Sarajevo Nights

          Today, I discovered r/comeonandslam, a subreddit devoted entirely to mashups of the Space Jam theme. Budgeting & Taxation was the scene of a spirited debate on the merits of the welfare state, and political persuasions of all stripes came out to play. Every day, I appreciate Prof. Jimenez's talent for fostering respectful, on-topic argument. The deficit balancing issue is clear: taxes must be raised, or some entitlement programs need to be cut, or both, but certainly not neither. (The word "entitlement" is used here as a descriptor, not a value judgment.) The social element serves to muddy the waters: do other people deserve our money? Do welfare programs undercut the incentive to work? We ranged across these topics but reached no satisfying conclusions.
          In the evening, I joined Harrison for a lecture put on by a group called the Political Economy Forum. We met in the lecture hall under West F, meeting the Delivery Man and Harrison's friend Dave K as well. The speaker was former New York Times correspondent Chris Hedges; he walked out wearing jeans and a large "Palestinian fist" shirt. This is a man who jointly won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, spent two decades as a foreign correspondent, and was Balkan Bureau Chief in Sarajevo during its bloody siege in the Bosnian War. As he put it: "We knew that if the Serbians got into the city, a third of its people would be massacred. The rest would go to camps." The lecture was titled, "The Myth of Progress & Illusion of Empire," and revolved around an apocalyptic vision for the future. Drawing on parallels to Moby-Dick, Hedges outlined what he sees as the coming doom of a consumerist world. Subjects covered in the following Q&A included the acidification of Earth's oceans, depletion of fossil fuels, the evils inherent in capitalism and the American healthcare system, hatred as "the purest form of patriotism", Obama as brand, war and conquest, the integrity of Ralph Nader, and materialism at all cost. I left the lecture feeling melancholy, if engaged; I made myself feel better through materialism "Comeback Caramel" ice cream, featuring chocolate Red Sox. Anti-highlight of the lecture: Some douche walking out the fire exit halfway through and deadening everyone's hearing for five minutes. The danger-colored "do not exit through this goddamn door" sign is right on the bar!
          Quotes of the day:
"Our participatory democracy is a mirage." - Chris Hedges
"We are consumed by a mania for hope, which our corporate masters lavishly provide at the expense of truth." - Chris Hedges
"We have bound ourselves to a doomsday machine that grinds forward." - Chris Hedges
"This world will grow cold. Not like a ball of ice, or even a dead cloud, but like an empty walnut, rolling along in pitch black space. You must grieve for this now. You must feel this sorrow now." - Chris Hedges
"I have relatives who work on Wall Street, so I have a nice direct access into what they think. And they're very cynical! They don't think the system is sustainable in the long run. They're just stealing as much, as fast as they can on the way down." - Chris Hedges
"These people are whores for money. I'm talking about your president [Aoun], by the way." - Chris Hedges
"Every time I hear 'gold standard', I think of Ron Paul and want to run for the exit door." - Chris Hedges