Books reviews, current events, and other musings

 
The Supreme Court announced another splendid decision:

A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that public middle and high schools can require drug tests for students in extracurricular activities such as choir or band without violating their privacy rights.
...
"Because this policy reasonably serves the school district's important interest in detecting and preventing drug use among its students, we hold that it is constitutional," Justice Clarence Thomas said for the majority.

By that line of reasoning - the law serving a useful purpose - the court could declare any law to be constitutional. The whole point of constitutional rights is to restrict the government's actions, even when there are reasons for a particular law or policy. Not that I expected any better from Clarence Thomas.

Besides, how long will it take for the nation's leaders to accept that the drug war in not working and is actually counterproductive? Dan Baum's book Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure is an excellent description of the war on drugs, its history, and its disastrous consequences.
posted by Julian at 9:40 PM

 
In Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War, Barbara Ehrenreich explores the emotions and psychology of warfare.

She starts with an aspect of evolutionary biology that I hadn't encountered before. During early stages of human development, man was, like other primates, the prey of stronger and more powerful creatures. Avoiding those beasts and banding together to challenge them became a deeply entrenched part of human psychology. Some vestiges of those early experiences remain within us, such as the nightmares children have about being attacked by animals and the thrills of horror movies in which monsters prey on people.

Eventually, people gained the abilities and tools necessary to become predators instead of prey. However after the animal threat weakened, the underlying emotions shifted their focus to sacrifices (both animal and human) and war. The evolutionary background gives warfare the significance, fervor, and flavor of a religion.

Ehrenreich traces how attitudes about war evolved throughout history. At first, all men in the tribe acted as warriors. In some cultures, in fact, fighting in battle was a rite of passage to become a man. Later on, after various technological improvements, warrior elites arose, such as knights in Europe and Japanese samurai. Those elites fought and dominated the social structure, while the masses provided supplies and support. With the development of guns and the formation of nation-states, military forces became large bureaucratic institutions driven by strong nationalistic forces.

Blood Rites in an excellent study of warfare that includes many innovative ideas supported by strong arguments.
posted by Julian at 10:40 PM

 
When my girlfriend and I were driving around Hawaii, we often came across scenic vistas. We decided to stop and take some pictures. Eventually, I commented that the point of the trip was to enjoy the scenery first-hand, not to get photos for later perusal. Still, despite being conscious of that behavior, we continued to talk and think about taking pictures when we found a beautiful view.

Those incidents reminded me of a tour I took across Europe a few years ago. I was probably that only person in the tour group who, to everyone's shock, didn't bring a camera. When we passed a cathedral or some other landmark, I stood back and enjoyed the sight when everyone else was busy trying to capture the perfect photo.

At the time, I was amused by everyone else's behavior. After all, they were too busy lining up the perfect photo to take in the amazing sights. Still, I fell prey to that same behavior once I brought along my own camera.
posted by Julian at 1:01 PM