Dreams of a strongman freeing himself from Lilliputian ropes is a dangerous fantasy, Swift explains.
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Tag Archives: authoritarianism
Beware Freeing an Authoritarian Gulliver
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged autocracy vs. democracy, Donald Trump, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift Comments closed
Alexei Navalny as Harry Potter?
Some Russians saw Navalny, recently killed by Putin, as a Harry Potter “boy who lived.” That dream is gone but others live on.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "meeting after the savior gone", Alexi Navalny, Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling, Lucille Clifton, Martin Luther King, Vladimir Putin Comments closed
Are You an Antigone or an Ismene?
In an essay calling Chinese activist Chow Hang Tung “the Antigone of Hong Kong,” Wendy Gan compares herself to Ismene.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged activism, Antigone, Chinese repression, Chow Hang Tung, Hong Kong, Oedipus in Colonus, political dissent, Power of the Powerless, Sophocles, Tiananmen Square, Vaclav Havel Comments closed
Nikki Haley, a Minor Character in 1984
Nikki Haley reminds one of Tom Parsons in “1984.” Also of one of T.S. Eliot’s hollow men.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Hollow Men", 1984, Donald Trump, George Orwell, Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Nikki Haley, T. S. Eliot Comments closed
The Left Wants to Cancel Orwell? Nope
MAGA fans of 1984 are now accusing leftists of canceling Orwell. Which is not true.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1984, Donald Trump, Feminism, George Orwell, Sandra Newman Comments closed
GOP Intellectuals Want a “Red Caesar”
Rightwing intellectuals are now advocating “Red Caesarism.” Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” provides some insights.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, GOP, Jim Jordan, Julius Caesar, Liz Cheney, NeverTrumpers, William Shakespeare Comments closed
To Fight Authoritarianism, Think Sisyphus
How to fight against authoritarianism? This of yourself as Camus’s Sisyphus.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Albert Camus, Myth of Sisyphus, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Sisyphus Comments closed
History’s Arc Bends Towards Kafka
The late Kundera has fascinating insights into how the novel has intersected with history.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Art of the Novel, Castle, Don Quixote, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, Honoré de Balzac, Jane Austen, Madame Bovary, Miguel de Cervantes, Milan Kundera, sexuality, Slowness, Trial Comments closed
Boys That Don’t Fit the Gender Stereotype
Georgia has fired a teacher for sharing “My Shadow Is Purple,” thus denying her kids a narrative that they urgently need to hear.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Boy in a Dress, censorship, David Williamson, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Katherine Rinderle, L. Frank Baum, Land of Oz, LGBTQ+ issues, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Milt Diamond, My Shadow Is Purple, Stuart Scott, Supergirl, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare Comments closed