Current Affairs
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The Dao of Hurricanes
Hurricane Irene blew through my town on Sunday. Actually, by the time it got here, over 100 miles from the coast, it had been down-graded to a tropical storm. But it's impact was powerful here. Local rivers flooded, washing out… Continue reading
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Obama’s Successful Taoist Foreign Policy
If things keep going in Libya, and Gahdafi is finally vanquished, it would appear that Obama's Tao-esque "leading from behind" foreign policy, has worked. That's what Blake Hounshell argues in any event. And that's what the Daodejing tells us as… Continue reading
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The Just Sentence
A piece in the NYT today on the deliberations by Judge Denny Chin in New York on the sentencing for uber-fraudster Bernie Madoff. Judge Chin imposed the maximum of maximum sentence, the accumulated total of the maximums of all the… Continue reading
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It’s not nice to fool mother nature
Props to Peter Bosshard for the best blog post title of the week: Mao, Tao and the Three Gorges Dam. He provides a lot of good links on the recent Chinese government acknowledgement of serious problems with the mega hydro… Continue reading
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The Erosion of Asian-American Confucianism
A strong piece in New York Magazine – "Paper Tigers: What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when the test-taking ends?" – caught my eye. Author Wesley Yang puts out some sharp observations of social and cultural difference and bias. … Continue reading
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How not to do Confucianism
On May 4th (which in the PRC is called "Youth Day," but which might better be called "remembering how we broke with tradition" day) a middle school in Guangdong organized an event where students kneeled before their parents in an… Continue reading
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Obama’s Taoist Foreign Policy
In a blog post over at the New Yorker site, Ryan Lizza follows up on a point he made in a longer article: the idea of "leading from behind" that has recently arisen in connection with Obama's foreign policy. He… Continue reading
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The China-is-not-Confucian Watch, Episode 5489
From ChinaSMACK; not much else needs to be said: Beijing Normal University professor “warns” students: If you don’t have 40 million by the time you are 40-years-old, don’t come see me Dong Fan: When you are 40-years-old, if you don’t… Continue reading
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Psychology of Freedom
I heard a radio spot this morning on NPR that, although it was discussing the Middle East, made me think of China. "Backstory of a Revolution: Studying Tweets, Posts," considered how social media and internet communications had changed people's expectations… Continue reading
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Condolences for Japan
It is sad and depressing to watch the death toll mount from the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Perhaps we can take some solace from the fact that many lives were likely spared due to foresight and preparation. But… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 