Amor Mundi - 8/4/13

08-05-2013

Every Sunday, The Hannah Arendt Center Amor Mundi Weekly Newsletter will offer our favorite essays and blog posts from around the web. These essays will help you comprehend the world. And learn to love it.

What They Know

James Bamford has an excellent survey of the continuing revelations about the NSA's surveillance activities, bringing us up to date on what the government does and does not know about us. He steers clear of exaggerated accusations, writing: "Of course the US is not a totalitarian society, and no equivalent of Big Brother runs it, as the widespread reporting of Snowden's information shows." But Bamford also details the direction of the current policies, finding their danger in the rise of a security state mentality: "Still, the US intelligence agencies also seem to have adopted Orwell's idea of doublethink-"to be conscious of complete truthfulness," he wrote, "while telling carefully constructed lies." For example, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, was asked at a Senate hearing in March whether "the NSA collect[s] any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans." Clapper's answer: "No, sir.... Not wittingly.""

XKeyscore: NSA Tool Collects 'Nearly Everything'

Speaking of what the government knows, Glenn Greenwald, writing again in the Guardian, has unveiled the most important part of the NSA surveillance state since his original article over one month ago. XKeyscore is "A top secret National Security Agency program that allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden."

Trayvon Martin: What the Law Can't Do

In the New York Review of Books, Steven H. Wright explains the George Zimmerman acquittal to his mother, who, "like many mothers of black sons, couldn't understand how state prosecutors had failed to secure a conviction for the death of seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin." In doing so, Wright offers one of the most thoughtful accounts of the legal process against Zimmerman - and potential further federal cases. He also explains why it is so difficult to prove at law that a crime was committed because of race: "In either case, the government would have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that race played a role in the death of Martin. In response, Zimmerman has at least two practical defenses. In the first defense, Zimmerman's legal team might strive to introduce evidence demonstrating that he is not prejudiced against African-Americans. As is now well known, some African-Americans have already come to Zimmerman's defense. A black neighbor has said that Zimmerman was the first and only person to welcome her to the neighborhood. Black children have also claimed Zimmerman mentored them. And according to his family Zimmerman has many black friends. The defense undoubtedly would try to ensure that the jurors learned these stories. Imagine if these black friends showed their support by sitting behind Zimmerman at trial. This image alone might persuade some jurors that race was not a motivating factor in Martin's death."

Private Universities and Public Developments

Justin Pope wonders if a large private research institution might have helped Detroit to avoid its recent bankruptcy: "Where is Detroit's Johns Hopkins? Or, to limit the comparison to neighboring Rust Belt states, where is its Carnegie-Mellon, or Case Western Reserve? Why is there no, say, Henry Ford University in Detroit? And if there had been one, would it have made a difference?"

On the Power of Cinema

"First of all," Martin Scorcese says, discussing and defending the power of the cinema, "there's light. Light is at the beginning of cinema, of course. It's fundamental - because cinema is created with light, and it's still best seen projected in dark rooms, where it's the only source of light. But light is also at the beginning of everything. Most creation myths start with darkness, and then the real beginning comes with light - which means the creation of forms. Which leads to distinguishing one thing from another, and ourselves from the rest of the world. Recognizing patterns, similarities, differences, naming things - interpreting the world. Metaphors - seeing one thing "in light of" something else. Becoming "enlightened." Light is at the core of who we are and how we understand ourselves."

Whither the Jury?

Albert Dzur makes his case, not to the jury, but rather in favor of it: "Lay participation in criminal justice is needed because it brings otherwise attenuated people into contact with human suffering, draws attention to the ways laws and policies and institutional structures prolong that suffering, and makes possible - though does not guarantee - greater awareness among participants of their own responsibility for laws and policies and structures that treat people humanely. Participatory institutions are our best chance at breaking through what philosopher Margaret Urban Walker aptly calls 'morally significant nonperception.' Evasion of concern for others, the dismissal of some as less than fully human, is the first barrier to be surmounted on the way to justice." For more on the importance of the jury to the American tradition of doing justice, see Roger Berkowitz's essay Why We Must Judge.

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From the Hannah Arendt Center Blog

This week on the blog, Jeffrey Champlin digs into Arendt's Denktagebuch. For the weekend read, Roger Berkowitz looks at the decline in jury trials and the potential impact that might have. "What acts of judgment exemplified by juries offer are an ideal of justice beyond the law." Lastly, Wednesday brought to a close our 10 day/100 member campaign. We are thrilled to report that we exceeded our goal, and we thank you for all of your support and generosity.