Tag Archives: Darkness at Noon

How Trump’s GOP Enforces Loyalty

Trump’s GOP has ways of disciplining members who depart from their leader’s talking points. Koestler’s “Darkness at Noon” explains how such pressure works.

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Why Tyrants Hate Laughter

Tuesday In a recent essay on Arthur Koestler’s theory of comedy, the New York Review of Books’ Liesl Schillinger cites a passage from Koestler’s Darkness at Noon to explain Donald Trump’s attacks on Saturday Night Live. In his fictional account of Stalin’s show trials, Koestler shows that authoritarian personalities lack a sense of humor. Loyal […]

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The Shutdown, Clancy & Darkness at Noon

Tom Clancy helped create the narrative by which the Tea Party functions. Arthur Koestler may describe John Boehner’s inner state.

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Christopher Hitchens, Literary Bully

I confess to bristling when I hear the name Christopher Hitchens.The intellectual provocateur has been in the news recently, first for publishing his memoirs and second for contracting throat cancer.Although he is smart and well read, he has always struck me as a self-righteous intellectual bully, one who is more interested in toppling icons than […]

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