The world was blessed, that a US president should take so much interest in foreign policy, and stake his posterity on it. The world was cursed, that Nixon was that president, and he squandered so much of his foreign policy on political point-scoring. From my reading: His biggest legacy was opening up China, and he […]
There are people on this thread who are calling you a snob, too. Screw ’em. You have an aesthetic. You have a grounding for that aesthetic, that you can (I hope) articulate and defend. Hopefully, it’s an aesthetic that’s also aware of its own contingency and situatedness, and has no pretensions of immutable truth. People […]
Ambivalence Hegemon New birth of freedom Individualism gone berserk Lofty ideals Opportunity Smugness Some of my best friends are American 🙂 With reference to Rita Jóñer’s answer to What do you think when you hear the words, “United States”? I get stumped by the US states too. In fact, here’s my excuse to expose myself […]
I am on a lifelong mission to annoy Victoria Weaver by saying: MAHLER!!!! But if I’m to be completely honest, it’s Bach. Mahler, because of the cathartic emotional extremes, the amazing orchestrations, the largescale forms, the cogent narratives. Bach above Mahler, because of the sublime joining of intellect and passion, and (I hate to admit) […]
I’ve only been to Istanbul. What surprised me most was how much like Athens it felt. Especially Kadıköy. The same rickety elevators in apartment buildings, the same scenes of young people hanging out in outdoor cafés, the same traffic chaos. Even the same layouts and typographic excesses in newspapers. Also: How exceptional the food was. […]
Really does depend on the church, and on your predilections. You have had some great suggestions here, including: Pay attention (so you actually know what you’re rejecting—and I’ll add, so you can still get a valuable cultural grounding); meditate; read stuff. I’m grateful I was forced to go, but I got bored a lot too. […]
More of the same. We have Haldeman’s notes of his meeting with Nixon, and we have forensic proof that we aren’t missing any of his notes for the day. Nixon was clearly starting to talk about coverup, but would not yet have elaborated the whole CIA National Security lie. Nixon didn’t wipe the tape because […]
Aw, come on. No Canberra hate from you people? That’s positively UNAUSTRALIAN! I admire the methodicality of Ben Reimers in his answer. In fact, do look at it: Ben Reimers’ answer to Is Canberra the worst city in Australia? The emotive definition of a good city to live in, that OP is presumably after, is […]
I was going to write my own question: What kind of music makes you want to do a Snoopy Dance? The answer for me is Dixieland Jazz. Don’t even care what the song is; the Dionysian untrammelled polyphonic joy of it just makes me want to stick my snout in the air, spread my arms, […]
The opposition Nixon was truly worried about was the China Lobby, who determined US foreign policy for a couple of decades. But by 1972, the China Lobby seems to have been spent. There was certainly opposition from conservatives, which is why it took Nixon to go to China to begin with. But their voices were […]