Editorials

521 results
Page 33
Why is this man smiling?

How to make the news more exciting

Now for something completely different: Six news stories I’d like to see

When you read or watch the news, do you ever get the feeling that you already know what they’re going to say? Wouldn’t it be nice if, once in a while, a news story surprised you? Something like this”¦
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 7 minute read
Blanchett leaves her heart in San Francisco. Or is it Barcelona?

Woody Allen’s ‘Blue Jasmine’ (3rd review)

The world of the introvert: On taking Woody Allen seriously

Has Woody Allen’s worldview changed with Blue Jasmine? Not at all, I would argue. Woody Allen never had a worldview to begin with. This is one director who’s been hiding behind the camera much too long.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 8 minute read
'Joy Tomme really ticks me off.'

God Almighty speaks, at last

An offer I couldn't refuse (from a columnist you can't argue with)

God Almighty has finally spoken, and boy, is he pissed— especially at two recent BSR contributors.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 5 minute read
Same stadium, same striped sleeves, but I was no Chuck Bednarik.

In defense of football

Woody Allen's mantra, plus a few kind words for football

Today it's widely accepted that football at all levels is out of control. But with each passing year I'm struck by the critical role that the game played in my education.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 5 minute read
Lynch mob, Marion, Indiana, 1930: Once a point of civic pride.

Eichmann and the future

Eichmann and radical evil: Where do we go from here?

Three thoughtful responses to my recent criticism of Adolf Eichmann's death sentence share a common characteristic: a failure to perceive that the future will inevitably differ from the past and the present.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 6 minute read
Where have you gone, William Safire (above, with his beloved dictionary)?

Grading New York Times columnists

The day of the pundit: My favorite Times columnists

Which New York Times op-ed columnists command my attention these days? My idiosyncratic ratings are based on a single criterion: How do I react when I see the columnist's byline? The envelope, please.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 5 minute read
Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks were on to something.

When Jews cross themselves

You don't have to be Christian to make the Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is an effective Christian religious symbol as well as a dandy marketing tool. It also serves other ueful functions, as Mel Brooks and yours truly can attest.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 4 minute read
One suicide later: Madoff (left) in 2001, with wife Ruth and son Mark.

Sociopaths on stage: Bernard Madoff

The tragedy of Bernard Madoff? No, it doesn't work for me, either

Most of us can empathize with a tragic hero who falls from grace. But what can you feel about a swindler like Bernard Madoff, who's just plain manipulative from the get-go? And in that case, why write a play about him?
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 6 minute read
Eichmann in Nazi regalia: What to do with the world's most loathsome criminal?

The Eichmann verdict: Arendt's vs. mine

Hannah Arendt's verdict vs. mine: What Eichmann's judges should have said

The final paragraph of Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem— in which she suggests what the judges should have told a Nazi war criminal— is widely acclaimed as brilliant but always struck me as intellectually flimsy. So what should the judges have said? I thought you'd never ask.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 7 minute read
Why did Washington's brilliant cabinet members defer to his leadership?

What George Washington could teach Egyptians

Where are you, George Washington, now that Egypt needs you?

George Washington hungered for respect rather than power. As a result, he perfected the art of gaining power by giving it away. Egypt's generals and their foes in the Muslim Brotherhood could use someone like him right now.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 6 minute read