The Roundup Top Ten for June 4, 2021
What We Believe About Historyby Kristin Kobes Du Mez"Understanding that beliefs have a history does not preclude a commitment to truths outside of history. But it does prompt believers to consider how historical forces and cultural allegiances may have shaped their own deeply held convictions." |
Anti-Vaxxers are Claiming Centuries of Jewish Suffering to Look like Martyrsby Sarah E. Bond"Anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers would have us believe that the evil of being encouraged to get a vaccine is the same as the project of ethnic labeling and cleansing undertaken by the Third Reich. It appears at first a farcical analogy, but it’s not without its dangers." |
Beyond the Nation-Stateby Claire VergerioMuch of what has been told about the rise of the nation-state from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 is wrong. Reevaluating the history of the nation-state is essential for conceptualizing solutions to local and global problems that defy the logic of the nation-state. |
The Racist Roots of Campus Policingby Eddie R. ColeCampus police forces often trace their origins to moments when Black demands for expanded housing opportunity clashed with universities' ambitions for expansion or desire to maintain white residential areas near their campuses. |
The Unbearable Easiness of Killingby Arie M. Dubnov"As a colleague justly commented, it is only helpful to call a situation ‘complicated’ if one is committed to unfolding the package, willing to examine its contents and prepared to be surprised by what one finds hidden inside." |
How Cruelty Became the Point of Our Labor and Welfare Policiesby Gail SavageThe persistence of Malthusian thinking in social welfare debates is leading to policies that create needless suffering and a corrosion of the common bonds of humanity that sustain a society. |
The Reconstruction Origins of "Black Wall Street"by Alexandra E. SternUnderstanding Tulsa's Black Wall Street as a product of the rise and fall of Reconstruction helps to think more productively about how the Tulsa massacre speaks to the policy problems of racial justice. |
It’s Time to Break Up the Ivy League Cartelby Sam Haselby and Matt StollerIvy League institutions have an unfair hold on the distribution of opportunity and on the diversity of ideas in America and the world. |
James Meredith Reminds Us that Powerful Movements can Include those with Very Different Ideasby Aram GoudsouzianMeredith’s historical meaning is slippery, but that very inability to pin him down can teach important lessons – not only for how to remember the 1960s, but for how to think about social change. |
Race, Free Speech, and the Purge of Campus Blasphemersby Jonathan ZimmermanAn adjunct literature instructor at St. John's University has fallen victim to an adminstration's desire to make complex teaching challenges – like how to evaluate Twain's use of racial slurs in the context of satire – into simple rules. |