After the carnage of World War II, Norse mythology became closely associated with Nazism: misinterpreted as malignant and rendered taboo for decades to come. Nazi Germany’s strong connection to Norse mythology is largely responsible for its negative reputation. The horrible atrocities committed by the Nazi regime forever tarnished the study of the Norse myths, causing […]
With all the commemorations and celebrations surrounding the 80th anniversary of the formal Japanese surrender on board the USS Missouri [September 2, 1945], thus officially ending WWII – it’s important to remember that before the atomic bombs were even dropped on Japan in August 1945 the United States was busy recruiting as many German engineers […]
Food democracy is a true grassroots movement toward sustainable, responsible, healthy and community-based food production and distribution. The food democracy movement asserts that people have the power and the responsibility to actively participate in decisions concerning their food system. The ultimate goal of food democracy is to guarantee that all people have access to affordable, healthy and […]
Of course they lie. They lie because they want to. They lie because they can. They lie because it is second nature to them; it just comes naturally. These people have no conscience: they lack empathy, and they lack of any sense of responsibility for their actions. Dishonesty, arrogance, greed and corruption are hardwired into […]
In his seminal book Bomb Power, author Garry Wills argues that America’s use of the atomic bomb against Japan marked a critical turning point in global politics. With the advent of enormous nuclear stockpiles and the seemingly endless Cold War, the Pentagon argued that the President of the United States would simply not have the […]
For centuries opera was dominated by larger-than-life characters: legendary gods and goddesses, mythical figures from ancient Greece and Rome, kings and queens. But as opera became an ever more popular form of entertainment, that model began to change. The operatic form continued to evolve during the post-Romantic period. Composers began turning to stories about simpler, […]
Fascism is an easy enough tag to apply to current political trends; but it is not a fully appropriate label. America has been slowly morphing into something else over the past fifty-plus years. The super-rich now own the vast majority of wealth, income, and most of the shares in publicly traded companies, including the 6 […]
America’s public school system has been a failure because of a successful 30-year GOP effort to de-fund the system in favor of private and charter schools. The purpose of this policy was always to destroy the learning environment of the students, and extinguish the average child’s innate desire to explore and learn. This indoctrination – […]
The city of Los Angeles looms large in Beatles folklore. Outside of London and Liverpool, no other place has influenced the Beatles more than the sprawling metropolis of L.A. Ringo Starr still lives there with his movie-star wife Barbara Bach. They own two residences: one in Silver Lake, and another in Malibu. John Lennon spent most […]
Feudalism is arguably the most important and recognizable characteristic of Medieval life. Feudalism was a form of political and social organization which evolved from the dissolution of Charlemagne’s empire and the rise of absolute monarchies. Feudalism remains the common model of European society in the Middle Ages. Urban life for most citizens declined significantly after […]
Jason Darensburg's Blog-o-rama 