(no subject)
This fall has gone by entirely too fast, I just see my weeks coasting by like a train on its merry way to 2010.. :(
Sometimes at this time of night I feel like time slows to a standstill though, when it's dead tired and there are no cues to remind me of the passage of time.
Today, I was reading a sort of teen-level plain-language biography of Gabriel Dumont (famous Métis figure and lieutenant of sorts of Louis Riel). If anyone can recommend a relatively *current* book or article I can read about the Métis in Western Canada I would be deeply endebted to you. Anything I find seems to be at a teen level or out of date, it's sad because I seriously do not know what life is like in the last 50 years basically.
The other thing I am reading is Aux sources du renouveau musulman by Tariq Ramadan, weirdly I heard his name referred to in a song and mistook him for another Ramadan, I realized that he was not at all who I was thinking of and so I decided I should try to read up a bit.
For example in this essay (in French--sorry), which mainstream French magazines refused to print after reading it, he argued that many French Jewish intellectuals were in practice leaving behind their principles of universal humanism in favour of a narrow defense of the interest of Israel. OK this seems like a simple topic but I think it's worth thinking about. I have certainly come to take many more positions on national problems in the last few years since I have been reading a lot. But in each case you have to ask yourself if you are truly being fair to all parties involved..
The problem with "philosophical figures" though is that every single one presents themself as an even-handed figure of justice. It's not like politicians where you can pretty much tell right away if they are horrifying because they have to manage every domain in practice. Philosophical figures are free to style themselves in whichever way they please, even after the ultra-harsh criticism that comes from their peers. So I always take them with a grain of salt..
Sometimes at this time of night I feel like time slows to a standstill though, when it's dead tired and there are no cues to remind me of the passage of time.
Today, I was reading a sort of teen-level plain-language biography of Gabriel Dumont (famous Métis figure and lieutenant of sorts of Louis Riel). If anyone can recommend a relatively *current* book or article I can read about the Métis in Western Canada I would be deeply endebted to you. Anything I find seems to be at a teen level or out of date, it's sad because I seriously do not know what life is like in the last 50 years basically.
The other thing I am reading is Aux sources du renouveau musulman by Tariq Ramadan, weirdly I heard his name referred to in a song and mistook him for another Ramadan, I realized that he was not at all who I was thinking of and so I decided I should try to read up a bit.
For example in this essay (in French--sorry), which mainstream French magazines refused to print after reading it, he argued that many French Jewish intellectuals were in practice leaving behind their principles of universal humanism in favour of a narrow defense of the interest of Israel. OK this seems like a simple topic but I think it's worth thinking about. I have certainly come to take many more positions on national problems in the last few years since I have been reading a lot. But in each case you have to ask yourself if you are truly being fair to all parties involved..
The problem with "philosophical figures" though is that every single one presents themself as an even-handed figure of justice. It's not like politicians where you can pretty much tell right away if they are horrifying because they have to manage every domain in practice. Philosophical figures are free to style themselves in whichever way they please, even after the ultra-harsh criticism that comes from their peers. So I always take them with a grain of salt..