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Mafioso Politics
Roger BerkowitzHannah Arendt insists that we look reality in the face and seek to understand even what is most strange, difficult, and horrific. In a new essay, Timothy Snyder analyzes the context of how Trump is seeking to normalize criminality and violence. Snyder’s essay reminds us of Arendt’s worry in her final essay, that “Public opinion is dangerously inclined to condone not crime in the streets but all political transgressions short of murder.”
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The Tyranny of Rankings
Roger BerkowitzYale and Harvard law schools have led a small movement of leading law schools refusing to participate in the corrupt practice of ranking schools led by institutions such as U.S. News & World Report. Leon Botstein, President of Bard College, explains why these rankings are not only silly, but dangerous.
Capitalism and Empathy
Roger BerkowitzFor Corey Robin, the history of the last 300 years teaches us that the most important political struggles are about who can regulate the market. Whoever does so will determine where power rests. And that is the lesson Robin argues the present-day left is refusing to learn.
What we learned
The midterm elections saw many crazy Trump-identified candidates lose, which dragged down the Republican Party and allowed the Democrats to hold the Senate. As of now, however, Republican candidates did win the popular vote. What is more, the Republicans continued to make strong inroads into core Democratic constituencies in Hispanic and Black voters, as well as college-educated white women in the suburbs.Taiwanese Nationalism
Roger BerkowitzI landed in Taipei just hours ago en route to a four day workshop on Nationalism sponsored by OSUN’s Hannah Arendt Humanities Network and the National Sun-Yat-Sen University in Kaohsiung. On the flight over I read a recent essay by Orville Schell that argues how Taiwan’s incredible success has led to a global crisis.
A Week of Confusions
Roger BerkowitzAn attempted attack on the husband of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is met with denial and conspiratorial deflection. Herschel Walker, Mehmet Oz, and J.D. Vance might actually become U.S. Senators. Kanye West and Kyrie Irving are cancelled. The confusion inherent in these events is evidence that the foundations of our world are shifting. Hannah Arendt warned against trying to understand the present by simple analogy to the past. We have to be open to the possibility that something radically new is upon us. In this case, the present is both new and old.
Regrets
Roger BerkowitzIn June 2020, The New York Times published an op-ed in which Senator Tom Cotton argued in favor of using federal troops in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. In an essay published over two years after the controversy, the Washington Post's Erik Wemple writes that he and others should have defended the decision by the times.
Legally, The Whole Ballgame
Roger BerkowitzOn December 7th, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Moore v. Harper, a case that may very well influence the fate of the American Republic.
Remembering Ursula Ludz (1936-2022)
A Tribute by Friends and Colleagues
Ursula Ludz (1936-2022), eminent scholar, editor, and translator of Hannah Arendt’s writings, has passed away. For decades, her work shaped international Arendt scholarship. We’ve gathered testimonies from friends and colleagues who honor and remember her life and work.There Are No Holes of Oblivion
Roger BerkowitzNo matter how fully a regime might seek to make people, facts, or inconvenient truths disappear, “there are no holes of oblivion.” Hannah Arendt found in the downfall of the Nazis and the Bolsheviks some hope, namely that totalitarian regimes will always fail when confronted with human freedom and the claim of reality. Aaron Sarin writes about the efforts in China to perfect the surveillance state–and why it is fated to fail.