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The Two Saviors Who Would Destroy Us

In Fintan O'Toole's reflection on Biden's savior complex, he observes that those who define themselves by their opposites risk becoming like them. Biden's struggle against Trump's shadow, vividly seen in his disintegration during the CNN debate, illustrates this dangerous parallelism, where Biden's attempts at differentiation are overshadowed by Trump's presence, eroding his own persona and political effectiveness.

The Fighting Spirit

Ian Buruma reminds us that world wars can start in peripheral places. Buruma, like many today, worry that the next major war may well begin in Taiwan. Reviewing a series of books about how to defend a democratic Taiwan, Buruma shows that Taiwan’s would-be boosters are calling not just for missiles and drones, but the emergence of a militaristic and warrior culture.  Amidst the calls for a resurgence of the fighting spirit, Buruma reminds us of the nuance and complexity of history.

As Reality Fades 
 

One man lies so unapologetically and with such bravado that reality seems to retreat in the face of his passionate conviction. The other man is confused, seemingly losing track of the world as it passes him by. Within minutes of the beginning of the U.S. presidential debate on Thursday, it was clear to anyone watching that Joe Biden is too mentally incapacitated to run an effective campaign for President. It is equally obvious that Donald Trump has no business being President for a second term. Beyond the obvious, what is so terrifying about our political moment is the way that both sides have become so fully committed to lying. 
 

Courage to Be Student Fellow Reflection: Julia Kiernan
 

What kind of courage does it take to reach into unknowing? How can justice come about from a courageous artistic practice? As much as speaking up can be a political act, how can moments of silence bring about change? These are all questions approached by poet, musician, and artist Jerome Ellis in his performance and lecture, which was the second installment in the Courage to Be series in the 2024 spring semester.

The Second Founding

We celebrated Juneteenth National Independence Day this week on June 19, a Federal Holiday since 2021. As the newest Federal Holiday and the first new Federal Holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day established in 1983, the country is still figuring out the meaning of Juneteenth. One imagines that sometime soon there will be Juneteenth sales and Juneteenth greeting cards. But as the Holiday lurches toward consumerism, it is also important that we build a narrative around the meaning of Juneteenth as a National Independence Day. Towards that end, Condoleezza Rice argues that Juneteenth celebrates the second founding of the United States.

Perspective is the Most Important Word in Life

Jerry Seinfeld talks to Bari Weiss about how comedy is so important because it demands honesty and, above all, the effort to see the world from the perspective of others. Hannah Arendt defines thinking as an enlarged way of thinking, of being able to imagine the world as others see it. Thinking is a conversation one has with oneself, a two-in-one, in which the thinker tests their own opinions against all the possible counter thoughts imaginable by others. Seinfeld’s approach to comedy is, surprisingly, deeply Arendtian.

Socialized Risk

To Arendt, the great danger to political freedom was bigness of all sorts, big government, big business, and big bureaucracy, all of which marginalized the importance of individual action and made self-government meaningless. As Ruchir Scharma writes in his essay “What Went Wrong with Capitalism?”, we are witnessing a quasi-capitalist system of socialized risk in the United States that is ballooning the size of both government and business at the expense of individual freedom and innovation.

Laughing at Criminals

Donald Trump is a small-time crook whom the ruling classes have permitted to become a medium-time crook. As Bertolt Brecht once noted, “If the ruling classes permit a small crook to become a great crook, he is not entitled to a privileged position in our view of history. That is, the fact that he became a great crook and that what he does has great consequences does not add to his stature." The question before us is whether we will allow Trump to become a great crook with tragic consequences for the American Republic. 

Social Media, Anxiety, and the Common World

 

In a review of Jonathan Haidt’s book Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Michael Toscano argues that social media is “designed to provide artificial imitations of what human animals require and fool them into believing they are receiving the real thing." For Toscano, Haidt’s analysis raises fundamental questions about the possibility of a common world, an idea most fully articulated by Hannah Arendt.