Categoría: English
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The Terrible Innocence of Art
La terrible inocencia del arte (Spanish) The Terrible Innocence of Art Jorge Majfud The idea that art exists beyond all social reality is similar to the disembodied theology that proscribes political interpretations of the death of Jesus; or to the nationalist mythologies imposed like sacred universal values; or the templars of language, who are scandalized…
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What good is literature, anyway?
Jorge Majfud’s books at Amazon>> ¿Para qué sirve la literatura? (I) (Spanish) À quoi sert la littérature ? (Spanish) What good is literature, anyway? I am sure that you have heard many times this loaded query: «Well, what good is literature, anyway?» almost always from a pragmatic businessman or, at worst, from…
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The Jesus the Emperors Kidnapped
El Jesús que secuestraron los emperadores (Spanish) The Jesus the Emperors Kidnapped Who will lend me a ladder to climb up the timbering, to remove the nails from Jesus the Nazarene? (Antonio Machado) Jorge Majfud A few days ago the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, referred to Jesus as the…
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An Imperial Democracy
Una democracia imperial (Spanish) An Imperial Democracy Jorge Majfud Translated by Bruce Campbell Judging by the documents that remain to us, Thucydides (460-396 B.C.) was the first philosopher in history to discover power as a human phenomenon and not as a virtue conferred by the heavens or demons. He was also aware of the principal…
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Fear of Freedom: On the Left and the Right
El miedo a la libertad, Sobre izquierdas y derechas (Spanish) Fear of Freedom: On the Left and the Right Jorge Majfud Generally, an historical phenomenon is naturalized thanks to an absence of memory (hence the political value of neutrality and forgetting). Obviously not always for political reasons: it was once assumed that…
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Why the name of Latin America?
What does “Latin America” mean? Why the name of Latin America? By Jorge Majfud The essentialist component of the ancestral search for identity as part of nationalistic projects – which kept intellectuals busy for such a long time, being Octavio Paz one of them- has not completely disappeared or has become a commercial relation of…
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Where Does the Voice of the People Come From?
¿De dónde viene la voz del pueblo? (Spanish) Where Does the Voice of the People Come From? Jorge Majfud If naïve is not the opposite of genius, it is also not its substitute. This is the origin of fables and parables. Or of sophisms like: “I can resist anything, except temptation” (attributed to Oscar…
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One Bolivia, White and Wealthy
Una sola Bolivia, blanca y próspera (Spanish) One Bolivia, White and Wealthy The rapid Conquest of Amerindia would have been impossible without the Mesoamerican and Andean cosmology. Otherwise two mature empires, with millions of inhabitants and brave armies would never have succumbed to the madness of a handful of Spaniards. But it was…
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Respect Without Rights: The Privatization of Morality
Respeto sin derechos: la privatización de la moral (Spanish) Respect Without Rights: The Privatization of Morality Jorge Majfud Despite the violent reactions of the owners of the world, the humanist wave that radicalizes the recognition of fundamental equality among human beings will not stop. But the price paid in the last seven centuries has been…
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The Perversions of a System
Las perversiones de un sistema (Spanish) The Perversions of a System When the State Loses its Raison D’Etre Jorge Majfud Translated by Bruce Campbell One of Mexico’s most popular television programs, Singing for a Dream (Cantando por un sueño, Televisa–Univisión, 2006), also available on cable in the United States to a large audience,…
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Men of the Cybernetic Caves
Hombres de las cavernas cibernéticas (Spanish) Men of the Cybernetic Caves Jorge Majfud Every time someone complains about ideas that fall outside an arbitrary and narrow circle called “common sense” (also known in English as “horse sense”), they do so by brandishing two classic arguments: 1) the philosophers live in another world, surrounded by books…
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Patriarchy with a Woman’s Face
El patriarcado con rostro de mujer (Spanish) Patriarchy with a Woman’s Face Jorge Majfud The same day that Joe Biden is selected as candidate for the vice presidency by the Democratic Party, the campaign of John McCain reproduced several videos of Hillary Clinton sharply attacking Obama. Probably these ads were designed with a selection of…
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Roman Apocrypha
Apócrifo romano (Spanish) Roman Apocrypha Jorge Majfud At the edge of the Empire and of the world, an old man lamented day and night and futilely awaited death. While he waited he told this story to those willing to venture out so far: I have discovered that in the subsoils of the…
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The Age of Barbaria
La Era de Barbaria (Spanish) The Humanist (USA) The Age of Barbaria Jorge Majfud In the year of Barbaria began the annual trips to the year 33. That year was selected because, according to surveys, Christ’s crucifixion drew the attention of most Westerners, and this social sector was important for economic reasons, since trips to…
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The Imperfect Sex. Why Is Sor Juana Not a Saint?
El sexo imperfecto. ¿Por qué sor Juana no puede ser santa? Monthly Review The Imperfect Sex. Why Is Sor Juana Not a Saint? Dr. Jorge Majfud Lincoln University Every hegemonic power in every historical period establishes the limits of what is normal and, consequently, of what is natural. Thus, the power that ordered patriarchal society…
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Crisis for the Rich, Via Crucis for the Poor
Crisis de los ricos, via crucis de los pobres Crisis for the Rich, Via Crucis for the Poor Theories of evolution after Darwin assume a dynamic of divergences. Two species can derive from one in common; every now and then, these variations can disappear gradually or abruptly, but two species never end up flowing together…
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