That’s the recent headline in a national publication. That outrage? The eyebrow raising rancor, silliness and general awfulness surrounding the upcoming presidential election.
And the truth is that if we strike out the first four letters in the word “outrage” what’s left are three letters many voters are particularly burned out on…. age…as in President Joe Biden’s age! Count yours truly among them. Shucks, if I had a dollar for every time Biden’s age is cited in the news, I could purchase a luxurious mansion in Miami, Malibu (or, eh, Mar-a-Lago).
Don’t you love being right? I sure do. I think that’s one reason most of us are afflicted with what’s called “confirmation bias” – the pesky habit of noticing only the evidence that proves our previously held beliefs correct. In other words, we see what we expect to see.
This is where our biases – our inflexible beliefs about categories of people – trick us into jumping to the wrong conclusions. Once we get it into our heads that members of particular groups “all” – because they are members of that group – share a particular characteristic, our brain just can’t resist proving that bias right.
I thought of this saying on Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day: “History repeats itself. So you might wanna pay attention.” A comment from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum resonated with me: “As we are witnessing an alarming rise of antisemitism around the globe, it is more important than ever for us to recognize the critical lessons of Holocaust history as we commemorate the victims and honor the survivors.” At the same time, there is growing noise about the “Holocaust Industry,” which asserts the American Jewish establishment exploits the memory of the Nazi Holocaust for political and financial gain and to further Israeli interests.
How Outrageous Successes of the Civil Rights MovementWeakened Minorities
and Destroyed Liberal Society
The Nineteen Sixties promised a new chapter in US history, with the election of a young charismatic President, John F. Kennedy. However, the perfect storm of the Vietnam War, multiple assassinations (JFK, RFK, MLK, MX), the Cuban missile crisis, and continued segregation in the South, turned it into an extremely turbulent decade. Taken together, the failures of the Reconstruction (1865–77), Brown v Board of Education (1954), and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, shattered America’s self-image as “The City Upon A Hill”, destroyed faith in the political system, and forced the nation to question its foundational assumptions.
This Teaching Guide accompanies the documentary: Untold, Stories of a Word War II Liberator. The Guide includes excerpts from the documentary’s letters as well as discussion questions for students and additional resources. It also includes section on the Nuremberg Trials and on newspaper journalists accounts of Holocaust death camps.
“Untold: Stories of a World War II Liberator proves that there are always new truths to learn and new heroes to celebrate when studying the horrors of the Holocaust. This work is arriving at a critical time; as the voices of survivors and liberators pass, those who teach history are confronted with increasingly loud cries of distortion and denial. A resource such as Untold allows students to both learn about and humanize the Holocaust.” ~ Dr. Rich Quinlan: Director, Holocaust and Genocide Education Center Chair, History Dept./Saint Elizabeth University
“Deborah Levine’s work continues to be of utmost importance for students of all ages. The specific story of ‘UNTOLD’ must be told today and forever, so that the words ‘Never Again’ never lose their meaning!” ~ Avi Hoffman: CEO, Yiddishkayt Initiative, Inc.
“Many liberators such as Levine’s father kept their experience largely secret So the publication is an important resource for Holocaust education and research…and a very readable introduction to the journey of the Jewish community over the past century” ~ The Rev. Dr. John T.Pawlikowski: Founding member of the US Holocaust Center, Prof of Social Ethics/Catholic Theological Union
Note: Also available are Deborah Levine’s memoirs:The Liberator’s Daughterand The Magic Marble Tree, upon which the documentary is based. They include the wartime letters with eye witness accounts.
The Geo-strategic Premise of Environmental Espionage – Abstract
In current times with the rise in environmental crises like global warming, deforestation, and wildfires in the geopolitical scenario, it becomes imperative to collaborate and cooperate with other nations to find solutions to such crises at the global level. However, with every nation’s ulterior motive being involved, sharing environment or resource-related information can prove to be hazardous for the various nations and states especially in the international sphere.
The larger relationship between environment-related information, global partnership, and the possibility of espionage then becomes intertwined. Moreover, this delicate intertwining of these seamlessly connected dynamics of international relations, yet the divergently different motives with which each nation-state might be cooperating highlights the transition in international relations, the changing nature of espionage and the need to keep pace with these spaces.
Despite its overwhelming success, Obamacare remains the target of relentless partisan attacks. Donald Trump is again vowing to end the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, during a potential second term as president.
“Obamacare is a catastrophe,” Trump recently said at a campaign event in Iowa. The twice impeached former president also wrote on his social media platform: “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare.”
But terminating Obamacare, assuming Trump wins the presidency again, would decimate healthcare for about 40 million Americans for no good reason. These citizens in need of affordable healthcare had been locked out of the private insurance system for decades based on discriminatory reasons — including socioeconomic status and preexisting conditions, which disproportionately hurt minority groups the most.
The only reasonable prediction we can make about the 21st century is that we don’t know what’s coming our way — except that it will be bad.
While triggered by the Israel/Palestine situation, this article is a critical reflection on the role of ‘peacebuilding’ (my umbrella term for all non-adversarial dispute resolution processes) in the 21st century.
To understand why the peacebuilding field has failed to live up to its lofty ambitions, we have to unpack the world we inhabit today. After the heady optimism at the end of the Cold War, the conflicts of the new century have forced Westerners to rethink their short-lived assumptions about abolishing war, making the world safe for democracy and capitalism, and world peace. Hence, I won’t give you a two-point off-ramp for Russia, a five-point plan for the Syrian embroglio, or a seven-point approach for the Israel-Palestine mess. Of course, we should try to make the world safer. However, our attempts should be rooted in hard-nosed realities, not skewered by wishful thinking.
In my contribution to American Diversity Report at the beginning of 2023, I argued that we are living in an axial era where fundamental structures of human society are undergoing profound change. As we enter 2024, I would maintain with others such as former Senator John Kerry, now the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Issues, that the final communique from the recent COP 28 conference in Dubai may represent an axial moment.
Special Envoy Kerry believes the Dubai decision to commit to a movement to eliminate the reliance on fossil fuels by the global community (as well as methane gas) signals a fundamental shift in the way we provide power forthe human community. Such a wholesale shift in the generation of necessary power throughout the world, if successful, would represent a fundamental reordering of our life together as a global community. It would insure the sustainability of our planet and firmly implant the right to a the right to a healthy environment for all living creatures proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2023.
India’s Non-Linear Engagement in the Region: Abstract
This article delves into the broader geo-strategic positioning of India against the backdrop of the brewing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
As the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on, India’s dehyphenation policy calls for valuing independent relationships with Israelis and Palestinians on their merit.
As reflected in her latest statements in the UN Security Council, India unequivocally hit upon the need for the resumption of direct dialogue and the overall de-escalation of tensions.
This Teaching Guide accompanies the documentary: