A deeper wound in his soul

 
Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down), 1872, by Jean-Léon Gérôme
A recent essay in the London Review of Books (subscription required, alas) — on Death in Ancient Rome by Catharine Edwards and The Death of Socrates: Hero, Villain, Chatterbox, Saint by Emily Wilson – drew my attention to the following passage in St. Augustine’s Confessions (Book VI), which describes how his [...]

Uncle Sam [doesn't actually need] YOU!

 
Having already promoted war against Syria and Iran (American wars #3 and #4, should they take place), the neo-conservative movement continues to add countries to its list of possible targets. Internal conflict seems to be a key criteria here, as the political crisis in Myanmar recently prompted Bill Kristol to advocate “limited military actions” to [...]

The moving finger writes

Don’t Panic, by Ruth Sacks (skywriting over Cape Town, S.A.; video shown at the Venice Art Biennial, 2007)

Despite my misery, let me finish dinner

“There is no such thing as society”, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher once famously declared. This was a cry of capitalist individualism – polemical, to be sure, but true to her outlook. Others have found the opposite: that society is all too real, an oppressive nest of deceits and compromises best kept at arms length. [...]

The risk of being less free

 
Alexander Hamilton, portrait by Daniel Huntington (1865)
American culture has long prided itself on defiant statements of liberty. “Live free or die”, runs the official motto of the state of New Hampshire. “Don’t tread on me”, warns the rattlesnake of the Gadsden Flag. According to this mythology, Americans are willing to sacrifice their lives before losing their [...]