Inter-Culturalism

Front Door, Back Door, Economic Chasm: Not a PBS Series

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A luxury condominium complex in New York City’s Upper West Side plans to contain a door for use by wealthy residents only, and a separate door for lower-income tenants. What we are witnessing is a postmodern version of the high-walled city center of Medieval times protecting the nobility from peasants and marauding bands, and the 20th-century gated communities meant to keep out thieves and bandits. These hermetically-sealed containers, nonetheless, eventually imprison us all.

art

The Renaissance Cheapness of Life Like Today?

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During the summer, I have had some time to catch up on some pleasurable reading and, I must admit, binge watching of three TV series. What I found so unsettling and utterly disturbing connecting the three series was the absolute lack of value placed on human life. People killed each other with as much deliberation as they would in squashing a fly on their bedroom wall. The scenes depicted in these series could never occur today in real life, could they?

Culture

…Then I Am a Proud Socialist!

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For decades, Right-wing individuals and groups have thrown the term “socialist” in the face of their opponents as a means of discrediting their character, political ideas, policies and stances and swaying the electorate towards a conservative agenda. But some of the most successful economies combine elements of Capitalism with Socialism to create greater degrees of equity and lesser disparities between the rich, the poor, and those on the continuum in between.

Culture

“Can We Forgive You?”: A Manifesto

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Years of stifled anger and silenced pain are finally rising to the surface as Warren Blumenfeld reflects on the responsibilities and obligations dominant groups have to dismantle the forms of oppression and unearned privileges not accorded to those outside, who are often viewed as the “other.”

Culture

Open Letter to Walmart on Camp Dachau Gate Poster

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A letter to Walmart on the sales of a poster-size photograph of the front gate of Camp Dachau in Bavaria, Germany with its (in)famous inscription Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Will Set You Free), which Walmart declares “would make a great addition to your home or office.”

Culture

Stars and Stripes as Symbols of Pride and Weapons of Hate

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I interpret a true patriot to be a person who, indeed, loves their country, but also one who sees the way things are, and one who attempts to make change for the better. A patriot also views other countries with respect and admiration, as valued members of an interconnected and interdependent world community.