Jennie M. Xue

Peaceful pluralism and nonkilling policy

 by Jennie S. Bev

The world of politics is based on violence, within which killing —as a form of violence— is a major component in gaining and maintaining power.

Throughout the history of political philosophy, from Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Politics, Machiavelli’s The Prince, Hobbes’s Leviathan, Locke’s Two Treaties of Government, Rousseau’s The Social Contract, Marx and Engels’ The Communist Manifesto, to Weber’s “Politics as a Vocation,” all agreed that killing is a necessary form of force used in a power struggle, if not as a last resort.

The anatomy of a kiss

by Jennie S. Bev 

A kiss is not just a kiss. It is more and sometimes it is less than itself. A kiss may mean many things, yet we all are so infatuated with kisses. We kiss and are kissed.

We love watching kissing movie scenes and cheer whenever we see lovebirds kiss each other. Kisses make us happy, meaningful, accepted and –occasionally– betrayed. Most kisses are warm and cheerful, but others are dry, cold and dreadful. While kisses make things happen, they also kill.