Aronson : The New Atheists

Ronald Aronson, referring to Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, reflects on the New Atheists in the U.S. at The Nation (25.06.2007).

Aronson writes : "The success of the New Atheists may, however, reflect something significant among their audience. In the past generation in the United States, atheists, agnostics and secular humanists have been a timid minority--almost voiceless, often on the defensive, routinely derided, both warned against and ignored." -- "Almost voiceless"? Is it true? (not ironically, because I'm ignorant of the American religious scenes)

Well, should I upload the full text?

Pulvers : Class rifts widen as Japan's flag-wavers wax patriotic

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (03.06.2007). -- Analyzes how Japanese working poor increases.

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Onfray v. Sarkozy

New Statesman (04.06.2007) has a dialogue between Michel Onfray and Nicholas Sarkozy, a transcript from Philosophie Magazine (April) :

O: God is a fiction invented by people so they do not have to face the reality of their condition. Besides, I don't agree with the idea that religion is the only source of hope. You seem to ignore the role of philosophy. There is hope, meaning, not to mention reason and common sense, in the philosophical quest, where religion builds on the unreasonable.

S: I'm no more able to prove the existence of God than you are to deny it.

O: That's no good. It's the person who posits the existence of something who must be able to justify it.

S: I have always looked for happiness and, at times, I have even found it. And so? Should feeling happy encourage us to become idle? Is that your vision of philosophy? Let's enjoy it now, carpe diem, who cares about what tomorrow will bring?

On Pachinko

Japan Focus has an interesting article by Graham Brooks, Thomas Ellis and Chris Lewis on Pachinko and Japanese society. I hate such "a potentially addictive game" because it's too noisy and makes me sick. Aimez-vous Pachinko?

Jacoby : Infantile Liberalism

Russell Jacoby reviews Benjamin Barber, Consumed (Norton), at The Nation (21.05.2007) :

In the last section of the book Barber sketches out "a moderate and democratic way" to resist consumer capitalism. He wants to restore capitalism to "its primary role" as an efficient producer and to uphold the "democratic public" as the regulator of "our plural life worlds." But the weakness of his ideas shows through his PowerPoint presentations. He locates three types of consumer resistance and subversion: "I will discuss them under the rubrics cultural creolization, cultural carnivalization and cultural jamming." By creolization, he means the effort to turn market brands against the market, where commodification serves heretical groups or movements, like Hasidic rock, in which ultra-orthodox Gad Elbaz sets pious lyrics to throbbing rhythms. By "jamming" Barber means tactics derived mainly from Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters magazine. In Lasn's words, the jammers paint their "own bike lanes, reclaim streets, 'skull' Calvin Klein ads, and paste GREASE stickers on tables and trays at McDonald's restaurants."

The last Leninists may scoff at such stuff: What does this have to do with overcoming capitalism? This would be unfair. In an airless political universe, any sparks should be appreciated. However, it wouldn't be unfair to wonder at the sharp limits of this cultural subversion, about which Barber is well aware. As soon as he introduces his forms of cultural resistance, he notes how easily they get incorporated into the market. A coffee chain in India that challenges Starbucks--to Barber, inexplicably, an example of creolization--looks very much like an Indian Starbucks. The Adbuster jammers have launched their own brand of athletic sneakers, which takes on Nike. The "Unswoosher" not only is union-made and "earthly friendly" but comes with a red "sweet spot" on the toe "for kicking corporate ass." Nice, but isn't this just another hip brand, as subversive as Ben and Jerry's or Whole Foods?

On group suicide in Japan

"Let's Die Together" by David Samuels at The Atlantic (May 2007).

Download PDF (52.8KB).

Okinawa-gate : The Unknown Scandal

By Toko Sekiguchi at Time.com (01.05.2007). -- Is this the first English coverage on the Nishiyama case? The judicial and mass media are submissive to the then power holders. The separation of three powers sucks... Thanks to Sekiguchi-san.

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Interview with Yoko Ono

"All She Is Saying: Yoko Ono's Enduring Feminist Message" by Jessica Dawson at Washington Post (22.04.2007).

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Pons : Les yakuzas de plus en plus violents

Par Philippe Pons au Monde (19.04.2007).

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Pulvers : It was 40 (very different) years ago today . . .

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (15.04.2007).

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La francophonie, une réalité oubliée

Par Abdou Diouf au Monde (19.03.2007).

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Comment peut-on être français? : Max Gallo et Alain Finkielkraut

Propos recueillis par Jacques de Saint-Victor au Figaro (15.03.2007).

L’Âme de la France de Max Gallo, Fayard, 608 p., 23 €.

Qu’est-ce que la France ? Dirigé par Alain Finkielkraut, Stock, 432 p., 19,50 €.

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Pulvers : What is becoming of my grandfather's wisdom?

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (04.03.2007).

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Philippe Pons : Kamikazes malgré eux

Au Monde (14.02.2007).

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Pulvers : Mammon and myopia: Japan's governing '70s legacy

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (11.02.2007).

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Pulvers : Whatever befell Japan's heady '60s hopes?

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (04.02.2007).

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Milk beer called 'Bilk' to go on sale in Hokkaido

From Mainichi Daily News (31.01.2007). — Interesting. Full text transcript below. Anyone tried it?

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Pulvers : More than money was found wanting in "the lost decade"

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (28.01.2007).

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Michel Platini : "Je veux protéger le football''

Entretien avec Michel Platini, propos recueillis par Philippe Broussard à L'Express (26.01.2007).

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Pulvers : Ah, those good old bad old '80s days

By Roger Pulvres at The Japan Times (21.01.2007).

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Japan's Biggest Art Museum Opens With No Collection of Its Own

From Bloomberg (19.01.2007) :

After three decades and 35 billion yen ($289 million), Japan's newest and biggest art museum opens in Tokyo on Jan. 21. Does the capital really need another art venue?

The National Art Center, first proposed in the mid-1970s, is the third national government-run art museum in Tokyo and will compete with nine city government-run art museums and galleries along with hundreds of private venues in the metropolitan region. The popular Mori Art Museum and the newly relocated Suntory Museum of Art, opening March 30, are within 10 minutes walk. How to fill the cavernous 48,000 square meters (517,000 square feet) of floor space with exhibits the public will pay to see?

Homepage. Opens tomorrow.

What do you say in English or French : "Hakomono gyosei"?

Pulvers : Perish the thought that Japan may have god on its side

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (14.01.2007).

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Isaac Bashevis Singer Comes Back From Dead as the Anti-Theist

By Ron Rosenbaum at The NY Observer (08.01.2007 Issue). Reviews Florence Noiville, Isaac B. Singer : A Life, FSG (October 2006) :

It’s remarkable, however, the way commenters on the new Singer book have failed either to grasp or to articulate the seriousness of Singer’s position, its centrality to him and his work, and the significance it has for the atheism/theism debate.

None has seen fit to give a name to Singer’s Third Position in the debate. So I will: It’s not atheism, not theism, but rather anti-theism, a provocative, profoundly different stance from either of the others. Simply put, contrary to the atheists, Singer believes in a God, but, contrary to the theists, he doesn’t believe in a just, loving or merciful God; he believes in a God who doesn’t deserve worship, a God who deserves our condemnation.

Pulvers : Japan is 'beautiful' -- and don't you dare disagree

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (07.01.2007).

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Žižek : Denying the Facts, Finding the Truth

Slavoj Zizek (without accents) appears in The NY Times Op-Ed section. Is this the first time? :

The United States as a global policeman — why not? The post-cold-war situation effectively called for some global power to fill the void. The problem resides elsewhere: recall the common perception of the United States as a new Roman Empire. The problem with today’s America is not that it is a new global empire, but that it is not one. That is, while pretending to be an empire, it continues to act like a nation-state, ruthlessly pursuing its interests. It is as if the guiding vision of recent American politics is a weird reversal of the well-known motto of the ecologists — act globally, think locally.

Are you mad at the world? You might be certifiable

By Sharon Kirkey at Canada.com (29.12.2006) :

Dr. Ray DiGiuseppe's patients have thrown sandwiches at the person behind the deli counter because they didn't have the right amount of mayonnaise.

They brood for days about how much they hate someone and seethe over every slight, real or imagined. They have a roster of names on their "I'm never going to speak to that person again" list, and they're on a lot of other people's lists, too.

DiGiuseppe's patients are quite literally mad. They suffer "dysfunctional anger," a particular form of fury the New York psychologist wants formally classified a mental illness by having it included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (commonly known as the DSM), psychiatry's official nomenclature for mental illness.

The Aesthetics of Execution

By Am Johal at Scoop (03.01.2007) :

It is ironic, that in his final moments of life, Saddam Hussein, the half-baked ‘Butcher of Baghdad,’ appeared more dignified than his executioners – anonymous hooded police officers, randomly chosen, hastily carrying out last minute orders while taunting him. The cell phone video that was shown with a minute of advertising preceding it on Western media websites just added to the impromptu and anti-climactic nature of the event.

They were carrying out the red card that Hussein himself had issued on many others. It was like a World Cup match and the Muslims on the Hajj were infuriated.

But the execution was an amateur, botched operation which reeked of incompetence on the eve of a Muslim religious holiday. Apparently the execution chamber had a foul odour. Saddam was being sacrificed, partially for the violation of human rights, but also for not being a doormat to the American empire.