Cultural Memory, Cultural Dementia

As the population ages, more people suffer from dementia, a devastating disease which shatters a person’s soul. Its main symptoms are loss of memory and the ability to focus. There is often difficulty communicating; it’s a struggle to find the right words. At its onset, dementia is often hard to detect because everybody forgets things, […]

A Beautiful Morning, or…

My wife was shocked to find fecal matter on our kitchen table. She called me over right away, and pointed to a photo: “ENTRANCED: Gifted Montreal designers Fecal Matter admire the mastery of legendary Manfred Thierry Mugler at the official launch…” There it was: in the Social Notes of the Weekend newspaper. Also in attendance […]

Should Writers be Afraid to Offend?

Much of stereotypical science fiction has courageous heroes traveling into deep space to fend off some kind of alien threat. In stereotypical fantasy literature, the hero fearlessly battles dragons, demons, or wicked sorcerers. Given all these brave figures that speculative fiction authors create, should speculative fiction writers be afraid to offend? More specifically, should they […]

“Yuck, Leonard Cohen Kissed Me”

She told me Leonard Cohen gave her an unwanted kiss. I didn’t know what to do. Should I suggest she go to the officials? Take her to a therapist? Well, Leonard was an official, a counselor, so there was no point going that route. Using all the wisdom my seven-year-old mind could summon up, I […]

“No” Meant “Try Harder”

A beautiful demon rapes a human, who enjoys it. The demon then accuses the human of raping her. When I composed this scene for my novel Quantum Cannibals (publication date Nov. 2018), I thought it fictional. In the contemporary non-fictional world (such as it is), the #MeToo movement has brought the demons out from their […]

Mocking the destruction of the Temple

The Jerusalem Talmud teaches “The generation in which the Beit Hamikdash, the Temple, is not rebuilt is to be regarded as though the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed in that generation.” Can we establish a corollary that those not working to rebuild it are furthering, or at least mocking the destruction? Those who fast and sit […]

I’m Grateful It’s Cold

I’m grateful it’s so cold outside. Not just bitterly cold, but skin-numbing cold. Frostbite cold. Not to mention windy, making the weather even more unpleasant, maybe dangerous. (Much warmer though, than what the exiles face in the novel Quantum Cannibals) I’m Grateful for Wood Maybe I should go chop some firewood. On a cold day […]

Theater of Fear

They did not foresee… the development of a vast mass communications industry, concerned in the main neither with the true nor the false, but with the unreal, the more or less totally irrelevant Aldous Huxley We all like good Theater. Something terrible happens to an innocent victim (or victims), the good guys scurry around trying […]

I Think Therefore I Really Am…

It’s time to modify Descartes’s famous line I think therefore I am. It should now read I think I am, therefore I am. The original is no longer relevant, because if thinking was a condition of existence, there would not be many people left in our part of the world. Proof can be found on […]

Control of Cultural Achievements

There is no denying the great cultural achievements of western civilization, its technological brilliance. Virtually all modern innovation, and most of contemporary science comes from Europe and North America- a handful of countries representing a small fraction of the world’s population. Not coincidentally, these are the regions of the world where democracy and economic freedom […]

We Suffer for Our Sins; 9-11 as punishment

The Prophets of the Bible (Jeremiah, Isaiah et al) rebuked Israel, saying we suffer for our sins. It was Israel’s misbehavior (rather than Nebuchadnezzer’s), that caused the destruction of the holy Temple in Jerusalem, the icon of God’s presence in the world. Our sins were so egregious that even King Josiah’s repentance (about […]

Of Course You Realize This Means War!

Sympathy for the Devil Victims After the Islamic terror attack in Nice, politicians around the world expressed their sympathy with the people of France, sending warm thoughts and prayers. Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada said “Our sympathy is with the victims.” Leung Chun-ying of Hong Kong expressed his “deepest sympathies” with the French […]

We, the Accused

Holding the Victim to Blame Whenever there is a terror attack against Israel, the world media finds some way to make Israel the accused, whether for provocation or retaliation, for people dying or failing to die, for killing the terrorists, or failing to kill them. This is not a new phenomenon. Two thousand years ago, […]

You Have to Ask the Right Question

Q: Was it morally wrong for the United States and Canada to imprison their citizens of Japanese ancestry during World War II, and confiscate their property? A: It was a horrible illegal act, discriminating against people solely because they looked different. Italians and Germans, whose ancestral homelands were also the enemy, were not locked up. […]

National Suicide: The Death of a Nation

Lemmings are known for their mass suicide: jumping off cliffs, to die in the sea. Americans are not known for mass or individual suicide. An Israeli man who was stabbed in the neck has been criticized by Yariv Oppenheimer, head of the Peace Now organization for fighting back and killing his attacker. Given that […]