Atheism needs to become more sophisticated

Given the intricacies of the human mind, dialogue can be quite fascinating. Here we have Terry Eagleton being interviewed on Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, two of the current ueber-atheists.
Eagleton could have a lot in common with them given his Marxist background that could make him see any religion, while having historical relevance, an illusion. [...]

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Design style in the former communist East Germany (GDR)

There is no doubt that the former communist regime was repressive, and that its tentacles of control embraced design. On the other hand, the following article seems to suggest that consumerism is design paradise, which is a fairly apologetic view of consumer society. That is not to say, that functionality should be void of beauty, [...]

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Majority of Eastern Germans feel life was better under communism

Young Germans, longing for life in the former German Democratic Republic
The following article is quite arrogant and condescending and clearly is written with a biased perspective that uncritically favours Germany’s political system of today. Nevertheless, it gives interesting glimpses into some of the advantages the former communist Germany offered its citizens over life in [...]

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Collection of 60,000 photos found of life in the former East Germany, dating back to the 1950s

What East Germany Was Really Like
By Solveig Grothe
Spiegel online International
They wanted to clean up the basement but found a treasure trove of photos instead. After Berlin teacher Manfred Beier died, his sons stumbled across 60,000 pictures. Their father, it turns out, created one of the best documentations of life in East Germany, and the first [...]

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