Paranoia made easy!
Like most right-wingers I’m rather down on George W. Bush, but I did find the Bush Conspiracy Theory Generator rather amusing.
James Kalb
Passions over The Passion
Judging by what people who aren’t Abe Foxman have taken away from Mel Gibson’s new movie, it seems to me it would better serve peace and understanding if Foxman would drop his campaign against The Passion of the Christ. The events surrounding the death of Christ are central to Christianity. To the extent the … More ...
Maybe information does want to be free
In his book The Free Press, recently republished, Hilaire Belloc gives a memorable explanation why the mass media make people stupid:
… More ...Instead of an organic impression formed at leisure in the comparison of many human sources, the reader obtains a mechanical one. At the same moment myriads of other men receive the same
Doper priest, dopey friends
A slice of life from never-never land: Trusting priest was betrayed. A Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Cleveland, “known as a gentle man—a vegan, yogi and massage therapist,” was arrested for growing marijuana in the rectory. His friends blame the misfortune on betrayal by a drifter the priest had taken in and … More ...
Rectification of language
What do you do with political terms? In the interview, I said that libertarianism and conservatism are theoretically opposed, because one makes freedom the final standard and one does not, but that on practical issues today they are often consistent. I also suggested that many people who call themselves libertarian are mostly conservative philosophically but … More ...
Aftermath of the interview
After the 2Blowhards interview I got into a discussion with one of the commenters on his own blog that began with a request that I respond to a paper he had written on Emerson and related topics. Here’s an edited version that tries to pick out the parts most likely to interest readers of Turnabout… More ...
Pluralism in action
Those who can tear themselves away from 2Blowhards should be sure to follow Tongue Tied, another blog we run in the right hand column. It helps keep up with the state of free speech and tolerance in today’s pluralistic world. Some current examples:
- In France, the Eldest Daughter of the Church and a nation
Thoughts on “pluralism”
The accepted wisdom about Islam is that it has to accept pluralism to become a good citizen of the modern world. “Pluralism,” as a practical matter, is the view that the only public truth about religion is that no religion is better than any other and all religion ought to be kept private. Christianity, it … More ...
September 11 as a “wakeup call”
Conservatives are always expecting a wakeup call that will rouse the American people so they will rise up, recapture the citadel, and restore sanity and good government. None ever comes. The most recent failed wakeup call was September 11. For a while it seemed significant that people were putting up “God Bless America” stickers, and … More ...
British propriety
American conservatives long admired England as the homeland of Civilized Standards. Russell Kirk wrote a whole book on America’s British Culture because he wanted to refute multiculturalism. It’s worth noting though how their ideas of civilized standards now operate:
- They’ve awarded their top literary award, the Booker Prize, to an unusually disgusting piece of illiterature