Tag Archives: weimar republic

George Packer: Have Reason and Dialogue Completely Lost Their Holds on Our Times?

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

George Packer, a staff writer at the New Yorker, in a blog post that nails our historical moment with perfect pitch, is something that should be read in its entirety. It can be found here. Below are two quotes from it. The … Continue reading →

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Drinking Coca-Cola in Weimar

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

Below is an Egyptian ad for Coca-Cola, and in watching it I can’t help but think of 1920s Weimar. Urban Muslims, living in Cairo, can welcome a bit of homoerotic humor. Like Berlin in the 1920s, city dwellers today tend to be … Continue reading →

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What Would Martin Niemoller Say About the Cordoba Mosque Near the 9-11 Site?

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

What would the German Protestant Pastor, Martin Niemöller, say about contemporary Christian nationalists (which I would call American Herderites) who brand their fellow American Muslims with collective guilt for 9-11, and seek to prevent them, because of this collective guilt, from … Continue reading →

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Why I Worry about the Tea Party Authoritarians

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

I would like to see a moderate conservative party with sane politicians that balance Democratic excesses. But since Barack Obama’s election Republicans have been getting rewarded for running to the political margins of the far right. My fear is that … Continue reading →

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In Washington D.C., a Tea Bag Protester Expresses Longing for a Blown-Up Capitol Building

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Sounding like a 1920s German fascist or communist impatient with bourgeois parliamentary democracy in the Weimar Republic, Salon.com reports that a tea bag protester expressed his wish that, on 9/11, our nation’s Congressional building had simply been obliterated. This is really illiberal creepy … Continue reading →

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Three Books I Recommend for Reflection Upon the Authoritarian, Fascist, and Anti-Semitic Mind

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

The Authoritarian Spectre, by Robert Altemeyer. Altemeyer is a social psychologist at the University of Toronto. The book as a whole is excellent, but there is a chapter in particular on how people read Holocaust denial literature that is especially … Continue reading →

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