24
November
2009
Being “on the same wavelength” has just gone from a dated cliché to the cutting edge of brain science. For the first time, neuroscientists have identified specific energy waves emitted during thought processing, as well as a “switch” that lets brains select which waves to focus on and which to filter out. Think of it like a biological radio tuner to which others can be attuned. So can (and should) the world be put on the same wavelength?
oneworldmanypeaces 
Culture, Critical Theory, Current Events, Peace, Science 
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12
November
2009
This is one among many realities that we wish would be too bad to be true. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, the prominent right-wing spiritual leader in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has openly condoned Jews killing any non-Jews, including children and babies, who pose a threat to Israel. In his new book, the warmongering Rabbi asserts: “If a gentile endangers the existence of Israel, it is allowed to kill him. Also if he is completely not to blame for the situation that has been created.” He might have well said that a genocide of non-Jews (no doubt referring primarily to Arabs) along Holocaust lines is kosher too…
oneworldmanypeaces Culture, Critical Theory, Current Events, History, International, Middle East, Peace, Politics, War, Books, Immigration, Religion Comments (0) » |
5
November
2009
When an insect only seven people have ever seen goes extinct in a place you need a government grant to get to, more than just environmentalists feel a part of our world has gone forever. Understandably so. But what about when a language once used by thousands is down to its last speaker, and the universe of relations and ideas that language conveys will not survive them? Who protests, who runs worldwide campaigns or passes legislation against hazardous, toxic notions like “official languages” and “world languages” that creep onto and kill ways of understanding what it means to be human? A group of fifty linguists meeting at the first-ever Endangered Languages Information and Infrastructure Workshop, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, realize the tragedy but aren’t superheroes…
oneworldmanypeaces Culture, Critical Theory, Current Events, History, International, Middle East, Asia, Environment, Europe, Africa, Multilingualism, Science, U.S., Americas 2 Comments » |
3
November
2009
“Loss” is a word commonly heard when someone dies, as in “a loss to us” or “the world’s loss.” But what about what we and the world have gained because someone has lived? This may be the more inspiring and pragmatic question to ask of everyone, but especially in noting the passing of two of the great 20th century intellectuals today as centenarians: Claude Levis-Strauss at 100, the French anthropologist and a founder of the widely influential structuralist school of critical analysis; and Ayala at 103, the paradigmatic anti-fascists sociologist and novelist. The following is less of a tribute than a well-deserved acknowledgment…
oneworldmanypeaces Culture, Critical Theory, Current Events, History, International, Art, Books, Europe, Science, Americas Comments (0) » |
30
October
2009
Improving your social life and gaining immunity from Swine Flu at the same time? This sounds too good to be true because it is, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the CM (common sense). Believe it or not, people around the U.S. have been hosting– and attending– what the CDC calls “Swine Flu Parties.” A CDC document I received from the human resources department at a college where I teach this week had, mixed in with a lot of scare tactics and practical information, the following strange passage that Halloween party and zombie movie aficionados should keep in mind…
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12
October
2009
President Obama has now reached a pinnacle of global popularity cults matched only by Che Guevara. Cults of personality are a constant throughout human history, but in recent times they have been primarily based on nationality, race and/or ideology, a powerful propaganda machine and a perception of merit (think Nelson Mandela, Adolf Hitler, George Washington and Mao Zedong). Obama has now earned himself a place among them and others, and has bettered them in certain respects…
oneworldmanypeaces Culture, Critical Theory, Current Events, History, International, Obama, Peace, Politics, Asia, Books, Europe, Africa, Religion, U.S., Americas Comments (0) » |
6
October
2009
Sweden is known for a lot of great things: it’s massages, its Nobel prizes, its filmmakers, its fair dames, and let us not forget smörgåsbord with a variety of herring. Generally, however, spanking and bans on it do not come to mind…
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10
September
2009
Marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumphal subsequent reunification of Germany into an economic and political powerhouse (largely non-militarily), the City of Berlin has been award Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias Peace Prize…
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18
August
2009
The weaponization of language is also a form of demilitarization in the traditional sense. Waging war would be tantamount to battlefield diplomacy…
oneworldmanypeaces Culture, Critical Theory, Current Events, History, International, Obama, Peace, Politics, War, Immigration, Multilingualism, U.S., Americas Comments (0) » |
14
August
2009
An innovative conference bringing together scholars and organizers of Islamic communities across Europe is now taking place in Caux, Switzerland, lead by an inter-faith peace group with a storied and successful past, making clear their concerns for peace and threats to it in the present and future…
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