David Simon on theodicy and the Yankees; Dahlia Lithwick on execution by torture; Nick Hanauer on why plutocrats should support a new New Deal; Bethany Stolle on being marked in ministry; and “The Seven Types of Modern American Bigots.”
David Simon, “A quantum of Oriole”
Well, for one thing, there is no God. There is only science. If there were a God, he would be — as evidenced by all of modern baseball history — a devoted fan of the Yankees. And God, at least the Judeo-Christian version of Him rather than the Aristotelian unmoved mover, is said to be good. Ergo, there is no God.
Dahlia Lithwick, “Arizona’s Botched Execution”
On Wednesday afternoon, in a ritual that has become increasingly — indeed almost numbingly — familiar, the state of Arizona administered a secret drug protocol that took almost two hours to kill a man. Joseph R. Wood III was sentenced to death in 1991 for shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend Debra Dietz and her father, Eugene. The murder was gruesome, and Wood was guilty. He shot his victims in the chest at close range. The only question that remains, as yet another state botches yet another execution, is whether the two hours of gasping and snorting by the accused before he finally died is excessive, or whether it sounds about right to us.
Nick Hanauer, “The Pitchforks Are Coming … For Us Plutocrats”
The most ironic thing about rising inequality is how completely unnecessary and self-defeating it is. If we do something about it, if we adjust our policies in the way that, say, Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great Depression —so that we help the 99 percent and preempt the revolutionaries and crazies, the ones with the pitchforks — that will be the best thing possible for us rich folks, too. It’s not just that we’ll escape with our lives; it’s that we’ll most certainly get even richer.
Bethany Stolle, “Yellow”
I’ll be speaking to ministry types. And I wonder … do my male colleagues spend this much time getting dressed? Debating how their shoes will impact their credibility? How their appearance will affect others’ attention? Why is there no way to be an “unmarked” woman? Especially in ministry, where being a woman alone sets me apart.
Wait But Why: “The Seven Types of Modern American Bigots”
Go read about the universe. Nothing makes bigotry seem more ridiculous than internalizing for a minute how vast time and space are — doing so makes you want to turn to anyone who will listen and hug them and say, “We both exist! On the same tiny planet at the same exact time! Hi!”
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