thoughts in and out of season
James Kalb The Dutch tolerance Nazis strike again. And again. And again.
A friend refers me to this compilation of non-discrimination legislation in the Netherlands. As the law is written, it appears that you can get jugged for six months for sending someone almost any serious work on man, God or the world as a birthday … More ...
Who will the cultural winners be in the age of the Internet?
It seems to undermine centralization, so it may make “social justice” less of a threat. On the other hand, it puts everybody and everything in immediate touch and so puts everything somewhat on a par, with exchange (that is, money) and arbitrary choice … More ...
Libertarianism isn’t a cure-all, it’s just necessary (at least a lot of it is) for the protection of whatever makes life worth living.
If social justice—equality of outcome—is to be achieved the only things that can be allowed to count are things like formal qualifications that a bureaucracy can measure and administer. Otherwise control is … More ...
The situation with the prom in Canada shows what I meant a couple of days ago when I called Article 1 of the Dutch constitution (no discrimination on any grounds by anyone ever) fanatical. In theory you’re allowed to believe that sexual customs that support the traditional family are a good thing, but if you … More ...
Liberal tolerance marches on: “Judge rules Catholic school must allow gay student to take boyfriend to prom”.
Survey design isn’t something most people feel strongly about, but I find this depressing: “MIT Surrenders the Scientific Method”.
I suppose it’s partly because when I was a Wall Street lawyer I dealt with engineers occasionally on project financings, and when you’d ask them a question they’d actually give you their honest judgment. That … More ...
I keep getting things about family-related doings at the UN. Here’s one about American resistance to efforts by the EU, Canada and the Latin American countries[!] to redefine the family and make abortion a right for teenagers.
Doesn’t the fact that these things have become questions of international politics show that something extremely strange—and wrong—has … More ...
Melanie Phillips, the British journalist, has made the Fortuyn murder an occasion for commenting on contradictions within liberalism. Her article is a good start, but she has a way to go before she escapes from the contradictions she discusses. It’s worth discussing the piece from that point of view, because it is representative … More ...
As I mentioned in my longish piece on Christianity and politics a couple of days ago, a great strength of the Christian view is that it provides a way to recognize and value genuine human differences. Since “celebrating diversity” can’t mean insisting that everyone be the same, Christian orthodoxy can never buy into the opposition … More ...
It seems unlikely that those who prosecuted Brigitte Bardot for criticising Islam or Le Pen for calling gas chambers a “detail” will now go against critics of Christianity, even though a new compilation shows that during the last century 45,000,000 Christians were killed for their religion.
Death makes us all equal, but some are more … More ...