thoughts in and out of season
James Kalb A disturbing thing about the bishops’ response to the scandals resulting from entrenched homosexuality in the priesthood is that it illustrates the extent to which institutional orthodoxy in the Roman Catholic Church has become dependent on one man, the Pope. The other bishops, it appears, aren’t much interested—certainly not enough to break “collegiality,” which appears … More ...
The indisputable orthodoxy today is that companies need to be able to integrate all sorts of people into their workforce, and that diversity is strength. Hence such things as the following: Diversity drive at BP targets gay staff , and Wales: Training Service Opened To Combat Homophobia In Workplace. If you think there’s a … More ...
An interesting addition to social taxonomy—Indians in Malaysia: A community in distress. I don’t know of another expat Indian underclass. Possible causes: they have to compete with the far more numerous Chinese, and don’t benefit from the strong affirmative action programs in favor of the Malay majority. Also, they were brought to Malaya … More ...
Remembering Nixon: Was Richard M. Nixon a closet liberal? He could hardly help but be one functionally. The man was intelligent, ambitious and unprincipled. He had grand strategy but no vision or ultimate principles—what counted was what would work. So how could he do anything but go with the tendencies of the age?
Liberals have traditionally been very much concerned with procedure, perhaps because they justify their rule by saying they impose nothing substantive but only a general requirement of fair play. On the other hand, it’s obvious that on some issues like affirmative action they know what the answer has to be and all others are not … More ...
True multiculturalism—and true human rights, in accordance with original understandings—would involve finding point in common that a variety of cultures could affirm in all integrity. Here’s a splendid example: Islamic Bloc, Christian Right Team Up to Lobby U.N. Oddly, the Washington Post reporter doesn’t seem to approve, but describes the situation using the rhetoric … More ...
Makes sense: if you import the world, then you import the inequalities of the world. The headline says “Census Finds Rising Tide, and Many Who Missed Boat”, but the data suggest it’s less those missing the boat than those getting off the boat who are behind declining incomes in places like LA.
Openness, tolerance and diversity in education: the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has charged a student publication with “disruption” for using photographs of a meeting of a student group, the Movimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos de Aztlan (MEChA). UCSD policy on student publications is rather changeable, it seems. In 1995 they had unequivocally defended MEChA’s … More ...
Talk about “Clinton haters” always seemed misplaced; for obsessions about political leaders left/liberals can’t be beat. Case in point: Drawings Are Still Kicking Nixon Around, from the New York Times “Critic’s Notebook.” Thirty years later and they’re still taken with the idea of Nixon as a phallus. Robert Coover’s The Public Burning would I … More ...
Don’t miss Jason Eubanks’ comment (including links) on spats among Muslims, Jews and homosexuals over who’s the pure victim and who’s aligned with the oppressor.