“Plastics!”
Will this make it big as the next health scare? Environmental plastics and the feminization of Culture. Macho organic health food fans finally have a cause they can call their own.
James Kalb
When “parens patriae” runs amuck
No child left behind! Like all utopian slogans, it sounds good until you look at what it means. The problem is that the slogan only makes sense if the state can become a universal supplier of adequate education—that is, if it can take on the parental role in raising children. It can’t, though, because its … More ...
Pessimistic Americana
Joseph Stromberg gives a rather lengthy summary of various people’s complaints about the American regime and soul: The Dark Night of the American Soul. (The title is intended to be ironic, he doesn’t think the American soul ever has a dark night.) It reads a bit like an accumulation of notes, but the accumulation … More ...
Is America evil?
A reader asks—evidently hoping to provoke discussion—whether America is the most evil society ever.
The obvious answer is “no.” Abortion isn’t as bad as abortion plus infant exposure. The Colosseum was worse than MTV. And the consumer society has its problems but so did slavery. Still, the question is provocative. America and other present-day Western … More ...
Self-esteem bad for you!
Recent studies prove: self-esteem is bad for you. There’s no substitute for dealing with reality and calling problems problems. I wonder if that principle has any relevance to happy talk within the Church?
1984 redux
The EU ministry of truth in action: Vikings? Such friendly folk, say textbooks. The official story told schoolchildren today, it seems, is that Europe has always been a sort of idealized EU living in happy harmony with its Muslim neighbors.
In the meanwhile, the Canadians have noticed a problem: “We … are terrible in … More ...
Neutrality as to ultimates?
An activist group, the Alliance Defense Fund, has placed advertisements in major university newspapers urging students to report incidents of anti-Christian bigotry on campus and providing a toll-free number and email address for the purpose. According to the group’s chief counsel, “Students must understand that the protections of the First Amendment do not stop … More ...
God brings good out of evil
If the gender deconstructors do succeed, what then? A clue may be provided by The Long Conversion of Oscar Wilde. If the institutions and attitudes that make ordinary life possible are abolished then the alternative to beastliness will be sanctity, and many will choose it. Remember that the battle is never lost.
True love waits
As counterpoint to the “queering the schools” agenda, here’s a footnote-laden Family Research Council report on Abstinence until Marriage: The Best Message for Teens. We’ve touched before on the widespread technocratic prejudice against “abstinence-only” sex-ed programs. Nonetheless, it should be obvious that it’s the abstinence curricula that are based on reason and common sense … More ...
O Times, o customs
Since the New York Times plays such an important role in defining American public life, accounts of life backstage are of some interest: ‘Republic of Fear’. It seems that things have gotten really nasty under the rule of new editor Howell Raines. We have pointed out that “diversity” makes terror and utter inefficiency the … More ...