Columnists

“Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slave driver,”—Ambrose Bierce,journalist & writer

“The history of an oppressed people is hidden in the lies and agreed myth of its conquerers”—Meridel Le Sueur, author & activist

Myths are dangerous precisely because they rely more on cultural memory and prejudice than facts, and behind the current crisis between Greece and the European Union (EU) lays a fable that bears little relationship to why Athens and a number of other countries in the 28-member organization find themselves in deep distress.

The tale is a variation of Aesop’s allegory of the industrious ant and the lazy, fun-loving grasshopper, with the “northern countries”—Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Finland—playing the role of the ant, and Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland the part of the grasshopper.

The ants are sober and virtuous—led by the frugal Swabian hausfrau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel—the grasshoppers are spendthrift, corrupt layabouts who have spent themselves into trouble and now must pay the piper.

The problem is that this myth bears almost no relationship to the actual roots of the crisis or what the solutions might be. And it perpetuates a fable that the debt is the fault of individual countries rather than a serious crisis at the very heart of the EU. -more-

During the last two years of a President’s second term pundits begin discussing his “legacy.” How will historians judge Barack Obama? Conservatives believe he will be loathed. Liberals tend to be more generous, however many of us believe Obama will be remembered as a mixed bag, a mixture of good and bad policies. -more-

If you are a heterosexual man with mental illness and want to go out on a date, it is likely that you will be dating a woman with mental illness. In general, most women in mainstream society would not want to have a relationship with a disabled mentally ill man. (I do not know enough about the dating customs of LGBT people to give an opinion.) If you are female with a mental illness and are attractive, you have a better chance of dating a nondisabled man compared to the other way around. (This doesn't always hold true.) -more-