The Reason Review —August 2017
August sees us debut a fresh, triple-distilled format for the Reason Review. But fear not, we’re still going to provide you with a comprehensive round-up of the most important news stories and events of the month, we’re just making them leaner, cleaner and easier to digest. We’ve traversed the virtual landscape of fake news, memes, videos, essays, and all manner of other ephemera to curate a tapestry of rich, informative content. And so, without further ado:
Charlottesville’s Faces of Hate
A photo essay by Mark Peterson and Clio Chang
“The neo-Nazis and white supremacists who marched and brawled in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend wore their whiteness like a shield…”
Award-winning photographer Mark Peterson and staff writer for The New Republic Clio Chang recount the chilling events — and tragic consequences — of the “Unite the Right rally” in Charlottesville. Crowds of alt-right, white supremacist and white nationalist protesters clashed with Antifa counter demonstrators over the removal of a statue honouring Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
Barcelona Tourists Become Terrorism’s Latest Victims
“The Catalan government’s statement — carefully eschewing the easy route of stoking fear of Muslims — made efforts to be inclusive and encompassing of its polyglot population.”
After the violence in Charlottesville, The New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson argues that the deadly attack in Barcelona only a few days later, cannot be viewed in isolation. In this short essay he explores the similarities between Barcelona and other recent attacks, and the vast differences in rhetoric between the political leaders of Europe and the US.
How Humans Made Hurricane Harvey Worse
“Since Houston, Texas was founded nearly two centuries ago, Houstonians have been treating its wetlands as stinky, mosquito-infested blots in need of drainage.”
In recent days, the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey has raised water levels in some parts of the watershed high enough to completely cover a Cadillac. The vanished wetlands wouldn’t have prevented flooding, but they would have made it less painful, experts say.
North Korea: Peril or Posturing?
It’s a saga that has dominated headlines, front pages and news channels for most of the summer, at certain times appearing bizarre and surreal, at others, profoundly alarming. This month North Korea has upped the ante in the antagonisation of its immediate neighbours and the larger global community with emboldened posturing, jingoistic rhetoric and another set of missile tests.
In early July Pyongyang debuted — and successfully tested — its first long-range, intercontinental ballistic missile. And, as noted in July’s Reason Review, most of the international community considered this to be significant military escalation. As we entered August, we saw the UN Security Council unanimously adopt new sanctions in a direct response to North Korea’s bellicose brand of foreign policy.
Not to be outdone, President Trump weighed in on the situation with some blustering diplomacy of his own, declaring that North Korea would be met with “fire, fury, and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before” if it continued to antagonise the US.
Kim Jong Un and North Korea initially appeared unfazed and undeterred, and chose to respond to Trump’s brazen soundbite by revealing it had plans to launch four Hwasong-12 ICBM missiles at the US territory of Guam. However, the international community breathed a short sigh of relief when, just days after this revelation, Pyongyang appeared to take a step back from the edge of nuclear conflict and claimed it would wait a little more and “assess the foolish and stupid conduct of the United States.”
In the latest turn of events, just when fire, fury and thermonuclear war appeared to be on hold, news broke on the 29th that North Korea had launched a ballistic missile over Japan. The missile, which travelled over 2,700 km before crashing 1,180 km off of the coast of Hokkaido, prompted Japanese authorities to send text messages to its citizens warning them about the launch and, in some districts, urging them to take shelter.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quick to condemn the move, calling it an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat to our nation”. Most of the international community followed suit, though China was quick to point out that repeated military drills conducted by the US and South Korea on the peninsula likely contributed to the “tipping point” at which we now find ourselves.
By most accounts then, the aforementioned sighs of relief were decidedly premature. And indeed the most recent clamours from the vociferous North Korean state suggest that the launch over Japan was just the first in an ensuing “Pacific operation”, and that Guam could very well be the next target.
The doomsday clock remains at two and a half minutes before the hour: the closest it’s been to midnight since the 1980s.
The Truth About That Facebook AI Story
“No, Facebook Did Not Panic and Shut Down an AI Program That Was Getting Dangerously Smart”
In early August the web was ablaze with a story that Facebook was forced to shut down its research in machine learning when two robots began communicating in a language nobody could understand. Was it finally time for humanity to submit to robot rule? The reality, it seems, was a little more prosaic.
In Lighter News
A video from Vox Media
Remember how excited everyone was about the solar eclipse? Here’s eight of the most excited eclipse chasers to reignite that sense of wonder for you.
Weapons of Reason issue #4: Power, is available to order now.
