thoughts in and out of season
Some useful background on affirmative action and related issues: Affirmative action’s evolution. One point the article makes that hadn’t occurred to me is that the trigger for the switch from the rhetoric of justice to the rhetoric of diversity was Justice Powell’s tie-breaking opinion in Bakke.
I think the switch would have come … More ...
Sentiment in Catholic blogdom seems—at least from what I see—to be running strongly in favor of the war. It occurs to me that the reason may be the nature of blogging about current events. The activity favors those with articulate opinions on everything. Those are usually people with strong attachments and clear comprehensive views, applicable … More ...
When people need something to stew about what they choose is unpredictable. In Edinburgh it’s still OK to have a school Nativity play, you’re just not allowed to videotape it. The concern isn’t offense to animists or Muslims, psychological stress for participants, the right of the student to control reproduction of his likeness, or … More ...
Get government out of the bedroom! So went the rallying cry of the movement to abolish public standards of sexual morality. It didn’t work out as planned. Like other traditional standards, customary sexual morality made it possible for people to live together and cooperate in stable productive ways without the intervention of public authority. If … More ...
What does it mean that our society has officially rejected the notion of a common moral reality in which all participate? (See, e.g., Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992): “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the … More ...
Victimology is as American as leprechauns: Historian challenges ‘No Irish need apply’ myth. There’s no evidence such signs ever existed, although Teddy Kennedy claims to have seen them in shop windows as a boy. Boston was more than a third Irish then. Maybe they were souvenir shops?
Here’s a revealing account by an English MP of negotiations with The New York Times over an op-ed piece. The Times wanted to change “Guinea” to “Chile” in a reference to a bribe to the president of Guinea, and get rid of the interjection “Gee” because it means “Jesus” and might offend Christians.
The concern … More ...
Diversity is our strength: young Arab men riot in Australia over Iraq war. Immigration policies there seem to be importing not only ethnic and religious conflict but also other Middle Eastern habits like denial of obvious reality: “Australian Arabic community leaders condemned the violent clashes but rejected police claims the perpetrators were Middle Eastern men.”… More ...
A traditionalist rant on why it’s OK to denounce heresy and also find fault with the Pope, Vatican II and what not else:
… More ...Today people lump all disputes with superiors together and call them “dissent.” That’s a mistake because it confuses questions of truth and obedience to rightful authority with the question of whether one
The Pope says that violence cannot be invoked in the name of God. Cardinal Ratzinger adds that “God is reconciliation and peace. He must be seen as the one who unites us and not as the one who separates us and justifies violence.” [The quotation is from an emailed Zenit.org story that I can’t find … More ...