WELCOME. The Avocado Jungle is a source for current events, politics, arts and culture on the web. Editor In Chief David P. Kronmiller, along with a talented staff and guests, bring you news, commentary, analysis, interviews, humor, music, art and more.
Our deeper mission is to seek truth in understanding, offering current events, arts and culture as paths to that understanding. We value and promote creative thought, intelligent dialogue, elevated debate, and informed action.
If you see something that interests you on the site, please take the time to leave a thoughtful comment. Thanks for visiting.
Jungle Writers David P. Kronmiller, Editor-In-Chief
Notes from the Jungle
Matthew Tullman, Current Events Editor
On current events.
Joyce Chen
Blogging from New York.
Tharuna Devchand
Blogging from South Africa.
J Lampinen
Our resident comic strip, Congo & Steve
Joanna Lord
Blogging on life, art and spirituality.
Jeremy Olsen
Director of Development emeritus and occasional commentator.
Dan Rickabus
On things musical.
Nicky Schildkraut
On poetry.
Plus guest writers and past staff, including Zach Fehst, Amy Reynolds, Aaron Vaccaro, Jae Day, Sarah Jawaid, Scott Martin, and Bronson Picket.
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We post an assertion to be argued for or against, and ask all of our writers to come to the table for a good honest debate. Comments are now open to all readers. ASSERTION: Neither is it the government’s duty, nor is the government well-equipped, to make broad attempts to lift people out of poverty.
This Friday I stayed up until 5:30 AM Pacific in order to do a call-in interview with conservative talk show host Jamie Allman on St. Louis’ 97.1 FM. Instead of discussing the real consequences of the economic crisis and instead of focusing on the realities that it has brought – Allman chose to focus on me and my year of unemployment.
Too often our elected officials use their official positions to spin, stretch and sometimes out right lie about any given issue that may be in debate in government. On CNN’s iReport today I proposed the idea of a Truth Amendment to the Constitution that would require any and all elected officials to swear to tell the truth in the same manner anyone in a court of law may be required.
As a child the reading material I was forced to read in U.S. schools made me tilt my head to the side and scratch my cranium. 1984, I Am The Cheese, Alas Babylon, A Brave New World, The Metamorphosis, Crime and Punishment – all great novels but all damn depressing. So I turned to movies to find comfort and was again subjected to adrenaline pumping paranoia with the likes of Red Dawn, Wall Street, The Rescue, Flight of the Navigator, even E.T. for pete’s sake! All these films and books had something in common – government is bad, corporations are bad. Which left me wondering who the hell do you trust?
Our government in the form of law enforcement and committees is often vilified. It’s “The Man,” the cultural stick in the mud, the overbearing control that people must rise up against. Call it what you will, but the government as it is often viewed today has a foreboding quality to it, a “Big Brother” kind of blank-face authority that heartlessly implements rules in order to put a damper on free will. This is, however, where definition is often misconstrued and perception misaligned. Podcast available.
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This week in the Jungle we are searching for the truth about wealthy—what it means to be wealthy, how that differs around the world, and if and when wealthy people deserve to be treated differently than everyone else. Last week: poverty. Next week: big government.
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