The preview issue of Ms. magazine, founded by Gloria Steinem and published in 1972, had a curious image on its cover: a picture of the goddess Kali, and instead of a myriad of weapons in her many hands, which is the traditional Hindu depiction, she brandished items such as a typewriter and clothes iron—items usually associated […]
“The medical establishment has become a major threat to health. The disabling impact of professional control over medicine has reached the proportions of an epidemic,” philosopher Ivan Illich writes in the opening passage of his book Medical Nemesis. These words ring true, especially given how much our current world crisis has to do with public […]
Now that Henry Cavill’s Superman is set to be permanently retired from the DCEU, reportedly in favor of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ black Superman project, yet another iteration of the diversity casting debate has sprung up among critics and moviegoers. Many comic book loyalists, disappointed and frustrated by the constant tinkering of studios with their beloved franchises, have […]
I am convinced that we have entered an era when anthropology will become a more relevant tool than political science. We will have to radically change our interpretation of events, stop thinking as products of the Enlightenment, and finally envisage the radical nature of violence; this will produce a quite different kind of rationality as […]
Political correctness and its clean rhetoric is our society’s vestige of myth; myth contains symbols that obfuscate the violence that the stories conceal and justify. Trump was such a powerful cultural moment for us because his disabuse of Political correctness and its language has unleashed the ugly truth of the barbarity of the state and […]
The study of ancient literature, particularly the great mythologies, helps us decipher the origin of culture and society. We come to learn that within each heroic and magical tale, and beneath each culture that springs from that tale, is the story of a lynch mob and a sacrificed victim. Take, for example, the great poem […]
Recently, a psychology professor by the name of Erik Sprankle stated that the Virgin Mary may not have given ‘consent’ when the angel Gabriel told her that she would give birth to Jesus. Besides showing the utter ignorance that is overwhelming in academia, the professor proved how much contemporary thought is possessed by ideological and […]
The role of the monarch in human history proves to be a fascinating subject. It is fascinating not only from the perspective of governance but also from that of religion and ethics. The anthropological trajectory of Ethiopia, according to its legend and history, is one example where this observation of ethical development can be made. […]
At the start of The Godfather: Part II (directed by Francis Ford Coppola), we see a grim exchange between a corrupt politician and the head of a Sicilian Mafia family. The politician, a reputed senator, denies the Mafia Don’s request for a Vegas gambling license, saying: “I despise your masquerade, the dishonest way you pose […]
Told the devil that I’m going on a strike Told the devil when I see him, on sight I’ve been working for you my whole life Told the devil that I’m going on a strike I’ve been working for you my whole life —Kanye West, ‘Hands On’ In the 1991 film ‘The Doors,’ Oliver Stone […]