Politics Archives - Page 2 of 3

October 22, 2012 Bill Swislow

Review: What’s the Matter with White People? Why We Long for a Golden Age That Never Was

What?s the Matter with White People? Why We Long for a Golden Age That Never Was by Joan Walsh My rating: 5 of 5 stars A resonant and highly readable political memoir that attempts to unlock some of the most stubborn mysteries of modern politics, including why false promises work so well, without falling back on the tempting conclusion that people are just dumb. Walsh writes from a highly personal perspective, and it works. View all my reviews

November 22, 2011 Bill Swislow

Preoccupied

From my fat and lazy perspective I don’t have much standing to grouse about the tactics of the Occupy movement. Whether they’ve clearly articulated their goals, or whether I would agree with them all if they did, or whether I find the drumming annoying, at least these people are trying to do something active about the state of the nation. All I do is get depressed. Still, even if I envy the movement’s pluck, I don’t love the creation of spectacles aimed at media consumption. For decades this has been the Left’s tactic of choice. The realists have believed it’s

June 6, 2009 Bill Swislow

Thought for the day

If racism has become a non-issue for minorities, as some believe, how odd that it remains a widespread and life-destroying influence on white males, which seems the basic premise of the opposition to Sonia Sotomayor.

February 25, 2009 Bill Swislow

My Weekly Credo

Not every offer to help is a passive-aggressive effort to assert control.

June 29, 2008 Bill Swislow

My Weekly Credo

Bureaucracy is the most practical cure for irreconcilable differences.

April 13, 2008 Bill Swislow

My Weekly Credo:
Why things don’t work

Incompetence trumps intention.

March 30, 2008 Bill Swislow

My Weekly Credo:
A reason for Blackberries

A Blackberry’s best use is for the polite avoidance of conversation in elevators.

March 22, 2008 Bill Swislow

My Weekly Credo: The burden of caring

Bad things don’t happen to people who don’t care.

July 2, 2007 Bill Swislow

Spontaneous Creation

Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts, by Vladimir Arkhipov, Fuel Publishing, 304 pages, 180 color pictures, 2006. ISBN 0-9550061-3-9 Folk Archive: Contemporary Popular Art from the UK, by Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane, Book Works, 158 pages, 2005. ISBN 1 870699-81-5 Two recent books from abroad attempt to document the spontaneous art making of ordinary people, one broadly and one eccentrically. Folk Archives, from Britain, covers a wide range of vernacular expression, from protest posters to shop signs. Home Made, also published in Britain, takes a certain kind of ingenuity as its subject, specifically creative responses to the acute scarcity of

December 31, 2005 Bill Swislow

Put the X back in Xmas

Whatever the War on Christmas poseurs may say, Christ is all over the place in the holiday season. But how many blow-up Xes do you see on front lawns? How often do store clerks says “Merry Xmas”? And why don’t we call it Xgiving, too? It would make for a more efficient season and add more variety at the same time.