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Fear, Contagion, and Scapegoating – Oh my

Fear, Contagion, and Scapegoating – Oh my

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The figure of the “evil other” is a pre-ethical fixation for the religiously-minded paranoid. Everything that one most dislikes or finds threatening can be projected upon others and (usually symbolically) murdered in the age-old tradition of the scapegoat. Such projection engenders – and feeds upon – symbolic (and real) violence. Predatory on the people who cannot bear to examine themselves, leaders of such movements play on fears of contagion, defilement and stain from without – from the evil others –…

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Sick and Tired

Sick and Tired

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125,830 People I’m so sick and tired of being sick and tired. I’ve spiked a fever at 105 degrees, and hovered around 100-101 most of the rest of the time. Vertigo and light-headedness. Fatigue and balance problems. Coughing. Sneezing. Aching, but I can’t rest (and I won’t take that medicine). Crossing my fingers that it doesn’t go into bacterial pneumonia like in many other cases. It’s been a week now, and I’ve racked up five sick days at work. That’s…

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Sleepy Sunday

Sleepy Sunday

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I’m having a nice lazy sleepy day today. I worked really hard yesterday, and so the house is all straightened up and very pleasant. Yesterday, I had the extra bonus of having our rugs professionally cleaned and disinfected (if you live in the Atlanta area, I highly recommend them). Spent a little time under the full moon last night – so serene and comforting. After my morning coffee, I played with the kitten, and caught up on Facebook, and listened…

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Gettin’ into the Mood

Gettin’ into the Mood

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For Hallowe’en, that is. I had a heck of a time changing the theme and updating some plugins, but all is well now. We’ve got a scary creature set up at the door. The kid’s costume is set. For those that don’t celebrate Hallowe’en, I have my own plans (muah-haahahahaha). It’s been kind of strange and upsetting period with me lately, but things are getting better all the time. I get a kind of wanderlust in the fall, but I…

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Too Much Lately

Too Much Lately

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Sorry that I’ve not written anything in a while. I’m concentrating on sailing through choppy waters in most of the aspects of my daily existence. I’ve lost a dear mentor and friend from University of Massachusetts, and I’m not ready to write about it yet. I’m also still thinking about other deaths… My mom has just moved from intensive care to a rehab hospital after breaking ribs and puncturing her lung. I’m grieved about the escalation of hatred from some…

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On Evil

On Evil

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I was re-reading a dissertation exam question, and I was somewhat surprised to discover that there has been no real transformation in my views on evil in more than a decade. Question: Compare the language of cause, analysis, description, and solution to evil in Augustine, Nietzsche, Schüssler-Fiorenza and one author of your choice (Buber). Identify juxtapositions, similarities, opposition, etc., amongst the authors, and situate your own view. The text of Augustine’s Confessions constructs an aesthetic metaphysics from within a post-Manichaean…

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