A psychoanalytically inclined friend of mine once told me that you can tell the important dreams not because you know what they mean, but because you can’t get them out of your head. As an anthropologist I’ve noticed something similar about ethnographic fieldwork: You live through moments that immediately seem important to you, but it is only after chewing them over that you realize why. I had one such moment recently that taught me, deep down, that I firmly believe in the power of fear and humiliation as teaching methods. This insight came to me late last month in the course of having my ass kicked repeatedly by Kael’thas Sunstrider, son of Anasterian, prince of Quel’Thalas, and servant of Kil’jaeden…

McCain Hammers Away at ‘Spreading the Wealth’

Elizabeth Holmes reports from Manchester, N.H., on the presidential race.

John McCain continues to hint that Barack Obama’s economic policies teeter on socialism. He harped on the Democrat’s “spread the wealth” line at a New Hampshire rally Wednesday.

“Before government can redistribute wealth, it has to confiscate wealth from those who earned it,” McCain yelled to the crowd of about 2,000 at Saint Anselm’s college in Goffstown, N.H.

“Whatever the right word is for that way of thinking—” McCain then paused slightly, allowing someone in the crowd to fill in the blank. “Socialism!” a voice shouted.

McCain continued: “The redistribution of wealth is the last thing America needs right now. In these tough economic times, we don’t need…