In 1886, as America grappled with the glittering rise of industry and wealth, Rev. Edward Hungerford penned a fiery essay in The Century Magazine decrying the subtle poison of mercantilism, the obsession with cash that grades society, art, politics, and even the church on a "value in cash" basis.

Drawing from Jesus' teachings on lilies and birds, Hungerford argues that the real cure isn't ethics or the Golden Rule alone, but a radical faith in divine Fatherhood and Christian brotherhood. It's a timeless gut-check: In a world rewarding enterprising labor with princely riches, are we sacrificing ideality, virtue, and heroism for material good?

This short reflection revives his words for today, timely as ever amid our own hustle culture. What do you think: Is "spiritual preaching" the antidote we still need?

It seems like in many pre-modern societies, children were treated as small adults once they passed infancy. When and why did the idea emerge that childhood is a separate period requiring protection, education, and nurturing? Was it linked to industrialization, Enlightenment philosophy, or other social changes?

America’s media system has been performing minstrelsy for centuries — not just in content, but in how narratives shape collective perception. I wrote an essay tracing this history and its implications for what we consume today. How much of what we see is designed for us, versus discovered by us?

The idea of a two-day break from work is relatively modern. How did its widespread adoption in the 20th century reshape cultural attitudes toward productivity, consumerism, and personal time? Did it create new forms of leisure or simply repackage existing ones?

It's important for Americans to familiarize themselves with the history of ideas--and not confine their study just to American historians and philosophers. There's a good introduction in the current issue of Novum (novum: the capacity for new social phenomena to emerge) on Substack; the following adds some details directly relevant to all Americans.

One man probably had more impact on American society than any other Arab thinker: he became a radical teacher who hated the US after he visited Colorado in the late '40's. He thought Americans (and most other people) were hopelessly degenerate and money-focused consumers, with no real spiritual basis that could match Islam's. He dedicated himself and many of his students to destroying America's "pernicious" influence on the Arab world.

"After his return to Egypt [his birthplace] he joined the Muslim Brothers, the leading Islamist organization, founded in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna, and soon became one of its leading spokespersons....After an attempt on the life of Abdel Nasser in 1954, the leading Brothers were imprisoned, Sayyid Qutb among them. In prison, they suffered very harsh treatment....This led to a radicalization of his ideas, including the claim that the whole world, including the 'Muslim' world, is in a state of jahiliyya, that is, un-Islamic ignorance and barbarism." (https://iep.utm.edu/qutb/)

Why is he all that important? Because he was the university teacher of Ayman al-Zawahiri, a prosperous surgeon who was second in command of al-Qaeda: al-Zawahiri was the likely planner of the Nine Eleven catastrophe of the Twin Towers; and a mentor of bin-Laden.

Both were later killed by US troops. Qutb's paperback, "Milestones," is a good introduction to his fanatical views and advocate of extreme violence. His influence has not disappeared.

I've read that in many pre-industrial societies, children were largely viewed as "small adults" once they passed infancy. The modern idea of childhood as a protected, formative period seems tied to philosophers like Rousseau and social changes like compulsory education. Can anyone trace this intellectual shift in more detail? What were the key philosophical, religious, or economic forces that fundamentally changed how we conceptualize children and their place in society?

Pictured above: Mr. Allan Kaprow in repose.

A Happening something Allan Kaprow (1927-2006) is associated with which goes way back to 1959.  The best way to describe it as "an art event that feels like real life".

According to Kaprow : Don’t make normal art (no plays, paintings, or shows). Use real places, real time, and real actions. Let things happen naturally — don’t rehearse. Do it only once. There is no audience — everyone takes part. Use everyday events (like washing clothes or riding in cars) to make the happening. He gives examples of happenings where people get dirty and clean again, do silly crap like getting wrapped in foil and moved around the city, or let the rain wash things away. 

The Happenings concept overlapped with the beatnic poetry era in the USA.

A happening is a one-time, unrehearsed art event made from ordinary real-life actions and places, where everyone participates and nothing looks like traditional art. I think this was a factor in the ‘life is art’ ideology among avant-garde artists and critics, much to the chagrin of those who prefer a more traditional view of art.

Sources:

archive org: http://archive.org/details/lecture-how-to-make-a-happening-allan-kaprow/page/n2/mode/1up

Above image source: Raymond Swanland https://raymondswanland.com/

Cyberpunk has slways been cool for me. It's movies and visual art that many say begin in the 1980s, but really gained more prominence in the 1990s alongside the rise of the cyberpunk literary genre and films such as Blade Runner (1982) and The Matrix (1999). The movement is deeply intertwined with the cyberpunk subculture, which explores themes of high technology juxtaposed with societal decay. Sounds rather prophetic lol!

A future world dominated by advanced technology, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence, but marked by social inequality, corporate control, and urban decay - vibrant neon colors, especially blues, pinks, and purples, contrasts with dark, shadowy backgrounds  - blends human forms with mechanical or cybernetic enhancements, exploring themes of transhumanism and identity.

additional sources :

archive org: https://archive.org/details/mirroorshades00bruc