Tag Archives: testimony

What’s Your Evidence?

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Abigail

What’s Your Evidence? In the claims and counter-claims of real life, what is to count as evidence? Recently, I had occasion to try to defend myself to a third party, against the damaging claims of a person who had been … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, 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, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a way out, accusations, admissible evidence, Arbitration, argument, artistic film, available options, being believed, believing victims, closing argument, confirming witness, counter-accusations, counter-argument, counter-claims, court case, court papers, credibility, credulity, cross examination, damaging claims, documentary evidence, emotional case, England, escapism, evidence, favorable ruling, finding an opening, friendship, frustration, Gnosticism, grossed out, guidance, hanging in, imperfect world, impossibilities, judge, just and unjust, justice, lawyer friend, lawyers, legal action, legal defense, legal merit, legal proceedings, Maya, no exit, options, Paper trail, probative evidence, real life, reliable witness, repairing the world, scales of justice, self-defense, sense of justice, settlement out of court, showing up, social cut, social establishment, social insignificance, social life, social snub, social weight, staying real, suicide, testimony, testimony under oath, The Bookshop, topdog, underdog, union counsel, unreal world, unreliable witness, utopian, utopian ideology, victimizing, witness, witnessing | 2 Comments

The Case of Patricia Hearst

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Abigail

The Case of Patricia Hearst Usually, when I write the weekly column for “Dear Abbie,” I’m in a reasonably upbeat state of mind, but I’m moved to write this one by anger and indignation. My outrage is prompted by Dana … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged activism, activists, assaults on self, bank robbery, Berkeley CA, betrayal, betrayal of comrades, blaming the victim, brainwashing, breaking the spirit, can't make an omelete, Citizen Kane, class enemy, class hatred, class privilege, coerced confession, coercive persuasion, commuted sentence, courtroom testimony, cults, Dana Spiotta, dignity, empathy, enemy of the people, envy, feminist writers group, feminists, Field Marshall Cinque, guerrilla group, hating the rich, hostage, human freedom, humiliation, identity, Jeffrey Toobin's American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst, kidnapping, life's lottery, limits of freedom, loss of identity, Loyalty, Marcus Foster, Mind Control, Native Americans, newspaper baron, nom de guerre, omelette, Orson Wells, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst syndrome, pride, prison sentence, privilege, ransom, rape, rape as political, revolutionaries, revolutionary law breaking, revolutionary solidarity, ridicule, robberies, Robert Jay Lifton's Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China, ruling class, sado-masochistic fantasies, self as social construct, self-respect, Shana Alexander, Shana Alexander's Anyone's Daughter: The Times and Trials of Patricia Hearst, Sigmund Freud, SLA, socialization, Spanish Inquisition, Susan Brownmiller's Against Our Will, Symbionese Liberation Army, testimony, testimony under oath, The New York Times Book Review, Times Op Ed, torture, urban guerrillas, vulnerability, W. H. Auden, W.H. Auden's In Memory of W B Yeats, What does woman want?, William Randolph Hearst, witness, womanly sympathy | Leave a comment

Dialogues with Local Quakers

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Abigail

Dialogues with Local Quakers Since the fall, a small group of Quakers has held what they call a “vigil” once a week in the central square of our small town. They hold up placards that demand “Justice for” or “Freedom … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Academe, Action, Alienation, Autonomy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, Contradictions, Cool, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, master, non-violence, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Sex Appeal, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, twentieth century, Violence, War, Zeitgeist | Tagged "coefficient of adversity", A.J. Muste, Alveda King, Ammon Hennacy, Anti-Israel demonstration, anti-semitism, Bayard Rustin, Catholic Worker Movement, character, complexity, contested fact, contests, controversy, courts of law, diplomacy, Dorothy Day, evidence, fairness, freedom, Galahad, Galilee, George Fox, hatred, heroes, Holy Grail, Israel, Jesus, judges, juries, justice and injustice, Martin Luther King Jr., negotiation, Oppressed, Oppressor, Palestine, prosecutors, Quakers, quests, schoolyard insults, Society of Friends, soul, spirit, testimony, unfairness, vigil, vigilantes, War Resisters' League | Leave a comment

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