It is no doubt true, of course, that racism still exists in individuals in police departments and other institutions, but it does so in spite of the systemic anti-racism which does exist and not because of the systemic racism which doesn’t. The real problem is that those who cry loudest about systemic racism are not [...]
In Ray Bradbury’s understanding, the government might very well be wicked and evil, but it would always follow the lead of the Masses and become their tool, rather than the other way around. I’ve been reading the works of Ray Bradbury since grade school. Probably like many of my generation, I was introduced to him [...]
In times of crisis like our own, thoughts about the meaning of life have a chance to appear. As our success and prosperity slowly end, these thoughts can provide us with the material to ponder. This Fourth of July, let us observe the holiday by pondering our uncertain future. This Fourth of July is different [...]
In “The Decadent Society,” Ross Douthat’s definition of decadence reaches more deeply into the underlying causes of our present rot. Is American society sick, sclerotic, sterile, and stagnant, as he suggests? The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success, by Ross Douthat (272 pages, Avid Reader Press, 2020) There is a [...]
It really did not matter that Fr. Daniel Moloney’s letter, which condemned police brutality and any kind of racism, was a model of balance and a call for all people to seek mercy, justice, and reconciliation. What mattered was that he had not repeated the dogmatic utterances of a secular religion. He had to be [...]
I think every right-thinking individual should get behind the #CancelYale movement. And lest anyone complain that such movements are merely negative, that they cancel but do not replace with something new, I want to accompany #CancelYale with a concrete, positive suggestion: #DummerUniversity. I see that #CancelYale is trending on Twitter and elsewhere in social media. [...]
The revolutionaries of 1776 could be just as violent as those of today, but they were truly a lot more intelligent and interesting. Eighteenth-century Americans fought with several generations worth of finely-honed arguments—from law, from experience, and from scripture, whereas the protestors of today, while armed with anger, seem armed with little else. In every [...]
The natural laws that the academics and intellectuals have for centuries been trying to think and feel out of existence, the laws undergirding all of reality, do not kowtow to the thoughts and actions of mere human beings. They continue to inform reality and will overwhelm anyone who does not bow to them, as all [...]
There is no safety in silence today. This is a blessing in a way. If you know you cannot stay silent, you now are faced with a choice. Will I speak the truth as best I can see it or simply join in the shouting of the crowd? Silence is golden. Only, however, if it [...]
A traditional liberal arts curriculum elevates the tastes, ennobles the sentiments, and orders the mind to truth: Socratic questioning forces critical reflection on the content and coherency of one’s ideas; a vigorous and integrated life of grace and prayer keeps the mind and heart strong, pure, integrated, and focused on Jesus Christ. Yet to bring [...]
The poet’s power is a power to disclose, extol, and communicate the sanctity of experience, protecting it from the ordinary disorientation of the quotidian. The poet calls attention to the ordinary patterns of human life, and is a call to contentment, that rarest of achievements. To attribute to poetry such power is to ascribe to [...]
Throughout history, cultures have always developed fantastical tales of heroes and gods and monsters and demons. Whether they are tales of the Greek Pantheon, Norse gods, or modern-day superheroes, these tales grasp the imagination and transport the hearer to a different realm full of possibility. The question then arises in my mind: Are these myths [...]
The major pro of the shift to online classes during the coronavirus pandemic was our being together, even though we were isolated at our homes away from campus. But the proposal being entertained by some in higher ed to begin the fall semester online has one very glaring con: Starting classes online cold from day [...]
I want the politicians, academics, corporate flacks, and journalists who are willing to celebrate somebody else’s bacon being fried in the name of flattened curves, new forestation, and utopian revolutionary dreams to stop and think about what they are doing. Don’t cry “burn it down” unless you are willing to stand in the ashes of [...]