American public opinion tends to shades of black and white. As a nation, we are uncomfortable with ambiguity. We want to see international conflicts as contests between “good guys” and “bad guys.” We want to pin domestic problems on specific villains.
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Category Archives: Random Blogging
A Letter to Max
I’d like to use this month’s column to write a letter to my newest grandson.
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My Friend Harrison
Words rarely fail me, as my family and friends frequently point out. But when I was asked to write about what Harrison Ullmann meant to this City and those of us who care about it, I suddenly found words…
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The Important Third Sector
A recurring criticism of academic life is that it is too theoretical. The public tends to be impatient with basic research; we want instant gratification, and often the practical applications of scholarship do not become evident for decades. That’s why a project researching Indiana nonprofits underway at Indiana University is so exciting: the results of the work will be both important and almost immediately useful.
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Confusing Sin with Crime
Is anyone else sick of hearing Katie Couric discuss semen-spotted dresses? Does anyone else find graphic discussion by pontificating network anchors about presumed Presidential sexual behavior unseemly? The other day, I picked up a newspaper: Monica Lewinsky had the front page pretty much to herself, the fact that…
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