thoughts in and out of season
James Kalb About 10 years ago Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a professional sociologist as well as politician, noted that as deviancy grows beyond the bounds of acceptability it is redefined so life can retain the appearance of normality. (See his American Scholar essay “Defining Deviancy Down”.) In fact, however, what we have been seeing around us for … More ...
Some antifeminist items have made their way into the mainstream media: Salon says that “False rape accusations are not uncommon”, although they put a feminist spin on it, while Fox News has noticed that Moms Can Be Deadbeats Too. In fact, when they don’t get custody they’re more likely to be deadbeats than … More ...
Here’s an informative review by one theoretician of the managerial state, Paul Gottfried, of two biographies of a second: The Disputed Legacy of James Burnham. One of the biographies was written by a third theoretician, Sam Francis. It’s possible Burnham, Francis & Co. emphasize power in itself too much at the expense of the … More ...
FrontPage Magazine has an article on an interesting combination of the Denny’s Hustle and government by consent decree: Harvesting the Fruits of Liberal Guilt. The Denny’s Hustle, of course, is the practice of bringing strike suits against large PR-conscious companies complaining of multiple acts of racism. Government by consent decree is a procedure whereby … More ...
More PC in Canada, the kinder, gentler part of British North America: a quota of 20% for visible minorities in hiring and promotion for Canada’s civil service. The program will be in addition to other set-asides for native people and women. Also, here’s one observance among many of the National Day of Remembrance and Action … More ...
The ACLU wins some and loses some. They sometimes have trouble getting monuments to the Ten Commandments out of public parks, but have managed to suppress “With God, all things are possible” as the Ohio state motto.
The distinction is that the monuments can be viewed as historical rather than religious. The Ten Commandments, like … More ...
The Monmouth County (New Jersey) Prosecutor’s Office is apparently awash in money, enough to let them spend $400,000 on a 30-second TV spot featuring Hitler, burning crosses, lynchings and whatnot, with a voiceover announcing “no one is immune” and encouraging listeneners to report bias incidents to a hotline. The reason: a “a string of racist … More ...
Antihumanism has made another convert. John Gray of the London School of Economics, formerly a classical liberal and what not else, is coming out with a new book, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals. The new book is said to be “a demolition of two and a half thousand years of Western … More ...
Times are tough all over: the U. S. bishops’ board which is supposed to monitor clerical sex abuse includes some dodgy characters, and the Anglican church continues its long day’s journey down the tubes with an attack by a senior Anglican bishop on the masculinity of God. The latter incident can also be … More ...
Legal trivia: in Florida you can get 5 years for notorizing your own signature. Since it’s not clear why notorizing should matter, the law doesn’t seem to be enforced much except in special cases like anti-gay rights petitions. So in Miami two people involved in a campaign to overturn a local gay-rights ordinance … More ...