TLP Week in Review, 10/29-11/4
TLP Week in Review, 10/29-11/4
Your weekly summary of what we've been up to here at The Liberal Patriot.
What We’re Reading (and Watching and Listening To…)
“The Decolonization Narrative is Dangerous and False”: Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore takes “decolonial” activists to task for embracing a fashionable ideology that provides a ready pretext where “otherwise rational people excuse, deny, or support barbarity.” A “toxic, historically nonsensical mix of Marxist theory, Soviet propaganda, and traditional anti-Semitism from the Middle Ages and the 19th century,” this ideology has “replaced traditional universalist leftist values, including internationalist standards of decency and respect for human life and the safety of innocent civilians.”
“The Ultimate Condescension Toward Palestinians”: Linguist and commentator John McWhorter blasts progressives who excuse or cheerlead for the mass murder perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 as condescending and indulging in “a kind of patronizing racism in the idea that slaughtering innocent people equates to noble freedom fighting, as if this were the only way to respond to oppression.”
“A 2023 Election Mega-Preview”: Election day is coming up and Sabato's Crystal Ball has you covered! J. Myles Coleman and Kyle Kondik provide the best guide out there to what's on the menu for next Tuesday.
“The darkness of the secret world: Mick Herron and John Gray in conversation”: In The New Statesman, philosopher John Gray and popular writer Mick Herron of the Slough House series (including the book Slow Horses) discuss the world of espionage and how today's spies—real and imagined—are nothing like the Cold War legends of the past. As Mick Herron explains: "We [authors] like to look at the underside. What you were saying before about the characters discussing how much they spend on rent and whether they can afford to turn the heating on—these are real concerns... It’s important to me that my characters are living in the contemporary world."
Pluto: A new anime series on Netflix, Pluto follows the story of an AI robot detective “Gesicht” on the hunt for a serial killer trying to take out the world's most advanced robots and their human companions—if it sounds nerdy, it is in all the best ways. The visually stunning show was created by Naoki Urasawa based on a plot line from the original “Astro Boys” manga series created by Osamu Tezuka.
Making It So: Sir Patrick Stewart’s memoir tells the story of his rise from a hardscrabble, working-class Yorkshire upbringing to Royal Shakespeare Company player, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise, and beyond. A fascinating portrait of post-war Britain and the appeal of acting as a profession liberally sprinkled with anecdotes from Stewart’s long career, from Shakespeare to Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Tortoise @ Black Cat. The Chicago post-rock luminaries are on a short tour including a stop in Washington this Sunday night. Come on by for a heady mix of rock, jazz, dub, and electronic sounds heard on 90’s classic albums like TNT and Millions Now Living Will Never Die.
What We’ve Posted
“Preventing a Wider Middle East War,” by TLP contributor and American Enterprise Institute fellow Katherine Zimmerman.
“The Progressive Left Is a Paper Tiger,” by TLP politics editor Ruy Teixeira.
“Immigration Small Ball,” by journalist and first-time TLP contributor Jordan Heller.
“Mission Impossible: Why calls for a ceasefire in Gaza will be ignored unless they take Israel’s security concerns into account and make concrete demands of Hamas,” by TLP senior managing editor Peter Juul.
“Sick and Tired of the News?” by TLP editor-in-chief John Halpin.
“Beyond Market Access,” by Mohammed Soliman, director of the Middle East Intitute’s Strategic Technologies and Cyber Security Program.
Ruy’s Science-Fiction Pulp Cover of the Week
Just one more thing…
NASA’s Lucy robotic explorer flew by the asteroid Dinkinesh—the first of ten planned asteroid encounters during the mission—and discovered a second, smaller asteroid orbiting the main target.
