Shakespeare’s King Lear gives a good (accurate and artistic) accounting of what happens when a powerful leader descends into madness. Lear is impressed by the flattery he receives from two of his daughters, and leaves his kingdom to them, ignoring the third daughter, who is more circumspect and honest in what she says. The play is a tragedy because it does not end well for any of the main characters. Although the play is “fiction” in that Lear was not a “real” king, the characters are based on common historical events. History shows how common it has been for those . . . → Read More: King Lear in Charge
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 Comments are closed  Blog  Agincourt, battle, Battle of Hastings, civil wars, commoners, corporations, crew, Earl Landgrebe, ethnicity, golden parachute, gossip, history, King Lear, living in interesting times, madness, Magna Carta, media, news, newspapers, Nixon, Paul Simon, race, radio, reporting, royalty, self-interest, Shakespeare, Slip Slidin' Away, town crier, troops, Trump, TV, Watergate, we the people Back in 1994, Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray wrote a book, The Bell Curve, pointing out an inconvenient truth: half the population has below average intelligence. While much of what they said was considered controversial for a variety of reasons, the basic concept is incontrovertible. Half the population is below average when it comes to intelligence. George Carlin said, “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. In and of itself, that isn’t a major problem, as intelligence does not account for the main differences in human behavior. It . . . → Read More: The Bell Curve Comments are closed Blog agnosticism, behavioral psychologists, bell curve, blood and soil, Bob Dylan, Charles Murray behavior, Charlottesville, corruption, drug costs, ethnicity, European descent, George Carlin, George Harrison, hippies, homeless, honesty, human intelligence, Humira, hunting, intelligence, Malcolm Gladwell, mass shootings, Masters of War, militia, morality, National Rifle Association, NRA, Peace and Love, politicians, power, power corrupts, religion, Richard J. Herrnstein, Second Amendment, self-defense, Steven Pinker, The Tipping Point, tipping point, Tom Lehrer The question, “Are we there yet,” is a cliché of traveling with children. We expect adults, even those grown weary with traveling, to have a better understanding of how long it takes to get from Point A to Point B. This blog entry is about our collective journey from racism to a “postracial” culture. It was prompted by recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, following yet another police shooting of an unarmed black teenager. The policeman, as is usually the case, was white. One such shooting isn’t the real issue, of course. The problem is that this one was just one . . . → Read More: Are We There Yet? Comments are closed Blog are we there yet, Black Muslims, Brown v. Board of Education, Cherokee, College of Wooster, DNA, English, equality, ethnicity, Ferguson, Filipino, Hadrian, Hadrian's Wall, interracial dating, James Brown, Los Altos, Martin Luther King, Mexican, Missouri, Mt. View, Muhammed Speaks, Nashville, Norwegian, Palo Alto, Pict, Pitt, police, police shooting, post-racial, postracial, race, race riots, racial, racism, Roman Emperor, San Jose, Santa Clara, segregation, Stanford University, Sub-Sarahan Africa, Supreme Court, Swett's Restaurant, U.S. Army, University of Illinois, University of Redlands, Vietnam, Watts, white privilege, white separatist |
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