Monthly Archives: September 2018

Coda: The Myth of Growth The goal of Survivor, now in its 37th season, is to manipulate and scheme against other participants until only one winner is left. Its longevity exemplifies the American dogma of unlimited economic growth, which teaches … Continue reading →

The Paradox of the Outsider The redemption hero, like Christ, leaves once his work is done. He must leave; he came from somewhere else, and he must return. It should be clear by now how this mythology has had a … Continue reading →

Myth is conveyed – and consumed – in narratives and images. So it is important to understand our most fundamental mythic image. The American obsession with individualism has been built up and buttressed by three centuries of stories, repeated in … Continue reading →

American Dualities All societies confront the perennial conflict between individual and community. America’s emphasis on individualism and its puritanical shadow produced a bewildering series of dualities that express, temporarily resolve and often cover up this tension. Fear: For every story … Continue reading →

Mobility Our sacred notion of mobility — the freedom to move — evokes one of our most enduring themes: the New Start. Always, one could pull up stakes, move on, start a new church, change one’s name, dream a new … Continue reading →

An earlier version of this essay was published in 2013 as the introductory chapter in Uncivil Liberties: Deconstructing Libertarianism, published by the Praxis Peace Institute. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself. – Ivan Boesky This is America. … Continue reading →

Look, I won’t deny my strong opinions, and I invite conversations that don’t descend into ridicule. But I’ve only been focusing on vaccination because it’s so critical to understand how many progressives are allowing themselves to be diverted from important … Continue reading →

But as always, my greater interest is in considering the mythological implications, because our American attitudes, our American prejudices, our American blindness and naiveté are determined by the unconscious ways in which we attend to our American myths. And to … Continue reading →

Then we have the question of who is “fair and balanced,” as Fox News once described itself (significantly, they don’t any longer). Of course, the press and most journals of opinion have always claimed to offer opposing points of view … Continue reading →