Word: distract
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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During the more than two hours of trauma and suffering, spiked by the occasional one-liner, that momentum fortunately grows. By Act III even the wet-washcloth quality of the pauses can't distract us, though the pacing remains subtly off--the end of each scene, including the last, comes as a surprise letdown instead of a definitive period. In between, by way of atonement, Cutler has admirably showcased a parade of comedy bits, from the infamous live lamb to Keith Rogal's slimy portrayal of Corporate Evil as the interloping lawyer. Still, no amount of carbonation can lighten this...
...bill, students might refuse federal aid on a variety of other grounds, such as a belief that government grants are the tainted fruit of an unjust system of taxation. The University could not consider the merits of such claims without undertaking to judge difficult and controversial issues that could distract and divide its students and faculty. To resolve these questions. Harvard would have to take official positions on political questions in a manner that might threaten academic freedom. Students and alumni would object that their tuition payments, and donations were being used to support principles which they strongly opposed...
...actions that preceded them. Despite its fanatical loyalty to Moscow, the widely reviled and politically ineffective Tudeh Party (membership: between 2,000 and 3,000) seemed to be nothing more than a symbolic victim. Many analysts noted that Khomeini thrives on crisis, habitually seeking to dramatize his strength and distract his restive populace by pummeling some scapegoat. Past offenders have included the U.S., which Khomeimi frequently calls the great Satan," the Mujahedin-e Khalq guerrillas, who oppose the regime, and the army of neighboring Iraq. Late last year, Khomeini added the Soviet Union to his list. It was a startling...
Phillips has a point. Proxy battles frequently do little good for the companies involved or the economy as a whole. They seem mainly to distract investors and company officials from their real business and into nasty paper chases. But those who mount proxy battles also often have a legitimate grievance: corporate managers do sometimes get sloppy and deserve being called to task...
Since Tuchman, the humanist, spoke these words, her philosophy, of history has gradually evolved to a place more and more emphasis on the second dimension of her theory. Half a century ago she saw institutions destroyed in Japan and Stalinist Russia, and watched idealism self-distract in the country side of Civil War-torn Spain. In the last 15 years--she has seen the Vietnam War. Watergate and the atom bomb trigger the same reactions in the United States, she has with increasing frequency turned to history for answers. Although she still retains her humanistic vision, she has gradually focused...