Category Archives: politics

The Thrill of Admiration

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Abigail

The Thrill of Admiration These days I’m reading Jacob Howland’s wonderful book about Plato’s Republic, the great dialogue that shows how hard it is to teach virtue in the political arena. At the same time, I’m mentally settling down … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a long romance, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", admirers and detractors, Adolf Eichmann, Aristotle, “call no man happy”, buffetings of public opinion, Chaim Tchernowitz, death and glory, deserved honors, fall from grace, fame and fortune, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, history’s big stage, history’s unfair verdict, history’s verdict, inflated reputation, Jacob Howland’s Glaucon’s Fate: History Myth and Character in Plato’s Republic, Jewish history, legacy, lost reputation, lucky in love, mental programming, mindless bureaucrats, named professorships, Nazi bureaucracy, opinion shapers, Plato, Plato's Republic, posterity's verdict, posthumous reputation, public disfavor, public esteem, Rav Tsair, reputation, reversals of fortune, risks to happiness, Solon of Athens, the Holocaust, the just and the unjust, the just man, the race well run, uplifting versus defaming a reputation, victims and perpetrators, W.H. Auden's In Memory of W B Yeats, writers and philosophers | Leave a comment

The Burning of Notre Dame

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Abigail

The Burning of Notre Dame The first photos showed the cathedral’s high spire falling, its skeletal wood frame silhouetted against the engulfing red flames and – seen from the city’s venerable center – a column of smoke rising. Notre Dame … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Medieval, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 9/11, a city’s heart, accidental fires, architecture of the human soul, “set fires”, barbarian invaders, believing nothing, churches at risk, churches desecrated, churches vandalized, defensive city perimeters, emptying a population, erotic Paris, gothic architecture, gothic architecture's exemplar, la plus belle ville du monde, life and death of cities, medieval city, New York fireman, nihilism, Notre Dame, Notre Dame burning, Notre Dame’s high spire, Parisian skepticism, photos of Notre Dame burning, Rome’s aqueducts, sacking of Ancient Rome, secular Paris, spiritual thirst, the heart of Paris, towers of Notre Dame, Vandals and Visigoths, Wars of Religion, World Trade Center | 6 Comments

Jewish Time

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Abigail

Jewish Time Lately, I’ve had a growing sense of living my life on something I call “Jewish Time.” Have I anything concrete in view? In my childhood, when my parents were awaiting Israeli dinner guests, they expected them to be … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged being orphaned, Bucks County PA, Buddhism, covenant, covenant and geography, covenantal history, covenantal signatories, covenantal time, defining boundaries, desert vista, Divine intervention, divine manifestations, divine thunderclap, Eastern religion, empirical life, essential being, false transcendence, Fear and Trembling, getting one’s bearings, God as Co-Author, God in the storm, Hinduism, holy land and covenant, home sweet home, homelike experience, insider knowledge, Israeli time, Jewish time, late for dinner, lateness, life in history, loved and hated, meaningful timeline, modern Orthodox women, New York City, non-theistic systems, personal God, philo-semitism and antisemitism, philosophy, philosophy intro class, philosophy of religion, promised land, providential intervention, provincial customs, punctuality, religious boundary disputes, religious geography, setting one’s course, sincere words, spiritual systems, sub specie aeternitatis, subliminal losses, trans-empirical life, unspoiled landscape, worldly customs | Leave a comment

“Evil is Really Not Banal”

Posted on March 5, 2019 by Abigail

“Evil is Really Not Banal” This past week we’ve been in California, where I’ve resumed my treatments for neuropathy at the Loma Linda hospital. The other event of the week, salient for me, was a talk at the Claremont School … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, dialectic, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", audience Q&A, author/publisher relation, “The Rake’s Progress”, banality of evil, behaviorism, Bernard Harrison’s Blaming the Jews: The Persistence of a Delusion, blaming the Jews, book endorsements, book reviewers, book reviews, bureaucratic mindset, Claremont School of Theology, Coincidences, conscious evil, diabolical cunning, Evil, evil personified, excusing the Holocaust, explaining evil, fiction and real life, fighting the good fight, firming resolve, futile counterargument, groupthink, guidance from above, Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Holocaust research, illustrations from life, knee fracture, Loma Linda Hospital, meaning what you say, moral coverup, Nazi arguments, Nazi canards, Nazi materials, Nazi talking points, neuropathy treatments, publishing snafus, speaker event, synchronicities, the Holocaust, the seducer, theologians, traps of argument, truth stranger than fiction, white-washing evil, wolf in sheep’s clothing | 10 Comments

Men on the Timeline

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Abigail

Men on the Timeline The other night I was at the Franco-Tunisian café where I go to get some of my writing done. A sizeable group had taken one side of the section where I found a round table. They … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bigotry, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged #metoo, a false life, artists under communism, award-winning films, believing in nothing, believing propaganda, black and white film, breaking faith, cafe eavesdropping, chivalry, classy cafe, communism v capitalism, communist-ruled Poland, condescension, deflecting advances, enabling sexism, escape to Paris, feminist preoccupations, foreign films, France, Franco-Tunisian cafe, grotesque sexism, heaven protect the working girl, high-end customers, human interconnectedness, ideality in men, ideology, inauthenticity, Iron Curtain, le coup de foudre, local diner, loss of faith, loss of trust, love without history, male protectiveness, male pushback, male revenge, manipulativeness, men who can cry, men’s new roles, night on the town, nihilism, out of line remarks, outmoded sexism, Paris, Parisian memories, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, permission to protest, Poland, Polish films, positive male role models, power advantage, pre-feminist days, pretended feminists, psychic interconnectedness, put downs, realistic men, redefining women, redefining women’s lives, reliable men, restaurant eavesdropping, romantic films, sensitivity training, sexist backlash, shared world, the French erotic model, the law of the brute, the party line, Tristan and Isolde, tunnel vision, uncalled for remarks, Upper Bohemia, what women want, women sharing a secret, women’s assertiveness, women’s self-definition, writers at cafes | Leave a comment

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Abigail

Now You See It, Now You Don’t Last night I watched Renique Allen being interviewed on C-Span about her book, It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promises to Black Americans I was utterly riveted by … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, TV, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged American origins, American West, being black, Biblical covenant, biblical Israel, biblical Israel and its neighbors, biblical narratives, black culture in the South, black incarceration, C-Span interview, Chaim N. Saiman’s Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law, communal consensus, dating pool, defacing the divine image, defending the Shekinah, defense of the feminine, demoralized men, divine feminine, Divine Presence, eligible black men, eligible men, erotic color lines, erotic predicament, erotic problematic in minority communities, explaining the Exile, Idolatry, Jehudim, Jewish survival, Lakota princess, Lakota warrior, love after lockup, millennials, models for healthy relationships, murder, Native American culture, parental couple, portable laws, promised land, rabbinic Judaism, racial bottleneck, refusal to compromise, relationship training, Renique Allen’s It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promises to Black Americans, residential segregation, reverse migration, segregation in the North, self-revelation, sexual immorality, shared history, Shekinah, sin as an explanation, single parent homes, social grouping, social segregation, strategic vulnerability, the American South, the divine image, the First Exile, the Jewish assignment in history, the Mayflower, the religion of Israel, the Sanhedrin, the Second Exile, unfair imprisonment, unfair sentencing, what the hell it’s home, white liberals, white radicals, woman’s place in Israel, woman’s place in Judaism | Leave a comment

The Feminine Honor

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Abigail

The Feminine Honor My recent “Me Too” experience now appears to be winding to its close with the moral fundamentals suitably restored. Since I’m a city kid, with street smarts, who had reason to believe that her life skills were … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Autonomy, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Poetry, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Time, TV, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a fight with your name on it, Alfred de Musset’s Les Caprices de Marianne, anti-slavery, chivalrous sentiments, chivalry, chivalry ridiculed, disrespect for women, Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, equal pay for equal work, feminine honor, feminist friends, first rodeo, getting thrown, ignoble conduct, le sort des femmes, manliness, Marie Antoinette the English and the French, Me Too, Me Too Movement, moral basis, moral combat, moral fundamentals, moral order, noble conduct, political combat, political war wounds, repairing the world, right to drive, right to vote, saving the environment, the destiny of women, the Free French, the Haganah, the Spanish Republic, Theatre national populaire, thwarted chivalry, TNP, unworthy conduct, women’s fate, world wide slavery | Leave a comment

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Category Archives: politics

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