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Published Letters: 3
I highly recommend a book I've been reading through this month:
"Why the French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space".
It's by John Bowen, an American anthropologist who was living in France when the main headscarf events took place in 2003.
What he's trying to do is look at why the veil, of all possible catalysts, became the focus of the debate.
Bill McKibben is right, as usual: we can't assume growth forever. But to spin the whole predicament in a more hopeful way: an investment of this magnitude is really an opportunity to re-imagine our economy.
This is too much money to waste on more highways, which function as moats within urban neighborhoods, forcing us to drive. A trillion dollars can go a long ways toward promoting urban energy and food production.
Levine presents a false binary here: either we're dour thrifty puritans or we taste a little of the fruit of our labor.
It's false because both choices are about me. I'd rather set generosity opposite puritan thrift.
The reason puritanisms of all stripes (secular, Christian, ecological) are distasteful to us is because they're loveless.
But if we reduce our lifestyles in order to become more hospitable, more compassionate, and in general more interdependent with others--that is the true opposite of puritan thrift.
