On intelligence is intuitive

1: what happens to a society when mystery is labeled as evil? it yields an ever-connected chain of false labels and misinterpretations the indigenous are labeled as savage terorists and plotted against the open-hearted are manipulated into slavery the vulnerable are penetrated by force of law citizens where is your allegiance? why do you pledge […]

On creative focus

From a really excellent AMA by Werner Herzog, in response to the question “Is there any method or practice you use to help get focused on one idea to pursue for a picture?” — [–]Werner-Herzog[S] 1012 points 2 months ago That’s hard to answer, because I do not follow ideas; I stumble into stories, or I stumble […]

On the patron saint of libraries

Came across this today while reading Paul Lendvai’s The Hungarians (2003) “Three chronicles report different versions, written between 970 and 1075, of an attack on the monistary of St Gallen and its surroundings (today in Switzerland). “The heathen barbarians” advanced like lightening through Bavaria and Swabia along Lake Constance, and inflicted heavy damage on the […]

On past as prologue [5]

Leon Gordenker, Refugees in International Politics (1987) — The misery of refugees thus dulls the glitter of unilateral, short-term campaigning by governments. The homeless, persecuted, hungry, confused people who turn up at border posts and distant airports signify the costs of conflict within and among societies and states. They are living monuments to war, disorder, […]

On interview techniques

After being found guilty and sentenced to 40 years by the ICTY today, David A. Graham over at The Atlantic’s Notes highlights a 1993 interview conducted with Radovan Karadzic — In January 1993, still relatively early in the Bosnian war, [CBC’s] As It Happens scored an interview with Karadzic. In a retrospective segment years ago, former host Michael Enright […]

On past as prologue [4]

Jean-Pierre Hocke, “Beyond Humanitarianism: The Need for Political Will to Resolve Today’s Refugee Problem,” p. 40-1, in G. Loescher and L. Monahan (eds.), Refugees in International Relations (1989). I am particularly concerned about the growing negative public opinion in the west vis-a-vis refugees and asylum-seekers from the Third World. Many governments in the West have […]

On past as prologue [3]

From: Gil Loescher, “Refugees as grounds for international action” p. 36-37 in Edward Newman and Joanne van Selm (eds.) Refugees and Forced Displacement: International Security, Human Vulnerability, and the State (2003) — There has been increasing recognition that massive refugee flows do in fact constitute a threat to international peace and security, and that they […]

On past as prologue [2]

Arthur C. Helton, The Price of Indifference: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century (2002), p. 23: The common thread, then, is fear: fear that gives rise to refugee flight, fear that but for good fortune one could be a refugee oneself, and fear that keeps people from offering haven to those in need. […]

On past as prologue

As I barrel through a ton of older literature, I’ll be posting quotes that read like they were written today — From: Alte Grahl-Madsen, Chapter 21: “Identifying the World’s Refugees” (1983), in Peter Macalister-Smith and Gudmundur Alfredsson (eds.), The Land Beyond: Collected Essays on Refugee Law and Policy by Alte Grahl-Madsen (2001), p. 259. Stemming the […]