tags: postcolonialism

2000

December

2000 Dec 14
The Death of the American Dream

When I took A.P. U.S. History in high school… I learned about the crooked ways of the Republic. I learned that for the most part, the prosperity of this country is owed to the unthanked labor and often the death of the oppressed, starting with the poor ignorant English folk who came as indentured servants, starving to death at the hands of gentleman-adventurers who dreamt big but did little actual work. But the Native Americans are [the most obvious] first victims of the nascent Imperial onslaught… [starting with] the diseases the filthy Europeans had brought over, and… the depradations of… imperial Spain. The English did not become numberous enough to challenge the Natives for a while, although, I must say that it didn't take long for treaty-signing and subsequent backstabbing to become standard policy. After that came the despoilment of Africa….

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2000 Dec 14
The Fall of the Republic: A Requiem for American Democracy (fragment)

Do you believe the ghosts of your slaves have forgiven you?
Though you had unshackled chains after much blood had been shed, still there is a mountain to climb

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2001

November

2001 Nov 15
Brown Buffalo

¡Viva la Revolucion! Mabuhay ang Himagsikan! More and more, I’m believing that we’re fighting a common struggle that transcends race, religion, social class, or whatever axis you want to devise. Are you a cockroach or an exterminator? The conquered or the conqueror? In other words, are you for or against humanity?

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2006

February

2006 Feb 27
octavia butler - rest in peace

I discovered that one of my favorite science fiction writers Octavia Butler has died.

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March

2006 Mar 3
affirmative action

Just been watching Chris Rock’s routine “Never Scared.” I like how he describes how affirmative action actually works:

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June

2006 Jun 4
deconstruction and democracy

Yes, I agree, it’s a little too facile to connect the stance of eminent intentionality with fascism, but I look at eminent intentionality as the antithesis of deconstruction, the bread and butter of post-modernist and post-colonial literary criticism.

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2007

October

2007 Oct 21
comings and goings

You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you came from.
—Unknown

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2008

March

2008 Mar 9
ho

(Sardonic flag on. Don't take any of the following too seriously.)

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2012

June

2012 Jun 8
it's the way it's put together

So, yeah, up until 1 am for no good reason, except I got sucked into YouTube and the Hype Machine, finding covers and mashups of pop songs that have finally burrowed their way into my consciousness after constant exposure. And it both delights me and makes me a little wistful that I'm not the first person who thought two songs just happened to fit really well together not just thematically (lyrically speaking) but even in terms of key signature and rhythm.

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2015

December

2015 Dec 15
Benedict Anderson

I just learned from L. that Benedict Anderson, the author of Imagined Communities died two days ago.

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2016

February

2016 Feb 25
The Problem with Classical Liberalism and Classical Marxism

I already know Sanderistas will argue about whether or not Clinton is sincere about talking about white privilege and institutionalized racism, but I am certain that Sanders trying to fix the problems caused by racism indirectly by only trying to fix the problems caused by income inequality is going to fail hard and may even backfire horribly.1

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