The Useless Tree

Current Affairs

  • Maybe That Taoist Idyll Is Not So Idyllic After All

          The NYT ran this story, with a big picture, above the fold on page one today: Leaving the Wild, and Rather Liking the Change: Since time immemorial the Nukak-Makú have lived a Stone Age life, roaming across hundreds… Continue reading

  • Equal Opportunity Confucianism

        Confucianism, especially the Analects and Mencius, is, to my mind, most effective as a vantage point from which to assess and, if need be, criticize power holders.  I know that, historically, Confucianism was co-opted by power holders to… Continue reading

  • The Tao, and Non-Tao, of Engineering

          Henry Petroski, an engineer who writes, comes up with some Taoist sounding ideas in a discussion of his recent book, "Success Through Failure." Success masks failure. The more a thing operates successfully, the more confidence we have in… Continue reading

  • Pramoedya Ananta Toer

         Sorry to see that Indonesian writer, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, has died.  I have used the first volume of his Buru Quartet, This Earth of Mankind, in one of my classes for years now.  His characters, and the sprawling… Continue reading

  • Virtual Mourning

         I don’t know yet what to make of this: Just as the Web has changed long-established rituals of romance and socializing, personal Web pages on social networking sites that include MySpace, Xanga.com and Facebook.com are altering the rituals… Continue reading

  • Do as I Say, Not as They Do

         Chinese President Hu Jintao says more money needs to be spent on education because that is how to "foster a highly ethical nation."  In a brief article in today’s People’s Daily, he pushes the "Eight Honors and Disgraces,"… Continue reading

  • Do We Need Viagra in the Afterlife?

        Here’s a great story from China Daily, that raises a deep philosophical question: China bans tomb-sweepers’ "vulgar" burned offerings (Reuters) Updated: 2006-04-25 21:25 China has banned its citizens from burning paper models of condoms, luxury villas and karaoke… Continue reading

  • Singapore Politics: It’s Not About the “Asian” or “Confucian” Values, Its About the Repression and Corruption

         It’s election time in Singapore again and, just as the night follows the day, the ruling party, the aptly acronymed PAP, is unjustly and corruptly undermining the opposition and, more generally, democracy.      What happens – and… Continue reading

  • Why Ritual Matters: Bush disses Hu

        For Confucius, Ritual is the thoughtful and precise performance of personal and ethical commitment.  It is not enough to say that you care about a relationship, or that it is important to you, you must demonstrate that care… Continue reading

  • Why Kill Moussaoui?

         This morning I heard the family members of some of the victims of 9/11 testify against, in a oblique sort of way, the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui.  Outside the courthouse, one woman pointed out that, while some… Continue reading