Steve Kelman on Politics, Culture, and Life, 1.8.23
Steve Kelman, Harvard Kennedy School prof, moderate Dem, pro free speech/anti cancel culture, pro tax rich, pro-Israel. Research improving gov performance, China interest. Blog reprints Facebook posts
Military cemetery desecrated with Hamas graffiti
A military cemetery in Los Angeles was defaced with graffiti reading Free Gaza and Intifada. Our soldiers have fought against the kind of religious intolerance, hatred, and terrorism Hamas represents.
January 6 “hostages”
Elise Stefanik has adopted Trump's language calling those involved in January 6th "hostages." This is a woman once active in the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School. A huge embarrassment.
The immigrant experience
The book I'm reading on Yiddish socialists, A Fire in their Heart by Michels, Great quote by an immigrant: "Every day I noticed new things and my desire to know everything grew. I began to read Yiddish newspapers, which for me was one of the first American wonders." Great feeling for the immigrant experience.
“In America, children raise their parents”
Interesting adage among immigrant Jews from the turn of the 20th century, in the book I am reading. "In America the children raise their parents." Think this applies to lots of immigrant groups then and even now.
Jewish immigrants like to go to lectures
A 1913 study in New York "found that young Russian Jews were more likely to attend a lecture than a synagogue service, dance hall, saloon, card game, or night school." Surprising that Jews went into academia?
Republican race to the bottom
DeSantis has criticized Trump for deporting fewer illegal entrants than Barack Obama. This is what is called a race to the bottom.
Fashion trends in China
In the new issue of Beijing Review there is a discussion of the Barbie craze in China in 2023, including that many Chinese girls started wearing pink-color qipao, the traditional Chinese formal dress. The issue also contains an article on a young live streamer and social influencer, nary a mention of anything having to do with the Communist Party. I guess this is an improvement over what the magazine was like when I first started reading it decades ago, when typical articles had titles something like, "Unite to combat US imperialism and its lackeys." The same issue featured an article on 2023 fashion trends, including a number of photos of clothing people were wearing. "What were some of the looks that defined Chinese fashion in 2023?" the article asked.
Post deleted criticizing Chinese economic situation
The leading Chinese and by Chinese official standards relatively open news magazine Caixin has published an editorial on reform in the Chinese economy, noting that during the disastrous Cultural Revolution of the sixties, "the national economy was on the brink of collapse, yet the authorities insisted that the situation was 'very good' and 'getting better and better.'" These are words almost identical to those the government is now using about the Chinese economy. The article has been deleted online.
Addicted to the London Economist
I don't know which if any friends personally subscribe to The Economist, I actually started reading it in high school, still get it in a hard copy every week. I still remember when the airmail edition was printed on a sort of toilet paper to save postage. This was before they started printing it in the US. A fun fact is they have now far more subscribers in the US than in the UK. The first section I now read is the China section.
Being a revolutionary
Abraham Cahan, who went on to become the legendary editor of the old Jewish socialist daily the Forwerts, is quoted in the book I am reading about Yiddish-speaking socialists in New York, as saying as a young man, "What good was it if it wasn't forbidden?" The attitude of a revolutionary!