Word: tragic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...lesson then? That we get the criminals our societies deserve? Yes, of course. But the other question to be asked is, Do we ever remember the lessons? The strong emotions of pity and sorrow brought on by horror can have a tonic effect, thus the Aristotelian theory of tragic catharsis. But very often, we inure ourselves to the terrible. For one, we can choose to misread the implication. In Milwaukee, for example, public reaction has included the harassment of local gays, the very community victimized by Dahmer. A Wisconsin gay activist reports receiving a phone message saying, "You got what...
Lester Brown has renewed his earlier predictions that world population is reaching the limit of what the planet's land can support. Per capita food production is already declining, he points out, in Africa and South America. Ethiopia has suffered its tragic famines, Brown contends, partly because the country's population has outstripped the productive capacity of its fields. But World Bank analysts disagree, arguing that Ethiopia's agricultural failures stem more from the policies of the recently ousted Mengistu regime, which paid farmers rock-bottom prices and created no incentive to conserve resources...
Well, maybe. But to many experts it is hardly a surprise that dictatorial tendencies are still strong while reform movements are splintered. Given the tragic history of Russia, it could hardly be otherwise. The Czars retained absolutism as a quasi-religious principle long after most other European nations had either dethroned or put constitutional limitations on their Kings. Almost three centuries of the so-called Tatar Yoke, which ended around 1480, effectively walled off the country from foreign influences, an isolation continued as a matter of policy by the Czars and later the commissars. In the late 16th century, Giles...
...year ago last week, all Soviet musicians, actors and ballet dancers halted their performances for five minutes to protest what Culture Minister Nikolai Gubenko called the "tragic" state of Soviet culture. In the year since then, nothing has greatly changed or improved...
...important -- and dangerous -- mostly to its own people and its nearest neighbors. When reports of fighting in Slovenia reached Washington, Secretary of State James Baker fell back on some of the old terminology. "It is truly a powder-keg situation," he said. Actually, while bloodshed in Yugoslavia is tragic and unnecessary, this time it does not threaten to ignite a world...