Lev Raphael's Blog, page 32
November 16, 2015
Paris, Beirut, and Grief Shaming on Facebook
Facebook has been a strange place since the Paris attacks November 13th.
While many people have expressed outrage and sympathy for the victims, they've been criticized for not mentioning the bombings just a day before in Beirut. That's grief shaming, plain and simple.
And the implicit charge is also racism: Paris is First World and predominantly white, Lebanon is Middle Eastern, Arab. The charge is totally bogus.
Like many people, I followed overage in newspapers on-line and on CNN and MSN...
While many people have expressed outrage and sympathy for the victims, they've been criticized for not mentioning the bombings just a day before in Beirut. That's grief shaming, plain and simple.
And the implicit charge is also racism: Paris is First World and predominantly white, Lebanon is Middle Eastern, Arab. The charge is totally bogus.
Like many people, I followed overage in newspapers on-line and on CNN and MSN...
Paris, Beirut, and Grief Shaming
Facebook has been a strange place since the Paris attacks Friday.
While many people have expressed outrage and sympathy for the victims, they've been criticized for not mentioning the bombings just a day before in Beirut. That's grief shaming, plain and simple.
And the implicit charge is also racism: Paris is First World and predominantly white, Lebanon is Middle Eastern, Arab. The charge is bogus.
Like many people, I followed overage in newspapers on-line and on CNN and MSNBC about the bo...
While many people have expressed outrage and sympathy for the victims, they've been criticized for not mentioning the bombings just a day before in Beirut. That's grief shaming, plain and simple.
And the implicit charge is also racism: Paris is First World and predominantly white, Lebanon is Middle Eastern, Arab. The charge is bogus.
Like many people, I followed overage in newspapers on-line and on CNN and MSNBC about the bo...
November 11, 2015
God Save the Nazi King?
The American poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote that the saddest words are "It might have been." But writers of alternative history fiction would disagree. What's more exciting than turning history upside down?
The Man in the High Castle, SS-GB, Fatherland, and Dominion are just a few of the fascinating novels that have pictured a victorious Germany in World War II. Tony Schumacher's debut thriller The Darkest Hour gives the story an exciting twist by making its hero an actual war hero. John...
The Man in the High Castle, SS-GB, Fatherland, and Dominion are just a few of the fascinating novels that have pictured a victorious Germany in World War II. Tony Schumacher's debut thriller The Darkest Hour gives the story an exciting twist by making its hero an actual war hero. John...
British Writer Imagines Nazis Winning WW II
The American poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote that the saddest words are "It might have been." But writers of alternative history fiction would disagree. What's more exciting than turning history upside down?
The Man in the High Castle, SS-GB, Fatherland, and Dominion are just a few of the fascinating novels that have pictured a victorious Germany in World War II. Tony Schumacher's debut thriller The Darkest Hour gives the story an exciting twist by making its hero an actual war hero. John...
The Man in the High Castle, SS-GB, Fatherland, and Dominion are just a few of the fascinating novels that have pictured a victorious Germany in World War II. Tony Schumacher's debut thriller The Darkest Hour gives the story an exciting twist by making its hero an actual war hero. John...
November 7, 2015
Ben Carson's Mask is Finally Off
Ben Carson has always felt fake to me.
While people have praised his warmth and talked admiringly about how soft-spoken he is, I've been creeped out by his affectless voice, and I've watched his eyes. They've felt cold to me, reminding me of people like George Bush.
The Dalai Lama, now that's somebody soft-spoken who radiates warmth in every interview. And those eyes are really warm.
Can you imagine the Dalai Lama saying crazy things like the Holocaust being possible thanks to gun con...
While people have praised his warmth and talked admiringly about how soft-spoken he is, I've been creeped out by his affectless voice, and I've watched his eyes. They've felt cold to me, reminding me of people like George Bush.
The Dalai Lama, now that's somebody soft-spoken who radiates warmth in every interview. And those eyes are really warm.
Can you imagine the Dalai Lama saying crazy things like the Holocaust being possible thanks to gun con...
October 28, 2015
Why Does TV Makes Its Women Foolish?
Gran Hotel is not a crime show. It's a sexy, romantic, exciting Spanish series that ran for three seasons, blending Downton Abbey with Dynasty. But it raises the temperature by adding robberies, marital rape, murders, bombs, poisonings, and relentless skulduggery.
The show is set in northern Spain on the Atlantic coast at a luxurious hotel. There's constant interaction at many levels between the staff and the feuding Alarcón owners, a family with secrets coming out of their jewel boxes.
T...
The show is set in northern Spain on the Atlantic coast at a luxurious hotel. There's constant interaction at many levels between the staff and the feuding Alarcón owners, a family with secrets coming out of their jewel boxes.
T...
October 14, 2015
Toxic Teachers
I do a lot of speaking at colleges and universities around the country, and faculty tell me many behind-the-scenes stories. Properly disguised, these accounts make great material for my Nick Hoffman mystery series: tales of petty infighting, squabbling committees, ridiculous vendettas -- all the simmering snarkiness that Borges called "bald men arguing over a comb."
But I also hear stories from students that aren't as funny, stories about what it's like for them to be in a classroom with a p...
But I also hear stories from students that aren't as funny, stories about what it's like for them to be in a classroom with a p...
October 13, 2015
What Makes Academic Crime Fiction Tick?
Essays, stories, and books of mine are taught at colleges and universities around the country, so I've been invited to speak at a lot of different institutions over the years, from Ivy League schools to community colleges.
They all have something in common. Invariably, a faculty member will take me aside during my time there and tell me about somebody eccentric or even out-of-control in their department. Or about scandal, a schism, or some long-simmering vendetta. And I think to myself, "...
They all have something in common. Invariably, a faculty member will take me aside during my time there and tell me about somebody eccentric or even out-of-control in their department. Or about scandal, a schism, or some long-simmering vendetta. And I think to myself, "...
Universities and Crime Fiction
Essays, stories, and books of mine are taught at colleges and universities around the country, so I've been invited to speak at a lot of different institutions over the years, from Ivy League schools to community colleges.
They all have something in common. Invariably, a faculty member will take me aside during my time there and tell me about somebody eccentric or even out-of-control in their department. Or about scandal, a schism, or some long-simmering vendetta. And I think to myself, "You...
They all have something in common. Invariably, a faculty member will take me aside during my time there and tell me about somebody eccentric or even out-of-control in their department. Or about scandal, a schism, or some long-simmering vendetta. And I think to myself, "You...
October 8, 2015
Ben Carson Owes the World an Apology
Why?
Because every time he opens his mouth, he subtracts from the sum total of human knowledge.
What has he said lately to make the world a dumber place to live? That without gun control laws, the Holocaust wouldn't have turned out the way it did. Wolf Blitzer quizzed him on what he meant.
Because every time he opens his mouth, he subtracts from the sum total of human knowledge.
What has he said lately to make the world a dumber place to live? That without gun control laws, the Holocaust wouldn't have turned out the way it did. Wolf Blitzer quizzed him on what he meant.
"But just to clarify, if there had been no gun control laws in Europe at that time, would 6 million Jews have been slaughtered?" Blitzer asked.
"I think the likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish...
