This is the Blog for MORRIS BERMAN, the author of "Dark Ages America". It includes current publications and random thoughts about U.S. Foreign Policy, including letters and reactions to publications from others. A cultural historian and social critic, MORRIS BERMAN is the author of "Wandering God" and "The Twilight of American Culture". Since 2003 he has been a visiting professor in sociology at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Feel free to write and participate.
posted by Morris Berman at 8:01 AM
Morris Berman is well known as an innovative cultural historian and social critic. He has taught at a number of universities in Europe and North America, and has held visiting endowed chairs at Incarnate Word College (San Antonio), the University of New Mexico, and Weber State University. During 1982-88 he was the Lansdowne Professor in the History of Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Berman won the Governor’s Writers Award for Washington State in 1990, the Rollo May Center Grant for Humanistic Studies in 1992, and the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity (from the Media Ecology Association) in 2013. He is the author of a trilogy on the evolution of human consciousness–-The Reenchantment of the World (1981), Coming to Our Senses (1989), and Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality (2000)–and in 2000 his Twilight of American Culture was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times Book Review. Dr. Berman relocated to Mexico in 2006, and during 2008-9 was a Visiting Professor at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City.
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28 Comments:
Well, you've done it again Dr. B. You've created an irresistible little volume that will inspire others to go read the poets you selected. Your take on their works will make this another invaluable reference book, as it will sit on my bookshelf and be opened frequently. As soon as it arrives at my doorstep, I will read it voraciously, and then I will write a review.
The release of your newest is very timely. I just finished reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It is set in Appalachia where I grew up. The author lives in SW Virginia, so she has seen a lot and tells the story of the miners, opioid addiction and the young people trying to grow up in this capitalist mess. It's easy to see the Wafer themes in a book like this.
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Copperhead-Novel-Barbara-Kingsolver/dp/0063251922
I think it's time to recognize that, fundamentally, Bill Maher is trash:
https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/27/bill-maher-slams-israel-protesters/
Check this title
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/israel-rafah-met-gala-fashion-morning-rundown-rcna150984
Palestinians seem to be suffering as much from Israel as they do from their neighbors. Now, the only way they can go is Egypt, and Egypt is telling them no. In this is a vide you can see Egyptian soldiers beating a Palestinan who tried to escape to their side (the description of the video says so, I can't find any Independent source)
https://twitter.com/osgaweesh/status/1788391031672635858
Since the Egypt coup, there was an anti-palestinian propaganda campaign in Egypt, painting them as terrorists and barbarians. Many of the persecuted Egyptians (most of them got the death penalty) were accuses if helping Palestinians, primary among them was the former president
https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-are-egyptian-media-demonizing-palestinians/12632
ccg-
Despite Maher's attempts to be chic, and fashionably anti-establishment, the guy really is a lackey for that estab. and for the American Dream. (He makes $1m per show, and is worth abt $140m.) This hatred of the protesters is a case in pt; it is both misguided, inaccurate, and disgusting. Yes, the elite are trash.
Mike-
Many thanks for yr kudos. I'm sure you'll enjoy the bk. Ultimately, it's a pitch for people to be Wafers, not pawns in a death-oriented culture.
mb
'A little bold and gross’: Oil industry writes executive orders for Trump to sign - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/08/oil-industry-orders-trump-day-one-00156705
"Six energy industry lawyers and lobbyists interviewed by POLITICO described the effort to craft executive orders and other policy paperwork that they see as more effective than anything a second Trump administration could devise on its own. Those include a quick reversal of Biden’s pause on new natural gas export permits and preparations for wider and cheaper access to federal lands and waters for drilling."
^Even the people who want this guy to win think he's dumb as shit lol
I appreciate that Trump wants to go back and reenact the Teapot Dome scandal while he's nailing all the greatest hits
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Dome_scandal
Hopefully this isn't too tangential to the blog, but I really recommend this trilogy of books (planned to be six in total) for fans of collapsing societies and civilizations:
https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Revolution-Nick-Holmes-ebook/dp/B0B6QHWDZD/ref=sr_1_2?crid=32DH1N54MI0FH&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._8RtnXMdrvFlL9othLHVG29-4Kc3RAO2RPcK8aa9BHJ1goUOWZ8odrQ7l_3HMSOFjo4ob9kjqQFq4uGYErjUX-l3PIx4YCCtY8unPhuO5Mgzs5RmcIu-Hkmnitfh-ZQKiDaOf3VbhIXOzm0bzgF058-TkrPARhsE8dJ0ZPmhgsIht2qnGlcvCsZqhN4SMjKKHhytxz5WfmWPvpRS_NQqj3Our1lkAlNyiyx_8YQ7iUQ.OGgFOd6ZA4BgfzX6hyMtOuao0KoZb4r1VLxaOOS_QBI&dib_tag=se&keywords=NICK+HOLMES&qid=1715507209&sprefix=nick+holmes%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-2
Nick Holmes integrates a lot of the latest scholarship (climate change, up-to-date archaeology, etc) into these books, and they are all incredibly readable and entertaining (and quite cheap on Kindle). You can finish each volume in just a few days. At any rate, the first volume concentrates on "The Crisis of the Third Century," a truly fascinating time, and it just picks up speed from there. Daily readers of this blog will have no difficulties in finding innumerable parallels between that time, and modern-day America.
Just your normal weekend here in the “greatest country in the world” whose main mission of its “Manifest Destiny” is to be a beacon for humanity and to beam it all over planet earth.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/05/12/3-dead-12-wounded-in-alabama-shooting/3421715536241/
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2024/05/12/tallahassee-police-multiple-people-shot-shooting-two-killed-apalachee-parkway-double-homicide/73662131007/
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/national/police-3-officers-wounded-in-atlanta-street-altercation-that-left-suspect-dead
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/3-shot-west-rankin-road/285-d4ce6224-59da-48cf-b11b-4141f05183e0
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/man-stabs-3-relatives-inside-queens-home-barricades-himself
And with Sunday being a day of rest—and church of course—the pedophile preachers still are doing their thing.
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/the-woodlands-church-pastor-bruce-hollen-child-porn-charges/285-efe9da82-74af-4a34-8b29-ffe6e7cd0d3a
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
NOTICE TO ALL WAFERS-
This blog will be closed during May 15-18, during wh/time I'll be in Houston doing the gig I described below, conversation w/Vincent Valdez at the Museum of Fine Arts. Pls hold all posts until May 19. Thank you!
mb
In france, it's ok for neo-Nazis to march in the streets, pro-Palestine protestors however are treated like traitors
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1898621/neo-nazi-march-paris-may-9
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/french-police-crackdown-french-pro-palestinian-student-protesters#:~:text=FRENCH%20police%20removed%20dozens%20of,demonstrations%20across%20the%20United%20States.
In Germany too. It is true that a fascist march was met with a massive anti-fascist protest, but the police did nothing to the neo-Nazis, they marched in peace. On the other hand, the police used pro-Palestine demonstrations as a show of force.
https://novaramedia.com/2024/04/17/germanys-anti-palestine-crackdown-has-reached-a-new-low/
https://medium.com/peoples-world/in-germany-nazis-march-anti-fascists-stand-up-against-them-e650c5c51d1d
We've got the same case in the UK and Italy. When it is fascist, or far left or whathave you, it is freedom of speech, if it is a minority or palestine it becomes an act of treason. Europe, much like the US, is rotten
french-
Across the Western world, thousands of sick people are fighting to hang on to a sick way of life. But there's no stopping karma: that way of life is doomed.
mb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_2RGyUCYaU
It turns out that Israel has built concentration camps for Palestinians where they are tortured and murdered en masse. Some of the detainees are tortured by "doctors" who perform "surgeries" that are reminiscent of Dr. Mengele's crimes. It's clear that the Israelis are a bloodthirsty, sadistic people who often emulate the Nazis that butchered their ancestors. Obviously, any attempt to reason or bargain with Israel is a waste of time, just as it was with Nazi Germany. Israel has no conscience or self-restraint, so the international community must use deadly force to end this genocide.
Meanwhile, in the West, even the most anti-Israeli pundits and public figures demand nothing more severe than boycotting and protests, and refuse to consider the option of using military force to stop Israel. Apparently, Westerners think - often unconsciously - that white people should be allowed to do whatever they want to brown people.
David-
This is pretty ghastly. Netanyahu is psychotic, and Israeli sadism knows no bounds. Meanwhile, America funds this, and sends materiel; and all the talk about ceasefire or restraining Israel is just that--talk. This really makes me sick.
mb
Israel, the state, is starting its own brandi of concentration camps
https://youtu.be/w6xHUb9P_a8?si=Egkl-EtjhItYwd_U
And Israel, the people (or a brunch if them at least) don't think of their Arab counterparts as humans
https://youtu.be/3wfQtRgcZ_I?si=a06TiF1xxIeeXp6z
https://youtu.be/_0fLOPol9ao?si=FPTifoQahU4yhUOk
I have come to believe that peace in the middle east is impossible, and that the two states solution is impossible. Both because of Israel. A nation that considers much of it's population and all of its neighbors as subhumans, and that makes it a point to provoke the routinly, will never be at peace. My theory is that Israel fucked up the situation with the Nakba, and knowing that it is never going tonbe at peace, it chose hyper-violence as a strategy to intimidante, and maybe eliminate, its enemies. The enemies, of course, responses with violence, so Israel increases it's violence, which is met by violence etc, a vicious circle, or a symmetric schismogenesis (following Bateson). This violence cycle influences the national character of all its victimes, and we end up with situations such as now
french-
See link from David, above.
mb
MB,
I re-read this great interview of yours that The Atlantic published in 2013.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/how-americas-culture-of-hustling-is-dark-and-empty/278601/
Most interesting 2 me was the part about hiding from sadness. An example of this would be the sadness felt after the death of a close relative, friend, or beloved pet. I think humans in general tend to hide from this. And they have all sorts of smoke screens to shield themselves from it.
But if booze, tv & other things are ways to hide from sadness, how does one face it head-on?
Fly-
Check out my bk "Healing," maybe.
mb
Here is a video that covers the "highlights" of the last Sunday's morning news shows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8Er9DBoAaQ
What you see is a parade of psychopaths, one of the worst being Lindsey Graham, whose vitriol is ghoulish beyond measure. I found myself wanting to hurt the guy. He thinks mass murder by nuclear weapons in Japan was a great thing and that that justifies Israel committing mass murder in Gaza. Lovely.
Oh yeah, there's a clip of the disgusting Hillary Clinton bad-mouthing students protesting genocide in Gaza. No collection of clips featuring psychopaths is complete without Hillary Clinton.
ccg-
So many people need to be beaten severely and then thrown on a dung heap. I get exhausted just thinking about it.
Note that most Americans believe the nuking of Japan was necessary, and a feather in our cap.
mb
Red Lobster is in deep shit. It's closing 50+ restaurants all over Amerikkka & could possibly file 4 bankruptcy @ some pt.
https://www.businessinsider.com/red-lobster-closing-50-locations-california-new-york-florida-2024-5?op=1
The staff ain't happy about it, either...
https://www.businessinsider.com/red-lobster-staff-vent-online-furious-about-layoffs-restaurant-closures-2024-5
A popular restaurant chain going bust couldn't b a better metaphor 4 a failed nation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDOlPim1wc0
This video features American Zionists acting like the lunatic thugs they are. It seems to me that Zionism is a deep spiritual sickness - a limitless lust for power and violence. It surgically removes empathy and compassion from peoples' hearts and fills them with hatred.
https://www.nbcnews.com/jacksonville-shooting
Another day, another massacre in the great old US of A. These crimes are so common that Americans don't even bat an eyelash when they occur. They certainly won't do anything to prevent these massacres; they'll just offer "thoughts and prayers" (empty words). Any nation doesn't give a damn about the massacres that occur within its borders must be on its last legs.
Hi Dr. B,
I hope your trip to Houston was enjoyable.
I polished off Soul-Changers in a day. I then thought it might be fun to read about the lives of the poets you featured in the book. I discovered that our good friends at the NYT looked upon Robert Frost with disdain. That comes as no surprise. Below is a quote from Frost's Wikipedia page:
"In June 1922, the Vermont State League of Women's Clubs elected Frost as Poet Laureate of Vermont. When a New York Times editorial strongly criticized the decision of the Women's Clubs, Sarah Cleghorn and other women wrote to the newspaper defending Frost."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost
While I could not find a good reference to explain why the NYT criticized Frost in 1922, I did find a NYTRB article published in 1974 about Frost, and it too was highly critical of the poet:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/25/specials/frost-terror.html
It's a pity that the NYT can't appreciate that artists like Frost are very complex individuals who sometimes defy conventional categorizations. It's been that way since at least 1922.
Again, I greatly enjoyed reading your latest book, Soul-Changers. I look forward to Volume II!
Mike-
Glad u enjoyed it, amigo. If u wanna write a review, I won't stand in yr way. The NYT has shit for brains.
As for Houston: terrific success. 80 people showed up. 40 wept thru the program; 10 vomited; 5 went psychotic, and one guy took out a gun, screamed "I have nothing to live for," and blew his brains out. It was nice to see that I've still got the old magic. :-)
The show did get recorded, and the video guy told me he'd have a link for me in 6 wks. I'll post it at that time.
mb
This American Life:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/18/six-month-old-baby-shot-arizona-standoff
Meanwhile, as Russia advances on the Ukraine, America and NATO do what they do best: beat off. The whole failed caper turned into a beat-off fest. What self-defeating nonsense will we perpetrate next?
mb
Israelis: wonderful people!
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/opinion/israeli-palestine-psyche.html
Now here's a shock:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-17/former-facebook-dei-head-gets-5-years-in-prison-for-fraud
Social media's far-right isn't disaffected hillbillies from the holler. It's mostly contrarian urbanites and aristocrats.
America’s dime-store Nietzscheans
https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2024/05/americas-dime-store-nietzscheans
Glad to hear it was a great time, MB! Welcome back..
A road rager rams a vehicle. A woman stabs her boyfriend in the ass after a fight. An angry schmuck sets a family camper on fire. And another stupid road rager rams a pole with his vehicle. Check out these mugshots. Two of them are in their twenties. One is 31. They are this country’s rosy future! LOL!
https://winknews.com/2024/05/19/road-rage-domestic-violence-and-camper-fire/
https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/man-arrested-after-allegedly-fleeing-from-n-austin-road-rage-crash-colliding-into-pole
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
New Caledonia, a French colony basically, is erupting, they want independence. What happened is that the French government has passed a law giving French residents of 10 years the right to vote. French residents (settlers really) are 60 precent of the population and the new law seems to go against a previous agreement between the indeginous people and the French.
To show you what that means, in a 2020 independence referendum, the provinces with a majority of French settlers eligible for voting voted for stayin with France, while the provinces that had a majority of indeginous people voted to leave. The vote also reflected the French majority. With the new law, the indegenous population woukdn't have any saying in any matter, all within a democratic process.
The indeginous population believe it to be a colonial act, the French go there and decide how things go. And France, like the good colonial it is, is doing everything other than acknowledging the problem; like accusing Azerbaijan, thousands of miles away. (Reminds me of the US picking a fight with Chad)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abg8ZoQ-CQw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_New_Caledonian_independence_referendum
That's why I believe that colonisers have should have no political rights whatsoever, else they can become colonisers democratically.
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