History is Written by the Losers

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Those who rule do not have the time to write about it. Occasionally history produces a Caesar or a Mao, men who can lead the masses to war on the one hand, while serving as prolific propogandists for their cause on the other. The greater part mankind is not so talented. Sima Guang would never have finished his history had he not been shunted out of Song court politics. Had Thucydides defeated Brasidas, he would be known today not as a historian, but as a military strategist, a strategist who never had the time to travel the world and collect the material needed to write his history. Even winning historians need time in defeat to write their histories—had Churchill’s party not been kicked out of power by British voters after the Second World War was over, Churchill’s famous account of that war would never have been written.

The complete article

The Scholar’s Stage

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Economies of Scale Killed the American Dream

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Why is there so much inequality in the US? People have been trying to find answers.

The attempt to channel this fierce struggle for the heights of wealth and power through a national education system explains the concentration of America’s smartest and most ambitious. But the wicked marriage of meritocracy and economies of scale bears a more subtle cost. Let us return to the essay we started with, “RIP, American Dream.” Why does Mr. O’Brien say the the American Dream died?

“This is how the American Dream ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper of elite school applications by poor kids. Like it or not, the Ivies and other top schools are our conduit to the top, and far too many low-income students who should be there are not.”

The complete article

The Scholar’s Stage

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How to make sense of radical Islamic terrorism?

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Came across these interesting needulls. Violence is difficult to make sense of. When it happens it is derided all across. These needulls try to look in depth to answer the question – Does all of this make any sense?

Those most agitated by the erosion of the old Islamic order do not accept defeat. They will not accept defeat until they know with a certainty that the game is up and the rest of their society will never rise up to make a more perfect Ummah. But only if the idle majority joins in unity with the committed minority can this dream become a reality. The most committed are willing to go to extreme measures to awaken the apathetic to their senses.

This is the social context that gives birth to radical Islamic terrorism. From the radical’s perspective, compromise is just another step towards defeat; moderation or apathy from inside the system pose greater dangers than pressure from outside it. Thus the central aim of radical groups is to create a political environment where moderation and compromise is not possible.

The complete blogs – Part 1 & Part 2 Part 2

T. Greer — The Scholar’s Stage

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