Wednesday, April 20, 2005
War News Radio
I am always looking out for new radio on the Internet - which is the future of radio, along with Satellite radio, now that the right wing in the US has taken over the radio dial. War News Radio is a new project out of Swarthmore College that is going to have news reports about the war in Iraq.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Kurt Vonnegut on Vengeance
I came across an interview with Kurt Vonnegut in Studs Terkel's book "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" Vonnegut says:
"The fact that forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us isn't honored more - I blame that on writers. Because the easy story to tell is the vengeance story, and it's known to satisfy. This guy shot my brother. How's the story gonna wind up? And waht does a reader think? OK, that's settled. So it's just the easiest of all stories to tell. So it in fact encourages , makes reputable vengeance."
Of course, films are an even better example, and the proportion of "vengeance" films to "forgiveness" films is nearly, well, infinite.
The Mennonite mailing list Peace Stories recently had a terrific story of a high school basketball player who was intentionally injured during a game, and his forgiveness of the player who hurt him:
Forgiveness—and a hug—on the basketball court
This story unfortunately won't be coming to the big screen.
As, well, extreme as the Extreme Makeover: Home shows are, they don't follow the "vengeance" plot line. In the episode where they build a new home for the family of a young man shot in South Central LA, I can't remember anyone on the show, including the victim himself, expressing hatred for the gunman.
"The fact that forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us isn't honored more - I blame that on writers. Because the easy story to tell is the vengeance story, and it's known to satisfy. This guy shot my brother. How's the story gonna wind up? And waht does a reader think? OK, that's settled. So it's just the easiest of all stories to tell. So it in fact encourages , makes reputable vengeance."
Of course, films are an even better example, and the proportion of "vengeance" films to "forgiveness" films is nearly, well, infinite.
The Mennonite mailing list Peace Stories recently had a terrific story of a high school basketball player who was intentionally injured during a game, and his forgiveness of the player who hurt him:
Forgiveness—and a hug—on the basketball court
This story unfortunately won't be coming to the big screen.
As, well, extreme as the Extreme Makeover: Home shows are, they don't follow the "vengeance" plot line. In the episode where they build a new home for the family of a young man shot in South Central LA, I can't remember anyone on the show, including the victim himself, expressing hatred for the gunman.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Anthony Flew
Anthony Flew, a philosopher who edited a favorite book of mine in college, "New Essays in Philosophical Theology", recently cause a stir by converting from atheism to deism.
I don't much care about this part of the debate; his "deity" is pretty unattractive and seems less carefully thought out than, say, Whitehead's deity. See the wikipedia entry on Process Theology for a good article on this.
But I am distressed by Flew's bigotry against Islam in the published interviews.
I don't much care about this part of the debate; his "deity" is pretty unattractive and seems less carefully thought out than, say, Whitehead's deity. See the wikipedia entry on Process Theology for a good article on this.
But I am distressed by Flew's bigotry against Islam in the published interviews.
No Villains
The New Yorker recently had an article about the animator Hirao Miyazaki. It pointed out that two of his movies (our favorites around the house here) "Our Neighbor Totoro" and "Kiki's Delivery Service" dont' have villains. I didn't notice this before!
"Low Key Lottery" for North Carolina
Low Key Lottery for North Carolina
Lotteries are a terrible but tempting idea for states struggling with their finances.The powers that be in NC are trying to make a lottery more palatable here by saying that they will not advertise it.
Lotteries are a terrible but tempting idea for states struggling with their finances.The powers that be in NC are trying to make a lottery more palatable here by saying that they will not advertise it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)