All in SOCIETY
Franz Kafka was born on July 3rd, 1883. He was a German-speaking Jew from Prague who later lived a painful, miserable, and sad life. Franz Kafka possessed particular capability of explaining the most ordinary emotions in an exceptionally grotesque, unordinary, and human way. His writing style, his way of articulation, and the philosophical questions he tries to answer are unique.
There is a misconception that RT broadcasts lies that are very close to fantasies. My experience tells me that, on the contrary, RT is useful. It is useful if you are aware of the propaganda and of the tactics that its journalists use. Many of them are disdained in their profession because of their affiliation. However, they are very good at their job. They do everything to make you believe their narrative and to get you like a fish on a fisherman's hook.
Kant’s wish for man to escape his own immaturity and fight off the constraints of tutelage has not been fulfilled. People have become voluntary servants to corporations and governments under the guise of capitalism.
China’s autocratic regime is abusing its technological capacities not only to suppress the freedom of its citizens, but also to launch cyber-attacks on foreign countries. It seems that China will ominously become a leader in the development of quantum technologies in the near future. Consequently, the security of blockchain technology, which is highly effective and widely used, could be endangered. This could cause significant problems for Western states that are heavily dependent on the security offered by blockchain technology.
The book A Voluntary, by Aaron B. Powell, tells the story of the end of the world and the self-destructive fashion that somehow defines the setting of today's society. In search of the right start for this reflection, I came across his quote, which struck a chord: "Will this generation be able to turn things around and learn a valuable lesson from all of this? I hope so, but I have my doubts. The damage has been done. And as a lifelong student of history, it's quite evident that human beings don't learn from the mistakes of past generations."
Learning from your past mistakes is easier said than done. A very current example can be seen in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While watching “the race” for vaccine registration, reading about the billions of euros the state has already invested into IT projects, and realizing that reality does not reflect these investments, one does not know whether to cry or laugh about the tragic amateurism that accompanies anything concerning IT in our state.
Time for diplomatic statements and empty journalistic phrases is gone. Europe is at war and the world we live in is changing before our eyes.
We live in a society that requires mobility so we can go places and live our lives. Most people drive a car, use a bus or train. However, what if no one would own a car anymore as a means of personal transport, but rather use it as a service along with other public transport?
“If you want to see the fate of democracies, look out the windows”. This line, of Fallout New Vegas’ Mr House, is quite the rhetorical statement. After all, the player can only ponder in shock, whether the destitution of the radioactive wasteland that Fallout New Vegas takes place in is the result of representative government. Is it? What are the shortcomings of democracy, and why does it seem that democracies, despite being, as Churchill put it, “the worst form of government except all those that have been tried”, seem to sometimes yield such unsatisfactory results? Perhaps it has nothing to do with the form of government itself, but like in many such cases, the corruptibility, irrationality, and blindness of human tendencies
November 2021 has been turning out to be a difficult month for the United States. On 3 November, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen (NYSRPA II) was argued before the United States Supreme Court, and with implications from the 6-member conservative majority on the court, there is a lot at stake in American Politics.
The Slovak Prime Minister, Eduard Heger had an interview on the national radio last week. The most interesting moment came when he said, out of nowhere, that his government might consider mandatory vaccination of some groups of the population, even though the government had refused this possibility many times before.
This is unthinkable for any civilized country. It is not normal for a prime minister to open such a serious topic without first consulting it with his coalition partners. However, let us forget about form and focus on content for a moment.
Mandatory vaccination is a rational idea that many developed western countries are coming up with. Does that mean we should introduce it too?
A year ago the European project was heading for the first place in the echelons of the world of politics. The United Chaos of Donald Trump and the never-ending Brexit talks with the United Kingdom resulted in a power-vacuum of the standard superpowers, which the EU was happy to replace. However, the first dents in the European tent had started to appear. The bleak response to the Hong Kong security law and the Uighur deportations only raised the finger of European diplomats, with few condemning tweets and press releases. The poisoning of Alexey Navalny and his detention and sentence of 3.5 years is, as of today, only being met with a raised finger, press releases and threat of sanctions.
One of our veteran writers congratulates and gives a few words of advice to President-Elect, Joe Biden.
While facing the second wave of the corona pandemic, it may be the right time to ponder what the first wave brought and took from us. In this regard, there are many areas we could be looking at. However, we will focus on one specific area - the climate crisis.
Remember when kids in middle school were punished by getting sent to the corner or hit on the tips of their finger with a ruler? Yeah, that must’ve been fun! Fortunately, that has changed, but has it changed for the better? I personally do not think so.
The Humanities will never face the danger of extinction, but only new tools to approach them, if we discover a way to make them even better.
“A selective view of history is often employed by mainstream politicians as well as by governments. In this article, I would like to look at one such case, which is quite close to our hearts at Il Ponte: namely, the Slovak treatment of medieval Great Moravia.”
It is on social media where the vast majority of political expression is carried out after all. Is this just because of the technology’s widespread popularity or are the digital commons the only place in which one can be public? Is the virtual in our eyes virtually the only option? So much of one’s identity is increasingly tied up into these social media platforms.
A historian by profession, specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, professor Snyder is also a permanent fellow at The Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. We discussed, among other things: current political development in Slovakia; ideas from his latest books, the rise of authoritarianism, or power of oligarchy; a role of Europe and EU in fighting extremism; and a role of journalism in protecting truth.
How can we find the middle ground? Is there a way to be a proper feminist without stepping on anybody’s rights? People will always be offended or judgmental no matter the ideology.
