Donald J. Trump and the rhetoric of ressentiment

ABSTRACT

This essay contributes to and reframes the preliminary scholarly assessments of President Donald J. Trump's appeals to rage, malice, and revenge by sketching the rhetorical dimensions of an underlying emotional-moral framework in which victimization, resentment, and revenge are inverted civic virtues. I elaborate on the concept of ressentiment (re-sentiment), a condition in which a subject is addled by rage and envy yet remains impotent, subjugated and unable to act on or adequately express frustration. Though anger and resentment capture part of Trump's affective register, I suggest that ressentiment accounts for the unique intersection where powerful sentiments and self-serving morality are coupled with feelings of powerlessness and ruminations on past injuries. Thus, shifting focus from the rhetoric of resentment to that of ressentiment explains how Trump is able to sustain the affective charge of animus without forfeiting the moral high ground of victimhood to his audience's “oppressors”—Democrats, the press, criminals, immigrants, foreign adversaries, welfare recipients, the Me Too movement, “globalists,” and racial Others.     

Spiritual Language and the Ethics of Redemption: a Reply to Jim Mackenzie

I argue in this paper that Jim Mackenzie's critique of my recent work on religious and spiritual education fails on two main counts. First, his imputation to me of a confessional approach to religious education is simply misdirected, insofar as my previous papers are quite clearly concerned to sketch an alternative to both confessional and phenomenological approaches. Secondly, his attempt to reduce my 'spiritual truths' to moral and other claims turns on some question-begging decontextualisation of such judgements, as well as upon demonstrable ambiguities in his use of the terms 'moral' and 'soul'. In particular, I argue that the language of spirituality is indexed to an 'ethics of redemption' which is clearly distinguishable from any discourse of secular morality.     

抗击疫情下职业院校的担当与应对

2020年伊始,新冠肺炎疫情的发生与蔓延对我国社会经济生活的各个方面都产生了较大影响,也给学校的正常教育活动带来了巨大冲击,各级各类学校纷纷停课,在线教育成为学生“停课不停学”的主要方式。抗疫期间,职业院校认真学习习近平总书记在统筹推进新冠肺炎疫情防控和经济社会发展工作部署会议上的重要讲话精神,牢固树立坚决打赢校园疫情防控阻击战的信心,坚持把守护师生身体健康和生命安全放在第一位。在稳定大局,筑牢全体师生安全防线的同时,职业院校也要将抗疫契机与学校立德树人根本任务相结合,从培养担当精神、提升职业素养、强化社会服务、保证就业顺畅四个方面进行积极应对,为提高人才培养质量、推动地方产业发展、促进经济复苏贡献力量。     

Response to intervention: Accountability in action

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a popular if controversial initiative developed largely in the USA, but which is, as yet, little known in general education in Australia. However, this may change given the increased attention to accountability in recent times. The national NAPLAN and international PISA assessments are leading to pressure being placed on schools to lift student performance. It is possible that RTI may be seen by school systems as a means of providing data demonstrating effectiveness, and also a way of providing a direction for schools' responses to that data. The expectation that general education teachers provide evidence-based instruction and regular progress monitoring would, however, represent a significant change when compared to current practice in Australia. This paper presents a brief history of the development of RTI, an introduction to the RTI framework and its application in regular and special education. It also examines some of the issues that would arise if it were to be introduced into Australian mainstream education.     

Research on Resilience: Response to Commentaries

Clarifications are provided with respect to two sets of issues raised in preceding commentaries. First, interaction effects are undoubtedly salient in resilience research; yet main effect findings can be equally critical from an intervention perspective. Second, although resilience research and prevention science reflect similar broad objectives, the former (but not usually the latter) involves explicit attention to positive adjustment outcomes in addition to the avoidance of psychopathology.     

坚持马克思主义反对新自由主义

新自由主义把市场当作唯一合理、公正、民主的资源配置者,主张削弱和限制国家的作用,它在拉美、原苏东地区的政策实践是失败的,在英美等发达国家也产生了不良后果。新自由主义使全球资本力量更富侵略性、更具渗透力,因此,处于改革开放中的中国要坚持社会主义发展方向,就要坚持马克思主义的指导,正确认识新自由主义,抵制经济全球化条件下的资本攻势,走全面、协调、可持续发展之路。     

怎样防范"流氓"软件

从防患于未然的角度出发,阐明防范流氓软件的具体措施。