thoughts in and out of season
James Kalb A conflict of liberal absolutes: Minneapolis Library workers sue over porn. Under liberalism, patrons have an absolute and unquestionable right to view whatever materials they wish. The alternative, since it’s a public library, is state censorship by the very institution charged to make information publicly available. On the other hand, female workers also have … More ...
A survey of students, faculty and administrators has now made it possible, even in The New York Times, to make the obvious point that “diversity” in higher education lowers standards and satisfaction for just about everybody. Even the administrators who defend diversity programs so loudly don’t like them much—47.7 percent oppose them, and of … More ...
Every word is true, but why put it in a way no one will understand? European Union Cannot Be Reduced to a Market, Cautions Pope. The EU, he says, “must promote a model of society that honors the fundamental dignity of the whole person and his rights, that favors relations based on justice, mutual … More ...
The Catholic faith becomes the property of the faithful through the traditions that give it definite form and stability. It is through those traditions that a refined system of thought, feeling and observance works its way into the life of the people, and the people lay hold of the central truths of religion. Without them … More ...
An item that illustrates John Rao’s point about the infinite openness of “common sense” in an officially pluralist society, as well as my point about the impossibility of dealing reasonably with sex under the new dispensation: Leading U.K. health agency gives 11-year-olds free condoms. The reason? They “want youngsters to become comfortable with condoms … More ...
Some useful background on affirmative action and related issues: Affirmative action’s evolution. One point the article makes that hadn’t occurred to me is that the trigger for the switch from the rhetoric of justice to the rhetoric of diversity was Justice Powell’s tie-breaking opinion in Bakke.
I think the switch would have come … More ...
Sentiment in Catholic blogdom seems—at least from what I see—to be running strongly in favor of the war. It occurs to me that the reason may be the nature of blogging about current events. The activity favors those with articulate opinions on everything. Those are usually people with strong attachments and clear comprehensive views, applicable … More ...
When people need something to stew about what they choose is unpredictable. In Edinburgh it’s still OK to have a school Nativity play, you’re just not allowed to videotape it. The concern isn’t offense to animists or Muslims, psychological stress for participants, the right of the student to control reproduction of his likeness, or … More ...
Get government out of the bedroom! So went the rallying cry of the movement to abolish public standards of sexual morality. It didn’t work out as planned. Like other traditional standards, customary sexual morality made it possible for people to live together and cooperate in stable productive ways without the intervention of public authority. If … More ...
What does it mean that our society has officially rejected the notion of a common moral reality in which all participate? (See, e.g., Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992): “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the … More ...