Belmont Club analyzes the narrative Obama used in last night’s debate – a tale that somehow dominated comments on Jonathan’s post (which seemed to be about Obama’s interesting brand of populist economics). Wretchard had an earlier take on the debate as well.
Ginny
As Matthew Arnold Would View Al Gore
In the Denis Dutton tradition of disinterestedness, a new site has begun:
Climate Debate Daily is intended to deepen our understanding of disputes over climate change and the human contribution to it. The site links to scientific articles, news stories, economic studies, polemics, historical articles, PR releases, editorials, feature commentaries, and blog entries.
And With Whom Do We Agree?
Here’s a test on opinions. I think it is interesting but I’m too lazy to do this in a very thorough or thoughtful way. (The fact that I seemed to agree with Ron Paul as often as with Romney and more often than with McCain does make me wonder a bit about my sanity.) Another, which requires less thought, was taken by my daughter’s economic class today.
Katyn & Nationalism
Arts & Letters links to Anne Applebaum’s “A Movie that Matters”, a review of Andrznj Wajda’s Katyn, published in the NYRB. (The review is worth reading.) Katyn was a tragedy – compounded by the fabric of lies so unconvincingly told during the long Soviet occupation. Applebaum also explores the nature and need for that great passion, patriotism. She quotes Wajda, who argues that the movie was made for those who didn’t remember – the generation that did is mostly gone.
Instead, he said, he wanted to tell the story again for young people—but not just any young people. Wajda said he wanted to reach “those moviegoers for whom it matters that we are a society, and not just an accidental crowd.”
Raymond Carver by Lish, Raymond Carver by Raymond Carver
I often tell an anecdote during my intro to lit course: it is of a conversation with my freshman English teacher. I told him, earnestly, that I’d chosen to major in English; he asked why. I blurted out that it was because I liked people. Then paused. I knew that wasn’t really it – I’m actually kind of a bitch and don’t always like people. But I do find them fascinating. That was the reason I went into literature. My more linguistically minded sons-in-law and daughter love words – where they came from, what they mean. But I liked character and plot. Haven’t we always? We share that love for narrative across cultures and millennia. That is human nature.