The decade of the Harlem Renaissance was not only an important moment in American cultural history but, as Langston Hughes writes in his autobiography The Big Sea, it was a time in which even “the Negro was in vogue.” Hughes gives a vivid description of how precarious the social situation had become White people began…
Current events point to a future that forces whiteness into a state of chronic self-irritation. This week we have seen Muhammad Ali is being honored and memorialized no differently than a head of state. In his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, he went from not being able to enjoy the use of equal facilities or sit…
The steadfast persistence of racism is particularly acute in an America which has found no way or means of honestly dealing with this flabbergasting inhumanity. Was there ever a council for truth and reconciliation, such as was the case at the end of South African apartheid? Have any attempts at across the board, non-discriminatory reparations…
Most roads do not lead to Rome-that is the situation, European: recognize it (Sloterdijk, Bubbles, p. 75). Dr. Christopher Davis argues in her book Savage Minds that an ethnocentric, colonial mentality still shapes the way we think about Africa. She writes, “We are subject to “African exceptionalism”: a sense that Africa is so different, so…
In his widely read 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man, political scientist Francis Fukuyama argued that the end of the Cold War signaled the ushering in the “post-political.” In the true spirit of G.W.F. Hegel’s (1770-1831) philosophy of history, he concluded that all of history was destined to develop toward the…
European philosopher Peter Sloterdijk once wrote: “pandering obstructs pondering.” Nothing could be more evident than considering the travails of US political coverage of the latest presidential circus. The romantic nostalgia that Trump’s candidacy has tapped into represents a few of the dark underbellies of America that we would do well to take heed. Unlike most…
by Randall Auxier [Editor: Flashing back to Empirical Magazine, I want to invite you to read Randall Auxier’s October 2012 article “Three Kinds of Soldier” in the pdf format that includes the original layout and photographs that went with the essay.] Three Kinds of Soldier
Picktures and Pieces 10 General Relativity: A Silly Theory Randall Auxier I have been greatly relieved to see someone finally exposed the whole sordid tale of Einstein’s quest for stardom and immortality in a thorough and honest way. Jimena Canales recent book, The Philosopher and the Physicist does what has long been needed. I have…
It is no secret that we live in an age of disruption and distraction—I am easily reminded of how regularly “breaking news” alerts buzz across our screens, above crawlers with overloads of useless information. Almost anyone today has the tools necessary to emulate the watchdog function of the media. That is why I was startled…
Governors for Ignorance by Randall Auxier I would have lost the bet, if I were a betting man. Under no circumstances would the state of Illinois elect a governor who would attempt the same assault on higher education that has been tried, with varying success, by the governors of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, and Michigan. After…