Sometimes I think you guys must get tired of me saying the same things over and over. Like this: The world isn’t black and white. I know everyone knows this, but people don’t act like they know it. I read an article yesterday called “The Rise of American Authoritarianism,” which addressed the bewilderment so many of…
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The Way We Talk To Each Other Matters
In the spring and early summer of 1994, I was a sophomore in college. I spent the late semester gnashing my teeth about who got which solo parts in the orchestra, and my summer working on the farm. I was aware enough of the world to know something awful was going on in a country…
Read MoreThomas Merton on Politics
Some words of wisdom from Thomas Merton for your Wednesday. I put these quotes together from two different chapters of “New Seeds of Contemplation,” in which he is addressing “The Moral Theology of the Devil” and “The Root of War is Fear.” His context for the latter is the Cold War, but all of these…
Read MoreChanging the World, One Pixel at a Time
Image via Wikipedia For the last couple of days, everyone has been sounding off on the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik blames the tenor of politics. Rush Limbaugh (of course) blames the Democrats—if not for the shooting, at least for daring to say that the tenor of political commentary such as his…
Read MoreGod is in the middle
It’s tempting, because it’s so easy. We live in a culture where everything is reduced to sound bytes. A writer has one sentence to hook a reader or listener; going “in-depth” on the nightly news takes two minutes; each movie shot lasts two seconds, tops. In a sound byte, there is no time for detail,…
Read MoreFor liberals and conservatives, in an election year
This is a really thoughtful column on the strengths and weaknesses of liberalism and conservatism–particularly within the Catholic Church, but I think that the lessons apply much more broadly. It is long, but if you can take the time I think you’ll find it worthwhile. I’d post the entire text, but I’m not sure that’s…
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Kathleen M. Basi 