self hatred and personal inadequacies. Intolerance is directed toward what is external, the "other" as phantasm, and self hatred to what is internal, the human …

Posted to Convict Nation

Can you say O.J. Simpson?Michael Jackson? Kobe Bryant? Think of the way the media latched on to those three black men. They were covered in such carnivalesque fashion, as if bordering on something pathological. Yet, this is how America has always responded to the black presence. Remember, America has a unique history of lynching black men. It's not talked about very much, and it seems to escape history classes, but this was a gross and disturbing attraction for America. From mammy and Uncle Tom to minstrel characters of the past and present, the subject/object binary which shapes American consciousness continues to …

Posted to If Ken Lay Was Black

tina1 I was not attempting to define media attacks on black men as lynchings. It the obsessive fasicnation with black images, particularly as they are association with crime. This fact is insurmountable. White males continue to escape public scrutiny.

Posted to If Ken Lay Was Black

Posted to Disclaimer

what does wolf do for a living? most likely, he uses hocky sticks up young school boys for fun. keep those comments coming wolfy. you are one bright fellow.

Posted to Disclaimer

I never used the word "afraid" when referring to conservatives ("despise" is more like it), although your use of the word is quite revealing, considering the conservative's preference for violence, intimidation, and manipulation to stifle anyone who is opposed to their narrow and ignorant views of the world. One thing is for certain. You will not find too many artists who are conservatives. You cannot expect them to support the inherent plurality of the arts, with its openness towards free thinking and cultural diversity. This is antithetical to the conservative who remains entrenched in an intellectual, ideological, and spiritual vacuum. …

Posted to Disclaimer

A very moving and powerful story. As a museum professionnal, I'm touched by how the Argentinian people have used photos, recordings, and other miscellaneous documents to give tangible reality to hidden histories concealed by systems of oppression.

Posted to Locating Argentine Memories

I'm not sure how "outrage syndrome" relates to the APA's recommendations for dealing with Post Traumatic Stress after 911. I don't view the outrage as a post-post traumatic moment. It is simply outrage over poor political leadership and witnessing the disintregration of our society. However, there is a psychological component to the current state of affairs. It induces in us a state of outrage that can very easily lead to displaced anger. Rather than take your anger and frustration out on friends and family, stay focused on the Bush administration and its many accomplices. Of course, the opposite of anger is …

Posted to What Ails Us?

I guess anger and fear are quite ubiquitous throughout history - in every case, destructive forces that undermine the security of our psychological foundations as well as our political and economic security. I would imagine that being on the edge is integral to moving forward through life, as long as we are able to find firm footing once we recover from the fall. In some cases the fall is too steep and that is where the outrage comes in. The collective memory of past events, like the Civil War, is a reminder of how deep we fell into the abyss of …

Posted to What Ails Us?

Hyjinx22: No. You are not so much naive or blasphemous. You are just one dimensional, narrow minded, and insensitive - some of the many qualities that make up the conservative ilk. Yet, the argument also goes way beyond conservative or progressive. It applies to basic human character: people who are sensitive to the welfare of others, social and economic justice, and global peace, as opposed to those who are cold, callous, self-serving, autocratic, aggressive, and rude.

Posted to What Ails Us?

"The scholars cite many reasons for this deterioration. Primary among them are bad schools, absent parents, racism, structural changes in the economy and a subculture that glorifies gangsterism." The above quote from the New York Times article provides some clues as to what has contributed to the plight of black men in America. However, the average reader in America will not make much sense out of those examples because 1.The welfare of black people has always been anathema to white Americans and 2. As a result of (1), these examples will only lead to an intraracial deficiency analysis that points to …

Posted to Black Men: The Crisis Continues

scorp: and you call my response nonsense? I'm not sure if you were responding to my comments are just venting. You are all over the map with your comments but the subject of black men seemed to escape you. The quote you start out with is actually taken from the above article by Muwakkil. I would continue this correspondence further, but nothing could possibly come from it.

Posted to Black Men: The Crisis Continues

I've only studied Zizek's work in fragments, so I'm not qualified to render a judgment about his work. I have yet to read "Parallax View" but after reading this review, I think I will pick up a copy. I have always been fascinated with the way academics focus on the "in-between" to address the ways in which we offer "temporary" solutions or resistance to ongoing struggles. For example, it is interesting how the human voice is used to mediate the boundaries between concepts and their formal representations, or even how a "sign" can function as a kind of mediation that exposes …

Posted to Zizek's Refusal

This story reminds me of another article by Jim Lobe (2003) Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception. Lobe explored the connection between the ideas of Strauss and Abram Shulsky, the man hired by Wolfowitz to serve as the director of the Office of Special Plans created to find evidence of WMD. In the same article Seymour Hersch, who wrote an article for the New York Times, stated that Shulsky and his co-author Schmitt "criticize America's intelligence community for its failure to appreciate the duplicitous nature of the regimes it deals with, its susceptibility to social-science notions of proof, and its inability to …

Posted to Congenital Liars and Hypocrites

Monson is a fascinating individual. I like his style. I just get so angry when I see how oppressive our society has become. We can't even exercise free speech without secret service men knocking on your door. Isn't this why we opposed communism for so many years?

Posted to The Ultimate Fighting Anarchist

I guess the study by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt was a useful study when considering the climate of censorship. It is also not surprising that institutions are making radical moves to condemn those who are associated with the report. That in itself is revealing. Yet, I agree with Muwakkil that Jewish lobby groups are not by themselves responsible for U.S. foreign policy. If anything it reveals how Jewish lobby groups are able to increase their power and influence because the U.S. government has already taken a similar position on matters of foreign policy. Rarely can I recall any politician supporting …

Posted to The Israel Lobby and its Discontents

cab driver: that was quite interesting how you took fragments from diffent sentences and rearranged them in cubist-like fashion. You should become an artist. It was interesting in light of the fact that you seem to admire Chomsky's method of citing primary documents, etc. Chomsky is an amazing public intellectual, but he is not without his faults. As Jeffrey Blankfort put it in his very insightful, well-researched article on Chomsky: "To expose serious errors in Chomsky’s analysis and recording of history is to court almost certain opprobrium from those who might even agree with the nature of the criticism but who …

Posted to The Israel Lobby and its Discontents

cabdriver: I will look into the work by Jeffrey Isaacs. Thanks

Posted to The Israel Lobby and its Discontents

I feel that an integral part of the contemporary experience is performative. We should not expect anything that exists on the level of popular culture that comprises our hypermediated world to be anything more "real" in terms of understanding or articulating the systematic forms of racism that are less individualistic. Artists who are more apt at addressing racism are ambiguous and indirect because racism is very complex, with overt and hidden practices. However complexity is not a part of pop culture. One way to understand these popular trends is to distinguish between racism and prejudice. People can have individual prejudices that …

Posted to Acting Your Race

Being from Philadelphia, I cannot help but recall the case of Mumia as a point of comparison. The FOP in Philadelphia has gone to great lengths to silence Mumia. Mumia is branded a cop killer and so he has not been given due process by the law. The same also applies to Leonard Peltier. Police feel they are above the law, despite the fact that it is their job defend the law. Police abuses are endless. Yet it seems that Hampton has strong community to support him, so maybe they will honor "Fred Hampton Way" in the end.

Posted to The Battle for Fred Hampton Way

Another great article by Silja J.A. Talvi! "What happens when thousands of gang members—and unaffiliated petty criminals and substance abusers—are thrown into overcrowded jail dormitories doesn’t reflect the reality of L.A.’s rough street life so much as it creates an even uglier, more twisted life of its own." The above quote by Talvi helps to contextualize the setting of prison violence, without resorting to a conflation of "criminal types" and how they be applied across regions.

Posted to Race Riot?

I agree that a great place to start is by finding meaningful alternatives for nonviolent offenders. Prison is just a cesspool for violence and offers no possiblity for rehabilitation. As Talvi suggested, this would mean retructuring the prison system. Since it is the segregation of the prison system that breeds violence along racial lines, it is imperative that the system develops nonviolent alternatives that can transcend race and class boundaries.

Posted to Race Riot?

I think everyone is right on target in terms of finding alternative ways to deal with incarceration (for example drug related charges which should not be criminalized the way murderer is criminalized). We should find alternatives to creating a healthier society rather than making society more violent. (For example, militarism does not make society safer. It breeds violence by fragmenting soceity into violent factions. And due to the amount of weapons that are produced and sold, violence is perpetuated ad infinitum.) I disgree that severe sentencing has cut down on violent crimes. Voilence waxes and wanes but for the most part …

Posted to Race Riot?

I find it very encouraging that someone has thought to make this subject a matter of public discourse. As an African American male, I have always been aware of these issues, but I have always felt so isolated. This isolation is twofold: 1. There is such a widespread denial of racism in America that any attempt to address your pain is dismissed, if not, laughed at. White people generally respond with a cold, injurious attitude by saying that black people are merely looking for handouts. It is this form of racism that has fueled the conservative agenda. This attitiude not only …

Posted to Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

I found the above comment by Phantom to be a very beautiful and sensitive account of a special memory related to cotton fields. This seemed to be mostly in response to the photograph and not to Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. The second part of the comment alludes to the article but describes the pain of oppression, black oppression, in terms of viewing one's self as a "loser." Without sounding too contentious, I'm afraid that comment reflects the level of insensitivity that impedes ones understanding of the topic of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. As Dr. Leary as indicated, black people, in spite …

Posted to Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome is very similar to what has been defined as PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is a psychological condition that results from traumatic experiences. Trauma, which can be defined as a physical and mental wound that tears at the tissues of the body and/or mind. In the case of the latter, psychological wounds can persist for centuries, especially if there is the presence of systematic oppression. Slavery functions somewhat as the primal scene that engendered other forms of oppression over a long period of time. The Civil Rights movement in America, which arguably began during and after …

Posted to Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Whattheheck: I'm curious as to why a discussion about Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome makes you feel guilty and how you have come take this topic as a personal assault upon your character? I'm also having a lot of trouble with the contradictions of your remarks. You start with a wonderful quote: "We have to recognize that remnants of racist oppression continue to impact people in this country.” One way to recognize these "remnants" is to explore their relationship to a history of oppression and not as isolated incidents that by themselves appear quite trivial. You then cite Frankel's experience with the …

Posted to Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Why is it so hard for people to talk about the article that is featured? Why is everyone going on tangents about the universality of the human condition and that racism is ubiquitous, and that actually white people are the victims, etc, therefore making the issue of black suffering, a minor issue or no issue at all? Why are people so afraid to talk about the specificity of the black experience, without feeling guilty or left out? There is the particular and there is the universal. This article addresses the specificity of the black experience and how slavery, as the primal …

Posted to Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Actually, I was not addressing this topic as a personal issue but as a social, historical, and social issue. Your response was personal and because of it, you appeared defensive. To the right of this comment board the words say "try to remain on topic." Once we digress into personal experiences, we miss the whole point as to what this article is about. So, I will end my contributions to this dialogue.

Posted to Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome