Why do left and right mean liberal and conservative?

During the election season the words left and right denote political affiliation more than spatial direction. But where do these associations come from?The left hand has long been associated with deviance. The word “sinister” originally meant “to the left” in Latin. The word “left” comes from the Old English word lyft, which literally meant “weak, foolish.” To avoid the negative and superstitious associations of the left side, many languages...

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Discipline As Falsified Uniformity

At the risk of called foucauldian, although I was never a disciplinarian, even before Foucault (it means reading Foucault) am skeptical about discipline. Disciplining at first instance is a power construct and regulated by power.Discipline is not at behest of commoners but it is created, controlled  regulated and modulated by the power. In that very sense power creates and depends on discipline. Foucault calls it penopticism, which simply means that through discipline governing and...

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The Accidents of History

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31 October 1984. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948The accidents of history have a much bigger role in shaping a nation’s destiny than one usually thinks. That is because accidents cannot be broken down into causes and effects, which is the historian’s standard tool. Accidents are after all, just accidents. On a whimsical note I sometimes wonder about India’s tryst with assassinations and whether...

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A Terror Tale With Plenty of Loose Ends

The Karnataka Police claim to have prevented a major catastrophe by arresting a dozen Muslim youth. But does it have a watertight case? Imran Khan finds outThe citizens of Bangalore, who have been limping back to normalcy after more than 30,000 north-easterners fled the city amidst rumours of communal violence, is now living with the grim specter of terrorists living in their midst posing as respectable, law-abiding citizens- as journalists, scientists, doctors and students.The Karnataka police last week arrested 18 Muslim youths including...

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