Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

Last week’s column, (see “The American backlash against modernity,” 1/26/25) elicited responses that seemed to conflate three distinct yet related ideas: modernity, “wokeness,” and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Here, I aim to clarify how these concepts differ and intersect. While these concepts are most often discussed in the West, particularly in America’s culture wars, … Read more

President Donald Trump’s political comeback in the 2024 United States presidential election, though not a landslide, is nothing short of phenomenal. He secured victories in all the swing states, earning a decisive majority of electoral votes and the nationwide popular vote. Additionally, the Republican Party, now indelibly stamped with his personal brand, gained control of … Read more

Fire weather” is a term increasingly used to describe the atmospheric conditions that have rendered California’s recent wildfires uncontrollable. This emerging pattern combines hot, dry air that draws moisture from the soil and vegetation, strong winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour that drive fire fronts forward and scatter embers across vast distances, prolonged droughts or … Read more

As he bows before his landlord, the Malay peasant bends so low that he quietly passes foul gas in his master’s presence. Thus, the anthropologist James C. Scott opens his seminal book “Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance” (Yale University Press, 1985). The peasant’s display of total obeisance conveys what is, at … Read more

South Korea, an Asian country with which the Philippines has shared strong cultural affinities in recent years, is currently grappling with a political crisis eerily reminiscent of the Philippines’ Edsa Dos and Edsa Tres uprisings. The South Korean approach to this volatile moment offers a valuable lens through which Filipinos might reflect on their historical … Read more

Travel has many purposes. The travel writer Rick Steves categorizes travelers into three broad types. First, there’s the tourist, who seeks the excitement of shopping, sightseeing, and snapping selfies to share online. Next comes the traveler, eager for immersive experiences, hoping to blend in as a temporary resident in another country. Lastly, there’s the pilgrim—one … Read more

The day after Bishop Ambo David returned from Rome as one of the newly appointed cardinals of the Catholic Church, he visited my dear friend Dodong Nemenzo at the Philippine General Hospital to anoint him. Dodong’s son, Fidel, had earlier shared with me that his father, whose health was rapidly declining, would see a priest … Read more

While many nations, particularly the wealthier ones that profited from its early forms, now reject globalization and its consequences, the Catholic Church, under Pope Francis’ leadership, has chosen a path of acceptance of its challenges and an openhearted embrace of its myriad victims. Seeing itself as a “field hospital” that prioritizes care for the marginalized … Read more

We are so accustomed to seeing spouses and siblings from the same families dominate our political system that we often view the government itself as a family, with its top officials as the nation’s parents. This perspective makes it unsettling to witness open quarrels between the president and vice president. Public disputes, personal accusations, and … Read more

Budgetary allocations for select government offices, commonly termed “intelligence” and “confidential” funds, are typically exempt from standard auditing procedures in order to preserve the secrecy of the operations they support. While such exemptions may be justifiable for safeguarding national security and law enforcement objectives, their application to civilian agencies without clear security functions is harder … Read more