The casualties at Qana are horrific. The visuals are heartrending, and the details sorrowful–especially the predominance of women and children among the dead. We are biologically predisposed to want to protect children–to love them, to smile when we see them. … Continue reading →
The news was all but inevitable: the bodies of the two missing soldiers have been found in Iraq, and spokespeople say they have been “tortured in a barbaric fashion.” No details have as yet been provided. Pajamas Media has a … Continue reading →
Mudville Gazette covers the killing of Iraqi journalist Atwar Bahjat (see NOTE below). If you haven’t yet read a description of how this 30-year old woman was brutally and tortuously murdered, I warn you that it’s very strong stuff. I … Continue reading →
It seems to be an almost inevitable part of the ritual of the Haj, despite all the efforts (and they’ve been considerable) of the Saudi government to prevent it: a stampede that kills large numbers of pilgrims. I wrote this … Continue reading →
Norman Geras is a man who has thought long and hard about the Holocaust. Recently, he tackled the controversial question of whether the Holocaust was, “in some significant moral sense, singular or unique in the long catalogue of calamities that … Continue reading →
In my recent “sheep to sheepdog” post, the following question was posed here in the comments section: Richard, I hope NNC really thinks about your question: what do the sheepdogs think about the sheep? Because they prolly have some superior … Continue reading →
There are all types of bloggers. I’m a practitioner of the long essay form, for example. And Bill Whittle is a practitioner of the LONG esssay form. When you write LONG, as Bill does, you have to be very very … Continue reading →
Next weekend is the fourth anniversary of 9/11. No doubt many will commemorate that solemn day; whether in ceremonies, private meditation and thought, donations and other acts of remembrance, or by writing about it. But this past weekend was the … Continue reading →
The news is terribly familiar: a suicide bomber in Israel, at a Beersheba bus stop this time. We breathe a sigh of relief to hear that the death toll so far is limited to the bomber himself, although two security … Continue reading →
[For Part I, go here.] It doesn’t take a therapist to note that many people, when struck by the tragic loss of a loved one, are angry as well as sad. That anger can be unleashed in a variety of … Continue reading →
In this thread about the decision to drop the atomic bomb, anonymous asks: Why didn’t they drop a nuke on an unpopulated area and say, ‘See that goddamn horror? We’ll drop another one on your heads in two days if … Continue reading →
Both Austin Bay and Clive Davis recently cited this famous essay by literary critic Paul Fussell in their posts on the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. I had read Fussell’s 1988 essay, provocatively titled “God Bless … Continue reading →