Tag Archives: liberalism

(Hurricane) (Coordination) (States of Emergency) (Politics)

Posted on October 30, 2012 by zjb

Apart from the physical devastation, or perhaps haunting it, the eeriest part of Hurricane Sandy, in my estimation, was how an entire region, or a city actually shuts down, in an orderly process. In New York, first the bus and … Continue reading →

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Politics (Israel, Hamas, and the Enemy-Enemy Distinction)

Posted on October 20, 2012 by zjb

A lot of us academics who want to theorize “the political” don’t really understand the subject. Why do self defining radical academics turn to that fascist bastard Carl Schmitt? It’s Agamben’s fault, right? My guess is that Schmitt is just … Continue reading →

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Islam and Enlightenment (Gender, Jokes, and the Difference that Makes no Difference) (Nathan the Wise)

Posted on August 29, 2012 by zjb

One of the caricatures of the Enlightenment is that the entire system is predicated upon a universalism that precludes cultural difference and particularism. It’s a lazy caricature typically used by conservatives and crypto conservatives to beat up liberalism. It does … Continue reading →

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Reason, Religion, Style (Lessing in Jerusalem)

Posted on August 28, 2012 by zjb

2012 was an extraordinarily busy year for me regarding publications, mainly by accident. There was a huge backlog of old material prepared and/or submitted years ago that have finally seen the light of day. This one was not in the … Continue reading →

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Syracuse Green Pool (Tax Dollars)

Posted on August 17, 2012 by zjb

I took these pictures of the swimming pool at Thornden Park in Syracuse after hours. This is at least one of the many ways our tax dollars look like. It’s green, blue, and in the public interest. I like how … Continue reading →

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Melancholy, “Machers,” and Money (The Unhappy Liberalism of Michael Walzer)

Posted on August 13, 2012 by zjb

About Michael Walzer’s In God’s Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible, I like what I like and don’t like what I don’t like. Regarding the former, I posted just below. Overall, I think it’s a fantastic book, perhaps the best … Continue reading →

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Whistling in the Wind (Crisis of Liberal Judaism)

Posted on August 10, 2012 by zjb

The crisis of liberal Judaism is bound up with the crisis of liberalism, about which there are many moving parts with long, deepening historical legs. That is to say, the crisis of liberal Judaism and liberal religion cannot be analyzed … Continue reading →

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Liberal Judaism, Liberal Religion, and The Language of New Media: Who Controls the Database (Manovich)

Posted on July 22, 2012 by zjb

“Database” is the essential form of new media, which got me wondering about liberal religion –i.e. liberal Judaism and liberal religion (Christianity). According to Manovich, to create a persuasive new media object, the creator-user must combine database with narrative (The … Continue reading →

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Religion and Religious Illusion in the Language of New Media — “Metarealism & Auto-Critique (Lev Manovich)

Posted on July 18, 2012 by zjb

Manovich calls it meta-realism, and it descibes spot-on what liberal and progressive varieties of contemporary religion look like in a digitally enhanced environments, and what it means to be religious without being dogmatic or dead certain about the theological contents … Continue reading →

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Counter-History & American Aura (Philip Roth & The Plot against America)

Posted on July 15, 2012 by zjb

I didn’t want to read Roth’s Plot Against America when it fist came out in 2004. There was all this talk around the Iraq War and the “war against Terror” about American turning fascist. Add to this all this creeping … Continue reading →

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