thoughts in and out of season
James Kalb The cure for the problems of the managerial liberal state is always more of the same. Europeans wary of ‘political Islam’ provide an example. European ruling elites have noticed that there are more and more Muslims in Europe, they cluster together and don’t assimilate, their presence means crime and terrorism, and ordinary Europeans are beginning … More ...
A little while ago I wondered aloud what an “expert on racism” is. Now we know: it’s someone who says “Slam them hard and slam them now” and can then testify as an expert at the trial of those to be slammed.
Why Nazism? Many of the theories proposed to explain something so horrible and bizarre have had an ulterior purpose—it was all about big business, Christian antisemitism, authoritarian child-raising practices, or whatever. Pick the thing you like least about European society, and that’s what caused the Nazis. A contemporary eyewitness account by a young German, “Defying … More ...
Quote for the day: “Every group has its code words. These words serve an important social function—they enable the members of the group to deliver a harsh judgment on others without accountability.” (Deal Hudson)
The old ball and chain really does work: University of Florida study: Marriage can reduce life of crime. The effect is said to be “strong” among hardened offenders in their late teens and early 20s, although the article unfortunately doesn’t give figures. And it has to be marriage; shacking up doesn’t do the job. … More ...
Two stories from Britain illustrate the discipline now imposed on words or actions at odds with the emerging order of things: Top Tory backs blast at gays and lesbians and Farce as heroes nick thug.
The first involves a senior Tory baroness, Caroline Cox, who lent her support to a book written by an … More ...
This seems to add a piece to the puzzles regarding the comparative weakness of the ties between black men and women worldwide: Public policies promoting marriage may not benefit all children, Cornell social policy expert finds in study. What the study suggests is that white children are affected more by broken homes, black children … More ...
Some tricks worth thinking about: Seeing through the lies. Long pauses, short sentences, and frequent errors in diction or grammar can be a tip-off that someone’s lying. Here’s a more complicated system: Become a Human Lie Detector. Act truthful in one way and something else you do will betray you.
No system works … More ...
Here in New York we didn’t know what to say about the September 11 atrocities, so we repeated old patriotic speeches and spent a couple hours reading the names of those who died in a sort of spoken equivalent of the Viet Nam Memorial. In England they apparently had the same problem, and Spiked provides … More ...
The forces of built tradition are rallying in Britain and making headway against modernist tyranny: All the King’s Architects: The surprising success of Prince Charles’s anti-modernist crusade. Unfortunately, there are no pictures in the online version of the article, so unless you’re unusually good at visualizing buildings from lists of details you’ll want to … More ...