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2024-02-20
In response to the many shortcomings of the Soviet Union, Mao Zedong’s China, and Venezuela, the refrain, “It wasn’t real socialism,” has emerged as a rallying cry among apologists of socialism. Some readily admit the failures of these regimes and attribute the failures to capitalism rather than socialism. Some refuse to recognize the failure whatsoever; they see these experiments as genuine instances of “real socialism” and perceive them to be unequivocal successes.
How can this happen? Don’t we have mountains of evidence that these regimes were catastrophic failures? That is definitely the case, but these socialists also claim to have mountains of evidence in their favor—at least enough to catch a capitalist off guard. Most Americans have been taught their whole lives that the USSR was
2023-11-22
With the release of Ridley Scott’s new film Napoleon, viewers encounter a cinematic version of Napoleon caught up in a tumultuous romance against the backdrop of the upheavals of the Napoleonic wars.
This has revived interest in the French military commander and left many wondering what they are to make of the real, historical Napoleon. For many Americans in the audience—who, unlike Europeans, devote virtually no time to Napoleon in school—this may be the first time they’ve thought much about Napoleon at all.
Overall, this question certainly isn’t new. Napoleon does not have a reputation like Hitler, for example. Even people who have never read a history book in their lives know they’re not supposed to like that guy. Nor are we routinely told that Napoleon is benign like, say, George
2023-11-21
It has become popular, especially in certain fields and among certain crowds, to glorify failure. So-called entrepreneurs and social influencers often brag about their failures. Multinational corporations publish poems encouraging failure. Vapid mottos rejecting the fear of failure are ubiquitous on motivational posters and T-shirts.
These efforts are apparently meant to convey an enterprising spirit and a fearlessness about trying new things in an effort to push the boundaries of a particular field.
While there’s tremendous value in attempting to achieve something worthwhile despite the risk of failure, failure itself is never the goal. And “learning from our failures” is part of the process of success, not an end in itself. Rejecting the fear of failure is not only impossible but harmful
2023-11-20
Regardless of one’s opinion on Israel and Palestine, people can agree that killing innocent civilians, wherever they’re from, is horrible, and whoever takes hostages for bargaining chips in negotiations is a horrific human being.
Such is the case of the ongoing siege of Gaza. One has to wonder why Hamas decided that the best course of action was to commit atrocities and kidnap civilians, only to elicit a response amounting to war crimes against Gaza, where most of the people didn’t approve of their actions. While Hamas is starting to realize what they did might contribute to the end of Gaza as we know it, some people disagree and argue that what happened in Southern Israel was justified.
Of course, I’m talking about the next generation of scholars, doctors, and engineers from
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