Analysis

By Robert Jensen

Why bad things happen when humans play God

If humans were smart, we would bet on our ignorance.

That advice comes early in the Hebrew Bible. Adam and Eve’s banishment in chapters two and three of Genesis can be read as a warning that hubris is our tragic flaw. In the garden, God told them they could eat freely of every tree but the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This need not be understood as a command that people must stay stupid, but only that we resist the temptation to believe that we are godlike and can competently manipulate the complexity of the world.

Read more: Technological fundamentalism

By Sheldon Richman

What is American politics coming to? I just watched a joint interview with Ralph Nader and Rep. Ron Paul — and they were mostly on the same side! Nader has spent his life promoting government intervention in the economy. Paul has spent his life promoting the free market and minimal government. For the two of them to discuss making common cause is something extraordinary.

Read more: Ron Paul and Ralph Nader on Corporatism and War

By MWC News

By Barnaby Phillips

The King's Speech is a well directed, well acted, and thoroughly enjoyable film.

It tells the story of Britain's constitutional crisis in the 1930's, when a reluctant George VI came to the throne following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII.

Read more: The King's Speech, the British and their monarchs

By Nima Shirazi

I've been beating up on State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley lately, first over his disingenuous support for freedom of the press as the U.S. cracked down on WikiLeaks and more recently over his amazing ability to say nothing while being asked direct questions about the illegality of Israeli colonization of the Palestinian land.

Read more: Anchors Away! - The 'Stability' of US Puppet Dictatorships

By Gilad Atzmon

I have a rule -- I never intervene in Palestinian political matters. I never comment on Palestinian internal debate. I do not think that I have the right to do so : I am an ex-Israeli and an ex-Jew, and I write about Israel, Jewish Identity politics, and Zionism.

Read more: The Palestine Papers and Us