A Spectacle of Life – Affirming News on the Cusp of the U.N.’s 70th Birthday

By G. Thomas Goodnight Oct 1, 2015 The convergence of a papal tour, a Chinese president’s visit, an auto executive’s resignation and a House speaker singing “Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah” has stirred the winds of civility. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

The Purpose of Argument Online

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 23, 2014 The "public face of social liberalism" is synonymous with "an endless list of things that you can't do or say or think, and with the constant threat of being called an existentially bad person if you say the wrong thing," journalist Freddie deBoer writes. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Who Won Iraq?

By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch Jun 19, 2014 Bush and his top officials remade reality in Iraq on an almost unimaginable scale and, as we study the region today, the results bear no relation to the world they imagined creating. On the other hand, there were two dreams they had that, after a fashion, did come into existence. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

This Is Water: Fishy Advice From David Foster Wallace

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig May 15, 2013 A viral video adaptation of a commencement speech given in 2005 by the hugely influential late American author reaches for a healing vision of a common humanity amid the relentless crushings of a capitalized and corporatized society. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Art Has Lost Its Meaning

By Thomas Hedges, Center for Study of Responsive Law Jan 11, 2013 Whether it is pretentious conceptual academic art, or vapid expressions of serenity that serve only to fulfill your apartment's feng shui, Robert Shetterly says that most art today has been tainted by unfettered capitalism, which values consumer interests over truth. Whether it is conceptual academic art or vapid expressions of serenity that fulfill your apartment's feng shui, Robert Shetterly says that most art today has been tainted by unfettered capitalism. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

How OWS Toppled Itself

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Dec 14, 2012 Postmodern confusion about how populist movements take hold and flourish caused Occupy Wall Street to “deconstruct” itself in a frenzied obsession with nonhierarchical structures, a disdain for demands, and other trappings of “lazy, reflexive libertarianism,” author and columnist Thomas Frank writes in The Baffler. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Israel’s Insatiable Zionism

Staff / Truthdig Aug 21, 2011 Israel's Zionism turned capitalism is getting out of hand; Postmodernism is dead, leaving many to question what it was in the first place; meanwhile, the Americas are projected to replace the Middle East as the energy capital of the world. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )