April 28, 2008
April 27, 2008
It's All Part of My Plan
I'm going to start putting my pants on both legs at a time to disarm the critics of my future hagiographers.
"Lawn may be a great man, but he still puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us."
"Actually, that's not true. And it seems that a trend is catching on--or didn't you notice?"
"Well, uh, he's, uh, still human."
"Actually...."
"Lawn may be a great man, but he still puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us."
"Actually, that's not true. And it seems that a trend is catching on--or didn't you notice?"
"Well, uh, he's, uh, still human."
"Actually...."
April 25, 2008
April 18, 2008
Keeping up with the Murakamis
Here is an excellent site for news and other resources about Haruki Murakami and his work.
April 17, 2008
Overheard in New York
I get the top ten quotes emailed to me each week, and I'd say it's worth two minutes of my time. Genuine or not, there are usually a few gems, such as:
New Yorkers Are Ultra-Sensitive About Color
Guy at bar: And so I keep trying to tell my wife that sienna is not a color.
Girl passing by: Yes it is! Burnt sienna is a crayon you slanderous prick!
--Restaurant, Bleecker Street
Who Knew Getting to Grandmother's House Would Be This Hard?
Chick, a little buzzed: Fleetwood, crestwood, woodlawn ... There's so much wood on this train I can't concentrate.
Boyfriend: [stares at her wide-eyed].
Chick: Oh my god, did I just say that?
Boyfriend: Yes, and at least five guys heard it.
Random guy: I'm one.
--Metro North
Overheard by: I'm two
New Yorkers Are Ultra-Sensitive About Color
Guy at bar: And so I keep trying to tell my wife that sienna is not a color.
Girl passing by: Yes it is! Burnt sienna is a crayon you slanderous prick!
--Restaurant, Bleecker Street
Who Knew Getting to Grandmother's House Would Be This Hard?
Chick, a little buzzed: Fleetwood, crestwood, woodlawn ... There's so much wood on this train I can't concentrate.
Boyfriend: [stares at her wide-eyed].
Chick: Oh my god, did I just say that?
Boyfriend: Yes, and at least five guys heard it.
Random guy: I'm one.
--Metro North
Overheard by: I'm two
April 15, 2008
Some Thoughts on the Death Penalty
In the second half of my Culture and Law seminar, each week we read a draft of a forthcoming article and submit questions to its author. Then the author presents the paper, and we discuss it. This week's paper is by David Garland, and it outlines the changes in capital punishment's forms and functions throughout history. Here are my questions:
1. What are the primary reasons for the modern cultural anxiety about the death penalty in the West? Since your article surveys an extensive time period, you understandably give very general answers to this question. For example: “The fading of capital punishment’s religious aspects”; “the contradiction between traditional conceptions of justice and the newer sense that state violence should be strictly limited and human life carefully preserved and protected”; “the death penalty’s use would be framed as a moral duty that treated individuals as ends, or a utilitarian deterrent that saved human lives....At the same time and for the same reasons, the institution comes increasingly to be surrounded by anxiety, embarrassment, and euphemism." Incidentally, I’m curious about the rationale (“for the same reasons”) of this last explanation. Why do “anxiety, embarrassment, and euphemism” follow from the death penalty being justified on criminological and humanitarian grounds? Suppose the death penalty were indeed effective in these regards; might people feel differently? That said, I’d like to know what specifically you think is responsible for the cultural shift away from capital punishment. Offhand, a few things come to mind. First, people may increasingly believe that all offenders deserve a chance at reform, even reform behind bars; people change (criminal tendencies decline sharply with age), and the state should not completely give up on anyone. Second, people may view the death penalty as inherently brutal (e.g., the violence of the electric chair, the possible pain and/or awareness of the lethally injected). Third, there’s the issue of capital punishment’s unique efficacy as a deterrent, which is dubious at best. Finally, there’s the problem of widespread systemic injustice – particularly, racially motivated death sentences and the executions of innocent people. Which, if any, of these concerns has weighed most heavily on the minds of the general public?
2. I can’t help but ask about “American exceptionalism” with respect to the developed world. What makes us an outlier? Does religion play a role? Is our culture more embracing of retribution? The modern death penalty is clearly not significant for most, if any, state criminal justice systems. Executions are rare, delayed, private, sanitized, and troubling events, reserved for the ugliest and most marginalized offenders. Nevertheless, voters seem to care.
3. How do you think the death penalty has, in turn, affected our culture? I often hear arguments along the lines of “capital punishment brutalizes society,” but they strike me as mostly rhetorical and emotional. Do you think the existence of the death penalty has made people more inclined to view criminals as animalistic, barbaric, and – despite the tension with the previous qualities – evil? Has capital punishment affected people’s general attitudes toward death?
1. What are the primary reasons for the modern cultural anxiety about the death penalty in the West? Since your article surveys an extensive time period, you understandably give very general answers to this question. For example: “The fading of capital punishment’s religious aspects”; “the contradiction between traditional conceptions of justice and the newer sense that state violence should be strictly limited and human life carefully preserved and protected”; “the death penalty’s use would be framed as a moral duty that treated individuals as ends, or a utilitarian deterrent that saved human lives....At the same time and for the same reasons, the institution comes increasingly to be surrounded by anxiety, embarrassment, and euphemism." Incidentally, I’m curious about the rationale (“for the same reasons”) of this last explanation. Why do “anxiety, embarrassment, and euphemism” follow from the death penalty being justified on criminological and humanitarian grounds? Suppose the death penalty were indeed effective in these regards; might people feel differently? That said, I’d like to know what specifically you think is responsible for the cultural shift away from capital punishment. Offhand, a few things come to mind. First, people may increasingly believe that all offenders deserve a chance at reform, even reform behind bars; people change (criminal tendencies decline sharply with age), and the state should not completely give up on anyone. Second, people may view the death penalty as inherently brutal (e.g., the violence of the electric chair, the possible pain and/or awareness of the lethally injected). Third, there’s the issue of capital punishment’s unique efficacy as a deterrent, which is dubious at best. Finally, there’s the problem of widespread systemic injustice – particularly, racially motivated death sentences and the executions of innocent people. Which, if any, of these concerns has weighed most heavily on the minds of the general public?
2. I can’t help but ask about “American exceptionalism” with respect to the developed world. What makes us an outlier? Does religion play a role? Is our culture more embracing of retribution? The modern death penalty is clearly not significant for most, if any, state criminal justice systems. Executions are rare, delayed, private, sanitized, and troubling events, reserved for the ugliest and most marginalized offenders. Nevertheless, voters seem to care.
3. How do you think the death penalty has, in turn, affected our culture? I often hear arguments along the lines of “capital punishment brutalizes society,” but they strike me as mostly rhetorical and emotional. Do you think the existence of the death penalty has made people more inclined to view criminals as animalistic, barbaric, and – despite the tension with the previous qualities – evil? Has capital punishment affected people’s general attitudes toward death?
April 14, 2008
I Paint, Therefore I Am
"Elephants win at life" is what James said when he sent me this amazing video of a pachyderm painting a self-portrait. Would that we weren't trying to get them a game over.
The Nietzschean War
"I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation." -- Nietzsche, The Gay Science (emphasis in original)
Fitting that the creators of the abyss are reluctant to gaze into it.
Fitting that the creators of the abyss are reluctant to gaze into it.
April 13, 2008
Bamboozled
Bamboo epitomizes life: It grows, and it persists. It evinces what Werner Herzog, in Grizzly Man, saw in the bears' eyes: "the overwhelming indifference of nature." Just ask Randy Bothwell.
Iwata Asks
Nintendo's president, Satoru Iwata, interviews people involved in making Wii games, such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
April 12, 2008
Amsterdam
Anthony Amsterdam is an incredible lawyer who has tirelessly, (com)passionately, and masterfully battled the death penalty for over four decades. He successfully argued Furman v. Georgia, in which the Supreme Court held that the state's arbitrary and inconsistent (read: capricious and racially discriminatory) application of capital punishment violated the Eighth Amendment. My law journal recently dedicated its annual dedication issue to him. It was inspiring to hear various colleagues and students of his pay tribute. It made me wish I'd prepared for a career in appellate litigation. Amsterdam began his acceptance speech with one of many attempts at modestly stemming the tide of praise, roughly: "In the story of Paul Bunyan, which the panelists have reworked, he was accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. So it is not surprising that they have given you such a load of bull!" Far from it, apparently.
Greatly Exaggerated
My blog is not dood; reports of his doodness have been greatly exaggerated. Here is my blog's official statement on the matter:
Friends, strangers, enemies,
I understand why some of you may have imagined me in protracted death throes--multiple reasons come to mind--but I assure you that my past month has been dominated by a very different activity: incubation. Yes, all of that milkweed consumption was not for naught. I have emerged from my cocoon more poisonous than ever, but without any cautionary garishness. (I am above the laws of nature.)
Now, whether you consider my metamorphosis an evolution is up to you. That said, be thankful that I live at all! My content will now consist chiefly of interesting links with brief commentary.
Friends, strangers, enemies,
I understand why some of you may have imagined me in protracted death throes--multiple reasons come to mind--but I assure you that my past month has been dominated by a very different activity: incubation. Yes, all of that milkweed consumption was not for naught. I have emerged from my cocoon more poisonous than ever, but without any cautionary garishness. (I am above the laws of nature.)
Now, whether you consider my metamorphosis an evolution is up to you. That said, be thankful that I live at all! My content will now consist chiefly of interesting links with brief commentary.
Tread lightly,
The Dumping Ground
The Dumping Ground
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