Politics, Arts and Culture in Flyover America
Are We The World’s Most Gullible People?
“Fear is the main source of superstition.” — Bertrand Russell/Unpopular Essays (1950) In the spring of 1844, almost 17 years to the day before the opening shots of the Civil War would be fired upon U.S. troops stationed in South Carolina, the New York Sun reported on page one the “astounding news” that aeronaut Monck…
Lessons Learned and Not Learned from the 1918 Flu Epidemic
The deadly flu pandemic of 1918, which began in the United States and ended up killing upwards of 60 million people and infecting about 500 million – about a third of the world’s population — caught the world off guard and set off a literally life-and-death struggle to stop it. In 1918, much of the…
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The Bitter Heartland: Toxic Class Resentment Among Rural and Small-town Americans
We are living in an age of resentment, a sentiment that often leads to anger but is not the same thing. Resentment shapes today’s politics, especially but not exclusively on the right. It is dangerous, especially if ignored. Resentment is literally an emotion that is “felt again,” repeatedly. Anger can be transitory; it can flare…
Read more The Bitter Heartland: Toxic Class Resentment Among Rural and Small-town Americans