thoughts in and out of season
Since medicine is just another business, why should the arts be different? Here’s a speech by the director of the Barbican Centre that goes into his various woes and misgivings. It’s not a great speech, and rather long, but it’s worth reading for the picture it gives of the situation in one Western society of … More ...
As a lawyer I know one can always come up with a form of words to justify anything at all. Still, it’s disconcerting to be outdone at our own game by the people responsible for training doctors: Medical School Leadership Urges Race-Based Consideration. Do look at the arguments and ask yourself whether you want … More ...
I suppose as a good citizen I should consider it a triumph that A Record 1 Million Gained U.S. Residency Last Year. Life in America is basically a party, and the more show up the merrier. Also, all those families got reunited, and if those who come leave other relatives behind, well, maybe something … More ...
What do recent declines in crime rates show about prophecies of doom heard on rightwing outlets like VFR? It’s not altogether clear. For reasons to think they don’t show there’s been a real turnaround, see Murder in America, which suggests the declines have been mostly due to underreporting, more efficient private protective services, and … More ...
We’ve mentioned the problems Mike Wellbeck, a novelist who for some incomprehensible French reason spells his name “Houellebecq,” has been having with the Muslims and with French law. For those interested here’s an interview that doesn’t go into his legal problems much but does give information about the man and his place in the … More ...
I hadn’t been tempted to watch the PBS special last night on the religious implications of 9/11. My only exposure to it had been a lead-in I heard on the radio with a woman complaining “where was that nice loving man [God] I had been talking to all those years … after that I couldn’t … More ...
This summary of the State Department Report on Global Terrorism offers some useful background information—in particular, numbers—mixed with ax-grinding. A difficulty understanding the current situation is the murky nature of terrorism and the difficulty of assessing how serious a threat it really is to the United States. What do you do when you’re attacked by … More ...
Meanwhile, here’s an account of Ducking the debate on immigration in the UK. Not that different from the situation in the US, or from any social issue in the West generally. Our rulers won’t discuss anything serious, and if you raise any issues you’re divisive and intolerant—after all, issues divide and they arise only when … More ...
Here’s what “Islamophobia” amounts to: Interest in Islam mounts after hijacking atrocity . Islam may not be the best religion in the world, but it’s something that evidently has to be taken seriously, and in a nothing world something attracts attention simply by being something. I remember after the September 11 atrocities reading an account … More ...
The future is notoriously unforeseeable. Current trends nonetheless seem discouraging in many ways, so much so that the brightest hope for a liveable world sometimes seems the tendency of contemporary liberal institutions toward corruption: Whistle-blower admits defeat on EU corruption. The tendency seems inevitable in a society based on individual self-seeking, affirmative action payoffs, … More ...