thoughts in and out of season
R. R. Reno, at the First Things weblog, flags the final report of the Harvard task force on general education. From Reno’s discussion it appears that “liberal education” is now understood as the training of technocrats to man the global machinery that is to govern 21st century society. In particular, Harvard students are … More ...
Here’s a provocative if somewhat odd piece on hatred from Taki’s Top Drawer. A quote:
… More ...According to the old, religious “psychology” of hatred, people controlled by this sin are inherently quarrelsome, because they see slights everywhere. Hate-dominated individuals perceive as snubs actions in which others see nothing, for example a glance, a tone of
Here’s an example of how ways of thinking play out in daily life that reject the concept of the natural, and therefore common sense, in favor of technological conceptions and controlled rationalized organization: one woman’s account of Catholic parish life post-Scandal. Because of the scandals resulting from episcopal protection of clerical pederasts, a group for … More ...
A “cultural issue” is one people have strong views on but don’t know how to discuss. That makes for discussions that are sometimes interesting but sometimes repetitive and aside the point. People come up with odd and inventive arguments to back up gut reactions, repeat them again and again, and ignore everyone else.
Here’s a … More ...
According to a recent report, unmarried women have become the most important leftist demographic. The marriage gap for women (their greater tendency to vote Democratic when unmarried) is now 36 percentage points, and unmarried women have become the biggest part of the Democratic base—more than blacks and Hispanics combined.
All of which makes sense. … More ...
In my recent entry on being American I quoted John McCain and Thornton Wilder as authorities. McCain evidently views America as a sort of overriding moral cause that we should all buy into, Thornton Wilder as an inescapable reality and predicament we must accept and deal with on its own terms. That is to say, … More ...
A couple of texts I found horrifying:
It’s a bad question, I think, because it overemphasizes the attribute in a way that makes no sense, certainly not in 2007 and maybe ever. You can reasonably be an American stamp collector, lawyer or Catholic, meaning one whose attitudes, understanding and pursuits are colored by a background and web of connections accumulated growing up … More ...
It seems strange that the reason given by the Federation of American Scientists for their condemnation of James Watson’s views on race and intelligence, and their public characterization of them as “personal prejudices that are racist, vicious and unsupported by science,” is that they’re worried that the credibility of the disinterested truth-seeking scientific enterprise might … More ...
Alexander is important because architecture is important. It gives the social, intellectual and spiritual order a physical form that helps mold our lives. Also, it’s large, solid, visible and very expensive, so it’s difficult to ignore issues created by the kind of order or disorder it embodies. Discussing architecture is therefore an indirect way of … More ...