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GOP Doublethink

When the likes of Marjory Taylor Green, the newly elected representative from Georgia, starts spouting her QAnon nonsense about Jewish space lasers and baby-eating democrats, it’s easy to dismiss her as simply “looney” (as Mitch McConnell did) or a shameless publicity-seeker. Either or both of … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Politics 1 Comment February 27, 2021February 27, 2021 2 Minutes

The whole story of everything

Our sensory perception is of things in the present, and that perception is often of just the immediate surface layer. Walking down the sidewalk seems ordinary, as does the concrete beneath our feet, but nothing is ordinary. Behind every thing there is an immensely long story stretching back in time … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Philosophy 2 Comments February 25, 2021February 25, 2021 2 Minutes

Navigating intersubjective reality

What in earlier times might be a minor dispute between folks explodes into full-out verbal warfare, shaming, and humiliation, attracting the attention of potentially thousands of strangers eager to get in on the action. Like a viral pandemic, outrage on the internet spreads from local neighborhoods… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture, Philosophy Leave a comment February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 2 Minutes

McConnell’s Solomonic Solution

I’ve spent the past five days glued to the impeachment hearings, an event with an obvious conclusion before it ever began. It’s no surprise that Donald Trump was found not guilty by the Senate; for me what was the most significant moment happened after the vote, namely the concluding speech by Minority… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Politics 2 Comments February 13, 2021February 13, 2021 2 Minutes

America’s fight reflex

I’m unhappy about the number of times I hear the word “fight” invoked in political discourse from representatives on both sides of the aisle. “I will fight for you” has become standard fare for politicians seeking public support, along with “fighting for legislation,” “fighting for your rights,” … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Politics 3 Comments February 7, 2021February 7, 2021 2 Minutes

Invasion of the hippocampus snatchers

In the midst of America’s “red scare” of the 1950s, Hollywood responded with films like The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the horror flick that generated the meme of “pod people.” In the film, a psychiatrist is visited by a growing number of people who claim their family members are not the same as they… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture 2 Comments February 2, 2021February 2, 2021 2 Minutes

The banality of banality

In describing Adolph Eichmann, a Nazi officer who dutifully accounted for the genocide of nearly uncountable victims of Hitler’s Nazi terror and extermination, author Hannah Arendt famously coined the phrase “the banality of evil”. In Arendt’s evaluation, Eichmann was not an enthusiastic Nazi… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture Leave a comment January 28, 2021January 28, 2021 2 Minutes

The revolution that didn’t

I was fascinated the other day, while watching interviews with a few of the insurrectionists during the siege of the Capitol building on January 6th, at their inability to explain why they were there and what they hoped to accomplish. One middle-aged gentleman, if I may be permitted to call him that, … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture, Politics 1 Comment January 22, 2021January 22, 2021 2 Minutes

The future of American democracy is poor

It’s worthwhile remembering that America has not always been a “one person – one vote” democracy; our founders offered voting privileges to white, male property owners only, and it remained that way for generations. It was only until the 20th century that women secured the right to vote, along… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture, Politics Leave a comment January 18, 2021January 18, 2021 2 Minutes

Are we better than this?

The honest answer is “no.” What we’ve seen this past week is part of who we are: complicated, confused, misinformed and violent. Of all of these, by far the most significant is complicated; it’s not possible to reduce human thought and behavior to a simple formula, particularly in a democracy.

The inclination… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture 2 Comments January 14, 2021January 14, 2021 2 Minutes

The Joy of Chaos

The Greek God Dionysus

When Alex Comfort’s book The Joy of Sex was released in 1972, America was in the throes of the sexual revolution, eager to throw off the remnants of Victorian boundaries and embrace ecstasy. Psychedelics, orgies, Be-ins and gatherings like Woodstock in 1969 had set the stage for… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture 3 Comments January 9, 2021January 9, 2021 2 Minutes

Iconoclasm at the Capitol

The recent events at the nation’s capital are receiving, deservedly, a great deal of attention. The role of the President is being widely discussed, as instigator, incendiary and inciter of the mob that broke into the Capitol Building, broke windows and ransacked the offices of The Speaker of the House.… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture, Politics 1 Comment January 7, 2021January 7, 2021 2 Minutes

Cheerleader or doomsayer?

When asked if he were a pessimist or an optimist, the brilliant Bucky Fuller – inventor of the geodesic dome, prefab dymaxion house, and coiner of the phrase ‘Spaceship Earth’ – replied, “Neither. I’m a realist.” His answer was predictably Zen, which is to say he saw being here as a process… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture Leave a comment January 5, 2021January 5, 2021 2 Minutes

Hacked to pieces

In an essay I wrote in 2008, I discussed the vulnerability of computer network technology to hacking, calling it “the soft underbelly” of the Internet. I was referring to the “swinging door” operation of computer servers, that their “in/out” communication security depends upon a “lock and key” approach… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture Leave a comment January 2, 2021January 2, 2021 2 Minutes

Freedom, selfish and otherwise

I grew up being told that democracy is messy; the events of this year certainly prove it. The freedom to vote is not – and has not been – a “human right;” rather it’s a privilege bestowed upon particular groups of people deemed eligible. As we know, America’s eligible voters were originally… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Politics 1 Comment December 31, 2020December 31, 2020 2 Minutes

Anger and our quest for shared emotional intimacy

People are social animals; our lives begin in dependency and remain that way until the end of childhood. For lucky ones among us, childhood is filled with love and nurturing, secure emotional attachments are formed and a sense of safety builds. Although each of us must eventually individuate, our ability… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture 1 Comment December 25, 2020December 25, 2020 2 Minutes

Better dead than red?

America’s fear of socialism has bred some pretty wild reactions, not the least of which was the McCarthy-inspired fear and sloganeering of the 1950s. “Better dead than red” strongly supported the idea that communism, seen as analogous to socialism by many at that time (and today as well), was a system… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture, Politics Leave a comment December 21, 2020December 21, 2020 2 Minutes

My bullet-riddled body

During my many years in local politics and as a community activist, I’ve been subject to plenty of criticism, some of it in print and some of it in person; it’s the price I pay for speaking out and taking action. I’ve been called a “socialist,” “manipulator,” “chain store bigot,” and a variety of other epithets… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture, Politics 3 Comments December 16, 2020December 16, 2020 2 Minutes

Living in a doctrinal world

Cultural narratives, and every culture has them, contain doctrines of belief. These doctrines vary, just as the original languages of separated cultures vary, including vocabulary, word meanings, idioms, and implications. As each of us is born into a culture, so too are we indoctrinated, leading… Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture Leave a comment December 2, 2020December 2, 2020 2 Minutes

Between reason and feeling

Pundits and talking heads, particularly those of the left, seem confused about why it is so many American voters like Donald Trump. Trump is, they reason, crass, vulgar and wildly emotional, the most un-presidential President in recent history; what is there to like? Although their observations … Read the rest

Larry Barnett Culture 3 Comments November 25, 2020November 26, 2020 2 Minutes

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