Word: crux
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...identity that offers valuable insight on people from all social and political contexts.Sen presents a cogent theory about the structure of modern society by positing that each person has many ways to define him- or herself—nationality, gender, religion, and ethnicity being among the almost infinite possibilities.The crux of Sen’s argument lies with the idea that “the importance of one identity need not obliterate the importance of others.” Sen writes that, instead, people must exercise discretion as to how these multiple identities will interact and which will be privileged...
...that they have been lumped into a single marketable identity. Even they themselves, Deng admits, have merged their stories into the stereotype as they tell them over and over again. But, we are reminded, “[those] experiences were very different.” This is the crux of Eggers’ contribution: that he told the story not of the conflict or of the history of the Lost Boys, but of one man, and brought him to life.—Reviewer Jessica A. Hui can be reached at hui@fas.harvard.edu...
...grass as having the color that I would describe, if I were in your shoes, as purple. Or ponder whether there could be a true zombie--a being who acts just like you or me but in whom there is no self actually feeling anything. This was the crux of a Star Trek plot in which officials wanted to reverse-engineer Lieut. Commander Data, and a furious debate erupted as to whether this was merely dismantling a machine or snuffing out a sentient life...
...NATO in Afghanistan has become an institutional fig leaf for an ad hoc and unstable coalition of the willing. The crux of the Atlantic alliance is its mutual defense clause, the all-for-one principle, in which an attack on any member is considered an attack on them all. But that clause's limitations were first displayed after Sept. 11, 2001, when it was invoked in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, only to be spurned by a Bush Administration set on keeping tight reins on its response...
...trivialize alcoholism, of course, which is a dire addiction with physiological origins. But the crux of the problem is the relentless propaganda campaigns that would have us believe that because alcoholism is a disease, alcoholics are sick, moral cripples. It is the denial of agency that is so offensive...