Jonathan Swift would have something to say about how the corporate media continues to sane-wash Donald Trump.
Author Archives: Robin Bates
Swift on Media Sane-Washing
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged bothsiderism, corporate media, Donald Trump, Jonathan Swift, Journalism, Modest Proposal, sane-washing, Tale of a Tub Comments closed
Not Rage Or Tears but Radical Hope
With her story “Things,” Le Guin gives us a way of understanding MAGA nihilists–and of seeing alternatives.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Albert Camus, Alfred Lord Tennyson, climate change, Fascism, MAGA, Myth of Sisyphus, nihilism, Things, Ulysses, Ursula K Le Guin Comments closed
Hurricane Milton and the Bad Angels
In which I discuss whether Hurricane Milton is punishing Florida for banning Milton’s “Paradise Lost”?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Destruction of Sennacherib", Book banning, hurricanes, John Milton, Lord Byron, Paradise Lost, Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Covid PTSD and the Green Knight
Has Covid-caused PTSD created a MAGA death cult? I turn to “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” written in response to the Black Plague, for perspective.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Covid, death cults, MAGA, pandemics, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Comments closed
Don’t Worry, the Heart Knows the Way
In “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Feet,” Joy Harjo gives us advice in how to find ourselves again.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet", Indigenous Peoples' Day, Joy Harjo Comments closed
The U.S. Ignored Kipling’s Cautionary Tale
Would the USSR and the USA have saved themselves a lot of blood and money in Afghanistan by reading Kipling’s “The Man Who Would Be King” before going in.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "White Man's Murden", Afghanistan, Edward Said, Huckleberry Finn, Man Who Would Be King, Mark Twain, Orientalism, Rudyard Kipling Comments closed
Orientalizing the Other
In my postcolonial lit course, I applied Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism to Haggard’s “She” and Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” It’s not pretty.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Snake Charmer", "To His Mistress Going to Bed", Andrew Marvell, Colonialism, Edward Said, empire building, H. Rider Haggard, Heart of Darkness, John Donne, Joseph Conrad, Orientalism, She, To His Coy Mistress Comments closed
My Course in Postcolonial Literature
In which I share the syllabus for my post-colonial literature course. I begin with British colonial works and end with Zadie Smith.
Sane-Washing Vance and Mac the Knife
As I watched Vance sane-wash both Trump and himself in the debate, I thought of the sane-washing that occurs in Gay’s “Beggar’s Opera.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged anti-democratic theocracy, Beggar's Opera, Bill Kristol, Donald Trump, Election 2024, J.D. Vance, John Gay, Kevin Roberts, Lance Wallnau, Leonard Leo, Matthew Taylor, New Apostolic Reformation, Opus Dei, Project 2025, Seven Mountains Mandate Comments closed
