On Unwitting Conscripts
In 1970, Marshall McLuhan stated that “World War III is a guerrilla war of information with no division distinction between military and civilian participation” (Culture is Our Business, 66). Two things here deserve our notice. The first is that this war has already begun; the second is that many people have been unwittingly conscripted into […]
On the End of War
“Only the dead have seen the end of war,” wrote George Santayana in 1922. A century later his observation clearly remains poignant. War has proven a commonplace ever since, with seldom a year passing without violent conflict. Though we in the United States have lived fortunate enough never to have prolonged conflict upon our own […]
On the “Culture War” and Formal Causality
The term kulturkampf, literally “culture struggle”, has long-since been translated into English as “culture war”. I have no desire to participate in a “culture war”. Indeed, as I will argue here, the very notion of the “culture war” is not only misguided but harmful. But as someone living within a culture, however, I do believe […]
