thoughts in and out of season
Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, wants to further grease the slippery slope to a European superstate: National veto on EU changes must go. It should be obvious that to the extent EU governing structures emancipate themselves from control by member states the elites that dominate them will become answerable to … More ...
The makers of Kazaa are suing record companies for copyright infringement. It seems the companies have been pursuing downloaders using unauthorized copies of their software.
To tell the truth, I hope the downloaders win their battle with the entertainment industry, because I think it would be better for culture if the culture business were … More ...
If one student accepts one dollar of federal assistance his whole university becomes subject to extensive federal civil rights and affirmative action regulations. Those regulations intrude crudely into matters, like tenure decisions and the forms of expression thought to create a “hostile environment” for women and minorities, that are central to academic freedom. The public … More ...
Totalitarianism asserts its perfect goodness and power, so it naturally claims improbable triumphs. North Korean election returns have shown 100% popular participation and 100% approval for the Party slate. During the Soviet purges it was said that “the Organs [of state security] never make mistakes.” Our petty totalitarians claim achievements that are similarly startling, although … More ...
Judicial independence in Canada: Judges party with activists.
Some things, it seems, are too obvious for even a left-wing sociologist to miss. Or so one gathers from Nannyhood and Apple Pie, a review of The Commercialization of Intimate Life by Arlie Russell Hochschild. Dr. Hochschild naturally refers to feminism as a worthy but “stalled” gender revolution, and blames all problems on … More ...
When I visit the doctor I usually catch up on mass culture a bit by reading the magazines in the waiting room. Most of it’s flashy junk and nothing more, but yesterday at the eye doctor’s I ran into something worth reading, an article in New York Magazine about a distinguished professor at New York … More ...
The understanding of morality and public order that’s authoritative today holds that sex can’t have any meaning that’s publicly recognized. Freedom and equality demands that each of us construct its meaning for himself. Anything else would be institutionalized oppression that touches on the most intimate aspects of what we are. Such views are integral to … More ...
Here’s Howard Dean’s standard peroration:
… More ...This country depends on all of us uniting as a people, building a community, standing together. That’s what this country is all about. I am tired of being divided by race. I am tired of being divided by income. I am tired of being divided by gender. I am tired
A new religion needs a new holy book, so the German Evangelical Church is rewriting the bible in feminist language, getting rid of discriminatory expressions like “Lord” and “Our Father.” The effect is startling, but the effort is just an example of a general trend. Mainstream translations today always fudge things in a PC … More ...