Upward Spiral #8 – The Interpersonal.
In this very intimate episode Eric Duffy and Ken Vallario explore the interpersonal as a political space.
Upward Spiral #5 – The Pope and Religious Tolerance
In episode 5 we discuss the Italian film We Have a Pope and the concept of religious tolerance. As with all our episodes, we are reaching for the outer edges of these concepts, so some might find our treatment of religion offensive. King’s corner is not featured this week, but we have a special call-in [...]
Upward Spiral #3 – Homeland and The Holy War
In our third episode we explore the oft neglected fact of the ongoing Holy War, and how our Western habit of neglecting the power of culture is an aspect of this Holy War that only becomes apparent after we’ve been engaged in it. We use the show Homeland (Season 1) as a starting point for [...]
Culture Is Your Reality.
Culture is a field of perception, a mind-state that pre-registers incoming information as belonging to conditioned categories. It is an inevitable totalitarian aspect of growing up as a social animal. It is innate to the experience of culture that many aspects of one’s own are not only imperceptible but that they are perceived by other [...]
Marriage and Politics
My wife and I recently celebrated our 7 year anniversary. I am very proud of this, mostly because my wife and I worked very hard to develop what has become a strong and happy marriage. Anybody who knows us well knows two things. One, that we are both very strong-willed individuals and that we struggled [...]
Human Rights
All human beings have rights. By this I mean they have the right to act, express, struggle, resist or surrender. It is the protection of these rights that is a luxury. And such protection requires protectors, people who are capable of applying force (either physical or moral) in opposition to those who seek to exploit [...]
Political Consultation – 2012 End of the World Campaign
One of the things that will make it hard for Obama in the coming election is that some of the criticisms the Republicans are making are true…they are a ridiculous source, that promises only a further entrenchment in the very things I dislike about Obama, but that does not make it any safer to avoid [...]
The Dark Knight Rises – A Critical Analysis of Context
I went to a morning show of The Dark Knight Rises last Friday because it had not been 12 hours since the massacre in Colorado, and I was afraid if I went that evening there might be copycats. Having been the victim of random and senseless acts of violence I was well aware of how [...]
Silver Lining
After hearing news reports in the background of my distracted morning driving of European countries downsizing their governments under economic pressure I realized that there is a global deconstruction of representative government. That is what is really happening. Anybody who knows anything about economics (like me) knows that there is plenty of ‘capital’ out there, [...]
Saints and Sinners
If terrorism is defined as ‘the use of fear toward political ends’ then who among us has not cast this stone. In other words, who has never made their political arguments based upon some fearful future outcome. In an age of fear, the accusation of terrorism is itself a form of the crime. My point [...]
New Tactics for OWS #2 – ONE WORLD CURRENCY
HEY OCCUPY WALL STREET! PUT OUT A CALL AROUND THE WORLD FOR A SINGLE GLOBAL CURRENCY. From the beginning of my participation with Occupy Wall Street I have advocated for an absurdist approach to demands. Why? Not because I want chaos, but because the problems we face are too large for singular or systemic legislative [...]
Advocacy Free Philosophy
I am taking a stab at my own body of thought. And it might be a mistake…a part of my philosophical system that does not hold up…but nonetheless, here it goes. When I am tackling the mystery with one of my fellow philosophers, when we are discussing the radical changes in our political/social/existential environ, whenever [...]
Rap News has gone transcendent
The latest episode of rap news is so wonderful. It’s deep reading of our present crises and integration with historical cycles is beautiful and inspiring…these are some of the true cultural gems of our time…thank you Rap News…
Pornopolis
Another contribution…somebody from my Facebook wrote this post and I thought it was very provocative. I’m not sure I agree with it, but it is a beautiful linguistic construction, working much like a Buddhist Koan to agitate the mind without giving it an easy out. Anyways, I welcome people to discuss it in the comment [...]
New Tactics for OWS
I received the following letter from an anonymous contributor. I thought it was an interesting set of ideas. I like some of his/her reflections on the non-violence. What do you all think? New Non-Violent Techniques For Occupy Wall Street Non-Violent E.M.P.s (ElectroMagnetic Pulses) Dear Occupy Wall Street, I have struggled emotionally, watching Occupy Wall Street [...]
2 Party Systems – Polartics
Our inability to settle upon shared universal values has to do with legitimate tensions that arise out of dichotomies in many many branches of human thought. I will list a few and invite you to add to the list. The important point I am making is this; as these polarities overlap one another it creates [...]
An Inappropriate Truth #3 – Tyranny of Unknowing
Democracy and Enlightenment are mutually dependent. Therefore, because we are far from the latter, we cannot expect, any time soon, to have anything like the former. We are doomed to experience either the tyranny of power, or the tyranny of the mob, and these too are mutually dependent. Our laws are poems we write to [...]
Empire and Imagination
Imagination is the primary driver of compassion, as it enables us to feel what those who suffer feel. Compassion drives revolution, because shared feelings compel us to act in solidarity. Thus Imagination is the primary threat to all empires, and so every measure is taken to squash it. In our time, Imagination is squashed by [...]
Revolutionary Tools … puns for fundamentalists…
If I have a gift, in the realm of revolution, it is for creating linguistic frames that allow us to perceive the problem in a way that implies a next step. And one of these problems is found in our use of the word Solidarity. There are two forms of solidarity; negative and positive. Negative [...]
Time Stamp #1 – Rosy-colored glasses
Here are some things I’m doing or thinking about. 1. I have committed myself to provoking members of the Occupy Movement (I still consider myself a member) into asking what the movement means now that, you know…there is no occupation, and we have become what we said we were not, a protest movement. I believe [...]
Quantum Political States
I have reached the point philosophically where the liberals accuse me of being a neo-conservative and the conservatives accuse me of radical liberalism. I exist in a quantum moral state and I like it.
Inception – 21st Century Miracle
I was talking with my friend E.D. last night about my theory of ‘The Miracle Dream.’ I have long believed that the only thing that could create the kind of lasting progress that many in the world hunger for is a genuine miracle, something unexplainable that appears real to everybody. There can be no political [...]
2012 Campaign Slogans #3 – War on Women
I am giving these new campaign slogans away free of charge to any of the politico-gangsters who want them…. “All Wars Are On Women”