Tag: hurricane

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Writing about saving the world

Now we can add Sandy to the list of reasons to worry: about the environment, our bad habits, other people, and where all of it may be leading. And certainly lots of recent evidence seems to suggest that we have plenty of reasons to worry. But let’s be careful here. History shows that panic and fear have a way of infecting human thought, often feeding their own destructive patterns. In a recent essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books, K.C. Cole juxtaposes two works that manifest both the alarmist end-of-days perspective and a more nuanced consideration of the human mind. The essay entitled “How to Save ourselves from Extinction (One System at a Time)” begins thus:

“No one in their right mind would deliberately create the means of their Continue reading “Writing about saving the world”

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Sandy, the shock doctrine, and drones

Hurricane-post-tropical-Frankenstorm Sandy is winding down, but is the “shock doctine” about to kick in?  Author Naomi Klein has famously noted how disasters and other “shocks” to often trigger otherwise impossible actions by governments. In fact, right now legislators are beginning to seriously talk about climate change. But the after-effects of disasters are not always so sweeping and grand. Sometimes they happen quietly, or even secretly. Take “drone” aircraft for example.

Hurricane Sandy may prove to be one more reason why the US government continues or expands it program of secret spy planes over domestic U.S. airspace.  Despite complaints from civil liberties groups, the US government’s use of non-piloted aircraft––otherwise known as drones––has been steadily migrating to domestic airspace. In fact, just last week the ACLU filed court documents with five federal agencies (Justice Dept, FAA, GSA, Homeland Security, and USAF) inquring into the facts Continue reading “Sandy, the shock doctrine, and drones”