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“The Space Traders”

by Will on March 8, 2012

For those following the faux-controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s relationship with Derrick Bell, here’s a copy of Bell’s infamous short story, “The Space Traders.” As far as science fiction goes, it’s a pretty crummy read, but it does reveal the depths of Bell’s pessimism (perhaps understandable given his biography) about everything from race relations to economic growth to the environment.  

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Bigmouth Strikes Again

by Will on July 29, 2011

The Moz really needs to stick to songwriting.

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The Post-Drug War World

by Will on July 11, 2011

In what I think is an overly-pessimistic take on the United States after the War on Drugs, Walter Russell Mead makes a pretty interesting point about a possible shift from legal repercussions to private anti-drug sanctions: Continue reading this post…

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Reading Gingrich in D.C.

by Will on June 30, 2011

Andrew Ferguson reads New Gingrich’s 21 books so you don’t have to. Gingrich’s overblown reputation as an intellectual is well-trodden ground, but what I found interesting is what the books reveal about his weird ideological mix of populist conservatism and wild-eyed utopian futurism. For a more favorable view of Gingrich’s literary inclinations, check out this entertaining article on his Amazon.com book reviews.  

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Song for Stephen Metcalf

by Will on June 24, 2011

For those interested, Metcalf responds to his critics (including our own Mark Thompson) here.

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Strategy and politics in Afghanistan

by Will June 23, 2011

I bridle at the contention – apparently endorsed by all but one of the Republican presidential candidates – that a bunch of unelected generals should be dictating foreign policy. If President Obama believes that the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, he has the right – nay, obligation – to get us the hell out. But this latest move smacks of politics, not grand strategy, which is why I find it so risible. Instead of making a clear-cut argument ...

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LeBron James and the creative class

by Will June 23, 2011

Does the LeBron-Cleveland saga reflect the anxieties of modern American life?* Bear with me for a moment: A monumentally talented product from the old industrial heartland flees his hometown and a band of hardworking** but less gifted teammates for a coastal metropolis, intent on mastering his profession by joining up with other monumentally-talented guys. Sound familiar? It should, because it’s the perfect sports allegory for the flight of the creative class from flyover country to the coasts. LeBron James wants ...

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X-Men: First Class

by Will June 21, 2011

I thought X-Men: First Class was loads of fun, largely because of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. Here’s Jonathan Last with a pretty interesting post on mutant assimilation. On a more serious note, I was a little uncomfortable with the film’s repeated invocations of the Holocaust (an exchange between Magneto and Professor Xavier towards the end of the film manages to include the lines “They’re only following orders” and “Never again” in quick succession), but I’m not sure what to ...

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David Brooks on Fannie Mae

by Will June 17, 2011

I thought his latest column was shockingly good.

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The Finals

by Will June 8, 2011

Sports have never been a focal point for the League, so I’ll put this one below the fold . . .

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Raptured

by Will May 24, 2011

From a friend’s Facebook update: “The most valuable lesson from the Camping Rapture incident? If you make apocalyptic predictions, make them secular. Paul Erhlich is a tenured professor at Stanford.”

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Tits! Swords! Edginess!

by Will April 18, 2011

(Editor’s note: Erik’s praise for “Game of Thrones” drew me out of semi-retirement. Bear with me) One of the problems with easing constraints on a creative medium is that creators are inevitably tempted to prove their boundary-pushing bona fides. Cable television has been widely hailed as this decade’s dominant cultural force, but I can think of more than a few television shows that indulge in graphic nudity or violence for no apparent reason beyond validating their status as “edgy” or ...

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Our man in Fukushima

by Will March 15, 2011

Christopher Carr, a commenter and occasional guest contributor here at the League, was in Fukushima when the Tsunami hit. I don’t know Chris personally, but he was one of our regulars – a sharp, even-keeled observer who basically exemplifies what this site is supposed to be about. We sure hope he’s OK. UPDATE: Spoke too soon – Chris is in decent shape.

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Friday Night Jukebox

by Will March 11, 2011

I turned 26 this week. Aging sucks – don’t let them tell you any different:

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The IDF’s “mystique”

by Will March 11, 2011

Below, J. L. notes that Operation Cast Lead was partly a response to the perceived loss of IDF prestige following the 2006 Lebanon incursion. I guess this is right, but I feel like every recent Israeli military operation – from the 1982 Lebanon invasion to the Intifada and so on – has provoked a new round of hand-wringing about the IDF’s declining reputation. Not coincidentally, the ’82 invasion marks the end of open warfare between Israel and the Arab states ...

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The Return of “F-cksaw Gate”

by Will March 11, 2011

For those following the recent sex-ed controversy at Northwestern University (written about here by our own J. L. Wall), the professor in question was recently interviewed by Esquire.

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“September,” Earth, Wind, and Fire

by Will March 10, 2011

Jaybird has a doozy of a question:

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Cultural artifacts from the age of fear

by Will March 9, 2011

A few days ago, I was idly watching Predator 2 with the roommates. It’s an amazing cocktail of offensive racial stereotypes, bad acting, and ridiculous action sequences, plus Gary Busey and Bill Paxton. Needless to say, we enjoyed every minute of it. Here’s what got me thinking: The movie, filmed in 1990, bookends an era in which fear of crime absolutely pervades popular cinema. Predator 2 imagines near-future Los Angeles in the midst of a gang war between competing narco-traffickers ...

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Why does the Finnish public school system work?

by Will March 9, 2011

In an interesting post on teacher evaluation, E. D. writes: The most successful education system in the world is probably Finland’s, and they have made teaching standards and credentials more exclusive and exacting, not less. In a system that is 100% unionized, Finnish teachers write their own tests and use them as guides for students who may need additional help. Teachers have autonomy and collaborate with one another extensively. They have a strong, standard curriculum and lots of flexibility in how ...

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Delusional goat-herds with box-cutters and other threats to the Republic

by Will March 7, 2011

Is a “liberty-advancing policy abroad” a necessary component of  American conservatism? Here’s Derbyshire’s pithy response:

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The weird ideological inversion of the school reform debate

by Will March 4, 2011

At one of our excellent sub-blogs, Alex Knapp makes this commonsensical point: We live in a country where Creationists can run for President without being laughed out of the room, homeopathy is seen as real medicine, millions of people buy into “The Secret” that wishing for something hard enough makes it real, and the cast of the Jersey Shore is rich. Until that changes, I find it hard to believe that we’ll be able to improve education outcomes significantly no ...

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