The skillful weaver is Henry Giroux, a scholar, teacher and social critic with seemingly tireless energy and a broad range of interests. Talk about “connecting the dots” - read this, and the headlines of the day will, I think, arrange themselves differently in your head - threading together ideas and experiences to reveal a pattern. More on the film later, but this is the book: “Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism”. Recently I read a book and saw a film that opened my eyes to see differently the crisis of our times, and the metaphor used by both was, believe it or not, zombies.

In other words, metaphors cleanse the lens of perception and give us a fresh take on reality.

And if I say you are the “apple of my eye”, you know how special you are in my sight. You think of language differently, he said, if you think of “words pregnant with celestial fire.” Or “words that weep and tears that speak.” Of course, the heart doesn’t physically separate into pieces when we lose someone we love, but “a broken heart” conveys the depth of loss. A very wise teacher once told us, “If you want to change the world, change the metaphor.” Then he gave us some of his favorite examples.

Casino capitalism zombie politics