… a new, twice-weekly feature of The Liberal Buddhist blog.
Designed in the increasingly popular format of an email newsletter, posts in the Current Comment series will highlight a few selected essays of political commentary that I’ve read during the most recent three and half days. Each item included will consist of three parts:
- A sentence or two from me, introducing the topic and identifying the author and/or source.
- An excerpt from the essay, quoting (and, in some cases, eliding) one or two paragraphs that particularly resonated with me.
- A link to the full text of the essay.
Here’s a sample illustrating how two recent opinion pieces would be featured in a Current Comment post:
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(1) New York Times columnist Frank Bruni wonders, and worries, about where Trump is leading the country as election day approaches …
“We’re in terrible danger. Make no mistake. This country, already uncivil, is on the precipice of being ungovernable, because its institutions are being so profoundly degraded, because its partisanship is so all-consuming, and because Trump, who rode those trends to power, is now turbocharging them to drive America into the ground. ‘Tribal,’ ‘identity politics,’ ‘fake news’ and ‘hoax’ are now mainstays of our vocabulary, indicative of a world where facts and truth are suddenly relative. Yes, there were conspiracy theories and there was viciously ugly feuding before, but there were no Facebook or Twitter to accelerate the sorting of people into ideological cliques and to pour accelerant on the fires of their suspicion and resentment. Those fires are burning hot, with dire implications for what happens after Nov. 3.”
(2) The editors of The New Yorker endorse Joe Biden for president …
“It would surely be a relief simply to have a President who is not a chronic liar, someone who doesn’t abuse the office as a colossal grift. It would be a relief to have a President who is reflexively devoted to democratic institutions and refuses to make common cause with white nationalists, QAnon, and other inhabitants of the lunatic fringe. [Biden] has the capacity to convey genuineness and fellow-feeling to a wide range of Americans. At his best, Biden has the potential to appeal to the country in an emotionally honest way that might help to engender a greater sense of social cohesion, compassion, and mutual respect.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/05/the-new-yorker-endorses-a-biden-presidency
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If you are already a follower of The Liberal Buddhist, you may expect to receive notification of the first Current Comment posting early in October 2020. Thereafter, future editions will be posted on a regular twice-weekly schedule – Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Whenever a regularly scheduled posting date is missed, the edition posted on the next scheduled date will include all articles that would have been listed in the missed date’s edition.
If you are not yet a follower of The Liberal Buddhist and would like to receive future editions of Current Comment, just click the “Follow” button at the top of the sidebar on the right.
Hoping you’ll find this new feature useful, and see you in a few days with the first edition of Current Comment.
Stay well …
The Liberal Buddhist 