thoughts in and out of season
James Kalb We knew it was coming, but it’s not pleasant when it happens: “First Humans to Receive ID Chips”. Brave New World meets Big Brother!
Still, the question is whether technology only provides solutions to particular issues or whether it can control the overall system of human life. My guess is the former. The more … More ...
A friend points out an NRO article by Rod Dreher detailing Fortuyn’s platform. All very mild. The most interesting point is that Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution forbids discrimination—by anyone—on “religion, belief, political opinion, race or sex, or on any other grounds whatsoever.” So in Holland you have to carry on all relations with … More ...
Still, not all Europeans in public positions are as lacking in humanity as Times of London staffers. A traditionalist Austrian e-newsletter mentions the statement of the “extremely (‘auesserst‘) liberal” Dutch Cardinal Simonis:
… More ...“How can a country be described as a model where there is very permissive legislation on the subject of abortion, where
Social justice requires irreligion; the reverse is true as well. Men need to feel they live in a comprehensible world. If God’s running the show then that’s taken care of, so government can become a matter of what is practically expedient in a situation that is fundamentally well-ordered. Perfection of outcome is not needed because … More ...
As things are now, the problem with the constitutional separation of church and state is that it assumes that government is not the vehicle of moral life. That assumption is inconsistent with the concept of social justice. “Social justice” means that government supervises how things end up. If government is responsible for what happens, … More ...
Are the strongest objections to women soldiers the pragmatic ones? Not really. Certainly the pragmatic objections are more than sufficient, but—as feminists would agree—apparent practicality shouldn’t overshadow fundamental principle.
The fundamental principle is that man is symbolic as well as practical. What the world is for us matters more than our projects within the … More ...
It seems unlikely that the Fortuyn murder will change anything. The Europeans have been absolutely unwilling to talk about issues relating to immigration and get openly abusive and hysterical whenever they come up.
Serves him right! says the Times of London. When people leave reason and decency behind to that extent it takes more than … More ...
The British press never ceases to disgust. Here’s the Times on the Fortuyn assassination, “Deadly Ideas: Fortuyn’s killing robs European politics of its innocence”[!]
I especially liked their comment that the killing
… More ...will link the violence that has hovered on the fringes of right-wing politics with the ugliness of racial conflict and the emotive
Random thoughts on politics and Christian orthodoxy:
Political modernism is the attempt to establish a wholly rational and this-worldly social order. The world is to be re-created and redeemed through man’s will. Political modernism thus substitutes faith in man for faith in God. As such, it is a denial of the nature of God, man, … More ...