Word: modernism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...legalizing a form of marriage because it is no longer anathema to the majority, we acknowledge the fact that social taboos are the guiding principle of the modern definition of marriage. In this new legal environment, all candidate definitions are necessarily discriminatory toward some form of relationship. Otherwise, all conceptions of marriage would be permitted. Therefore, by extension, it is unfair to categorically label the proponents of one arbitrary definition bigots for not supporting another arbitrary definition...
...ascent joins the long tradition of Cinderella, Philoctetes, Cyrano de Bergerac, the frog prince, and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. No doubt the producers of “Britain’s Got Talent” knew this when they decided to recast the age-old archetype on a modern stage like so many authors, playwrights, and bards before them. The fresh angle in Boyle’s case, though, is that this isn’t a puppet show Christmas special or a child’s folk tale—this is reality. As scripted and replete with...
...falsetto) means that she’s actually less likely to change anything than an animated ogre turned unlikely hero. Unlike storybook fables, human interest clichés like Boyle’s story are constantly pushed aside for the next season’s craze—as modern parables, they can’t last. Indeed, despite all of its potential for crafting the perfect narrative arc, reality TV’s pitfall in the business of moralizing seems to be its unapologetic reality. Next year, YouTubers will find another craze, Britons will find another media darling...
...cause of documenting every child killed in last May's massive earthquake in Sichuan his own. Leveraging his position as one of the country's best-known artists - he had a hand in designing the Olympic Bird's Nest stadium and is the son of China's most prominent modern poet - Ai has managed to help keep the issue of why so many schools collapsed, killing thousands of students, alive...
Israel is a major stop on Pope Benedict's journey and a focal point of Western involvement in the Middle East. And while support for the modern revival of the ancient biblical nation runs deep among many Christians in America and Europe, the creation of Israel has been a disaster for Christians in the Middle East. Many of the Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes in 1948 - never to be allowed back - were Christians. The flood of Palestinian refugees into Lebanon helped spark a civil war between Muslims and Christians there. And the ongoing occupation...