W.J. Astore This summer marks the 100th anniversary of World War I. Today in my daily “alert” from The New York Times, there are five articles related to the war. Steven Erlanger writes about how the war brought fundamental changes to the world; Jim Yardley writes about the Yanks in the Second Battle of the…
Stuart Lyle. Introduction by William Astore. Ah, the Smart Phone generation. I see my students gazing into them, texting with them, flipping through photos, watching videos, taking photos, you name it. Smart phones promise to link us together, but they paradoxically encourage selfish and anti-social behavior as well. People are more atomistic and narcissistic as…
b. traven A dimwit president and his neo conservative handlers have left a feckless president and his neo liberal handlers a conflicted, imponderable, and explosive world we now live in. Obama, with the same nationalistic hubris of his predecessor has pivoted our massive sea power to the Pacific and Far East to thwart what he…
Andy Piascik Summer approaches and the stench of war is all around. Or, as the great Bob Marley put it, Everywhere is War. Start with the commemorations over a five-week span of Memorial Day, Flag Day and Independence Day, all presented varyingly as celebrations of our war dead, symbols of our greatness, the freedoms we…
By Don Rose I wonder how much thought the White House gave to the political implications of releasing the Environmental Protections Agency’s new coal emissions standards at this time—five months before the mid-term elections? I’m not concerned about the usual rhetorical attacks from climate-change deniers or even lambasting from the coal industry and its economic…
Richard Sahn Recently, I came across a post on Facebook that reminded me of the Cold War era in the 1960s. The caption read: “Biggest question I ask people who say bad things about this country. Why are you still living here?” I dare say there are millions of Americans who share this FB “friend’s”…
Daniel N. White. Introduction by William Astore. I taught at the college level for fifteen years. Education, I’m convinced, is about motivated students, skilled teachers, and supportive parents, families, and friends. Put those three together and you’re bound to get good results. Yet there’s always a search for a magic bullet, a shortcut to success.…
By Michael Murry. Introduction by William Astore. In 2007 I wrote an article for TomDispatch entitled, “If We Lose Iraq, You’re to Blame.” Its premise was the notion that those most responsible for losing Iraq (Bush/Cheney and Crew) would succeed in deflecting blame from themselves and shifting it onto anyone who opposed the war. Turns…
The Militarized Realities of Fortress America By William J. Astore (Featured at TomDispatch.com) I spent four college years in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and then served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. In the military, especially in basic training, you have no privacy. The government owns you. You’re “government issue,” just another G.I., a…
W.J. Astore Readers of The Contrary Perspective are privileged to read the searing “polemical” poetry of Mike Murry. A Vietnam veteran, Murry writes insightfully and powerfully about U.S. culture and history. His poems are challenging in the best way, because they challenge us to think again about America’s legacy and the harm we often inflict,…
The Contrary Perspective 