Enjoying the view from Limbo
Election years, war years, years of challenge, decay, and doubt — in other words, all years — condition the soil for the germination and growth of the soul’s two most attractive invasive plants, despair and hope. To fall under the spell of the former is to forget to live; to fall under the spell of the latter is to forget to die. A...
A lot of people on the progressive side of modern reality (the dim side), whether of the socialist left or the populist right, have gotten swept up in the rhetoric of “genocide” to describe the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza in the weeks since October 7th. It is sensational language, and by definition incriminating in the most extreme way. It therefore...
The writer’s primary goal is not to appeal to readers, nor even to appeal to good readers, but rather to be worthy of good readers. He cannot control whether any such readers will exist, or whether, if they do exist, they will ever discover or appreciate his writing. He must concern himself only with what he can control — though even that only...
Human society will be imperfect because humans are imperfect. Progressives believe society can be corrected to eliminate the frustrating and limiting social effects human imperfection, by means of intentional and all-pervasive government intervention.
But government is comprised of humans; thus….
The notion that democracy is best served by restricting the public exchange of ideas to only those ideas pre-approved by one political party or faction is absurd. The notion that allowing ideas with which you disagree to be uttered in a public forum constitutes a threat to your freedom is a clear admission that you lack confidence in your own ideas or your...
Non-progressive.— If I began compiling a list of all the personal and societal changes — practical and spiritual — that I firmly believe would greatly enhance human life in general if actualized, each item expressed in one sentence or less, it would likely result in the longest post in the five-plus-year history of this website. And yet, as certain as I am that...
Almost everything that passes itself off as intelligent comedy today — particularly that of the “social criticism” or “political humor” variety — is in fact nothing but helpful compliance and submission to the oppressive ruling class, exactly as genuinely intelligent humor can never be. A true satirist aims his sharpest spears at the established powers and attitudinal norms, and says precisely the thing...
A dear American friend who had been silent for weeks finally e-mailed yesterday to explain the cause of his recent absence, although no explanation was needed. The thrust of his missive lay in these words: It’s quite impossible to know loss or suffering if you’ve never known love, just as sunny weather all the time produces only desert. I know the great pain...
Here in Korea, the middle of the afternoon is the wee hours of the morning back in North American time zones, which means I had the dubious pleasure of watching a bunch of Democratic spokesmen on the U.S. news networks interviewing other Democratic spokesmen, as they all pretended to be objective observers of an election in which they have been actively campaigning against...
If I were an American progressive, I would be angry as hell at the Democratic Party’s decision to do to my movement — the party’s true grassroots — what the Republicans have done for decades to constitutional conservatives, namely tell us to cool our heels at the back of the bus and not make too much noise during an election campaign. If I...
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