Consumerism is killing us. This is known. The oceans are choked with plastic from billions of packages, used once and discarded. Landfills are crowded with acre upon acre of … stuff. Our insatiable appetite for more and more stuff is not just burying the planet; it’s killing us spiritually. We know this, too. We feel […]
She Was With The Russians, Too
I went home with a waitress The way I always do How was I to know She was with the Russians, too? — Warren Zevon, “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” During one of the 2012 presidential debates, incumbent president Barak Obama shanked his opponent Mitt Romney with a well-prepared and well-deployed line: “Gov. Romney, I’m glad that you recognize that […]
It’s Not The Apocalypse
Rome was not built in a day, nor did it fall suddenly to a horde of screaming, blue-painted savages. Some scholars argue that Rome never really “fell” at all, at least as we imagine the “Fall of Rome.” Instead, the Empire slowly succumbed to its own weight and rot, like an old drunk with a three-pack habit and […]
The Barbarian Virtues
“Over-sentimentality, over-softness, in fact washiness and mushiness are the great dangers of this age and of this people. Unless we keep the barbarian virtues, gaining the civilized ones will be of little avail.” — Theodore Roosevelt — Rough Rider; President of the United States We all know we’ve lost something. Our culture has lost its […]
