I just spent my morning meeting with some representatives of a UK nonprofit and then some Australian Parliamentarians. The Brits are interested in starting a voluntary national service program; the Aussies want to improve e-government. It seems to be the season to come to Washington on fact-finding tours, and some people believe that I have facts to dispense. I did my best.
Author Archives: Peter Levine
the 12th-century revolution
The division of history into periods can obscure as much as it reveals, emphasizing change only at the cusps of eras, and continuity everywhere else. For example, we are accustomed to dividing the “middle ages” from the “renaissance.” This periodization (a modern choice) conceals important shifts before 1400 and exaggerates the rate of change thereafter.
In particular, it misleads us into ignoring the radical break that occurred during the 1100s (which we assume to be just a typical “medieval” century). Consider that the following elements of European civilization were widespread in 1200 but absent, or only nascent, a century before: law, understood as a consistent and comprehensive system to be refined by experts, not dictated by lords; the gothic style in art and architecture; cities with large urban populations; colleges and universities; chartered corporations; scholastic philosophy and theology, with conspicuous roots in ancient thought; popular institutions for health and education, mostly founded and staffed by mendicant friars inspired by St. Francis and St. Dominic; ideological arguments about church and state, wealth and poverty; republican government in many Italian city states but also in some northern towns; chivalric orders; elaborate Arthurian mythology as expressed in several rapidly developing modern languages; European imperialism, as exemplified by the Crusades and various forays against the Moors and Slavs; and organized nations with princely courts and secular bureaucracies. The rupture with the past was enormous, and there was more continuity than change thereafter.
(I’m influenced here by Harold Berman’s Law and Revolution I. I realize that our technology-obsessed culture tends to see the invention of the printing press (ca. 1450) as the revolutionary moment. But I have previously given some reasons not to view moveable type as overly important.)
academics who promote democracy
I lead a peculiar professional life, one that’s hard to describe to acquaintances; but I’m hardly unique. There are distinguished and successful people who are much further along a similar path than I–to name just a few, Harry Boyte, Barbara Ferman, Lew Friedland, Archon Fung, Bill Galston, John Gaventa, Liz Hollander, Jenny Mansbridge, Elinor Ostrom, John McKnight, Karen Pittman, Jay Rosen, Carmen Sirianni, and Linda Williams. These are all scholars who promote democracy in practical ways. I like to think that my blog describes how one can live that sort of life, in case other people want to try it. My own activities are by no means exemplary, but I often report on what my colleagues are doing.
In brief, they are serious scholars who are developing elaborate worldviews in articles and books. But they draw a lot of their knowledge from hands-on work outside the academy. That description would also cover plenty of academics who are experts in fields of policy and advocates for particular positions. For example, there are hundreds of science professors who promote green policies in conjunction with advocacy groups. That is a completely appropriate form of engagement. But the people I mentioned above are more interested in the democratic process. Specifically, they are concerned about citizens’ capacity to form their own opinions and to shape the world accordingly.
comment spam revisited
Last night I received another 140 spam comments, and these were advertisements for photos of rape, incest, and torture. (I’m quoting verbatim from their own descriptions.) Anyone who can place 140 horrifying comments on my site can place 1,400, and completely shut me down. Therefore, instead of posting something substantive today, I’ve spent my blogging time trying to protect this site from the true scum of the earth.
I wanted to follow Nick Beaudrot’s good advice to install a “visual filter” or “captcha” that would test whether those trying to post comments are (sighted) human beings. Despite an ethical qualm about blocking access to blind people, I will install such a filter if it proves necessary. However, a quick search didn’t turn up any user-friendly versions. There are scripts available online, but they lack installation instructions simple enough for dummies like me. Therefore, I have followed the advice on this page, which basically suggests creating non-standard names for software files to fool automated spammers. As a result of the changes I’ve made today, you must now pass through two steps to leave a comment, but it’s straightforward.
comment spam
(Warning: if you have a blog of your own, you already know what I’m about to say, and this may be boring.) My blog usually gets hit four or five times a day by “spam.” People post ads, often for extremely unsavory products, as comments. Their motive is to generate links to their own sites so that they will rank higher on Google searches. Spammers use software to place their comments, so that they can post many in a short time. Last night, I was hit by more than 100 separate comments, all advertising a particularly disgusting and illegal form of pornography. These comments are difficult to remove with MovableType–it takes five clicks plus a certain amount of waiting to get rid of each one. MoveableType allows you to block particular computers from posting comments, but spammers now hide their identity by using fake IP addresses. Every one of last night’s spam comments had a different address.
There are solutions. For example, you can change the technical structure of your site so that it’s much harder for programs to “know” automatically how to post comments. This kind of change is not easy for someone like me to make, however–it would take me at least an afternoon, and I would probably mess it up at first.
The other kind of solution essentially involves restricting public uses of one’s site. I could, for example, block all comments on old entries. However, I like the serious remarks that periodically appear on archived posts. I could get rid of comments altogether and tell people just to email me. But that barrier might discourage participation. So it’s a dilemma, and it exemplifies the dark side of all open networks.
If any spammer reads this (and I’m sure they won’t), I would make one request. If you are going to advertise some kind of exploitative sex involving minors as a response to one of my earnest comments about civility or civic education, please don’t compound the insult by writing “Nice site,” or “Good point” in the comment field. It drives me nuts.