The Humanities Guys

Dr. Michael L. Carrafiello and Dr. Brian Domino, a/k/a The Humanities Guys, discuss how the humanities can help answer life's big questions on WMUB's Interconnect program quarterly.

Although topics are not determined in advance (it is a call-in show after all), occasionally some topics seem timely to us. When that happens, we will post suggested readings here. You don't have do the readings to call us. Just think of it as "value-added."

10.27.08 Politics and Character

Thanks for all of your great questions on our August show! We didn't have time to discuss politics and character, so we've postponed it until our October 27th 2008 appearance. Given that it will be four days before Halloween and eight days before the election, we'll probably talk about the hidden, or masked, part of all of us.

This article talks about the masks worn by Julia Child, Sterling Hayden, and other well-known Americans as members of the OSS during World War II:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jUNOHxDTQoehoT3FAda6jBvSN4uQD92HNJO00

This piece from Great Britain considers whether we really want to strip away masks so as to know everything about our elected officials:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/the_p_word/newsid_7326000/7326187.stm

The article linked below offers a thoughtful consideration of what kinds of personal questions reporters should be asking of politicans. It includes a list of criteria for shaping those inquiries, as well as reactions from readers. Do you agree with the list? How would you change it?
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/kellers-criteria-for-covering-politicians-private-lives/

Here's an historical perspective on politicians' indiscretions in the state of NY written during the Elliot Spitzer scandal that mentions such eminent Americans as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Are today's scandals worse and/or more pervasive than in the past, or is it all just more of what we've always seen?
http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/mar/13/0313_history/

08.18.08 The Olympics and Politics

The Summer Olympics will be in full swing by the time we're on the air in August. A natural topic would be not just sports per se, but their connection to character.

A short essay that tries to get at what constitutes cheating can be found here:
http://www.philosophynow.org/issue41/41burdick.htm

Here's a story about sports rage, in particular about the violence occurring in youth sports--usually by the parents.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec00/sports_rage.html

It's also a presidential election year, and so we expect to discuss politics at some point.

A story from The Daily Progress entitled Character in politics confusing, study says.

An excerpt by Doris Kearns Goodwin on Franklin D. Roosevelt and character.

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