“The critic need not be secure in order to successfully market his wares. He just has to be less insecure than the artists he is criticizing, which, given the temperament of most cape and beret artists post-Rousseau, is not that hard” (Writers to Read, p. 37).
Step Right Up
For a limited time, starting today, Samaritan Ministries is sponsoring an exclusive premier of the film They Grow Up Fast. My friend Darren Doane starting using his camera and professional eye with the birth of his first child, and the result is a real encouragement to all parents in similar circumstances. My son Nate—a parent …
On Divorcing the Democrats
Let us begin by granting that American blacks are the battered spouse in an abusive relationship. There are aspects to the analogy that are very easy to see—because the bruises are so readily identifiable. The abuse is very real. But because it is an analogy that compares groups containing millions of people with a marriage …
A Problematic Gumby Word
I have been involved in the work of recovering a right understanding of the liberal arts in education for decades now. One of the reasons for this is that we have to destroy what is now called liberalism—what also goes by its other names of progressivism or leftism, depending on which convenience store they are …
Two Sorts of #NeverTrump
We need to do a little analysis of what it actually means to be #NeverTrump. This is a political issue, and political issues are always slippery. They are slippery because every night someone comes in and slathers them all over with axle grease, or with money, hard to tell which. The avowal of #NeverTrump sentiments …
Critical Authority
“What is the authority of the critic, exactly? Where does it come from? A certain measure of it has to be the capacity to generate fear, which is probably why successful critics generally know how to slash as they write” (Writers to Read, p. 33).
The Seated Colin Kaepernick
There is the logic of the thing, which can be briefly discussed, and then there is the fact of show business. I am speaking of the seated Colin Kaepernick. The logic of the thing is pretty straightforward. Colin Kaepernick has the absolute right to remain seated for the national anthem, without fear of fines, penalties …
The Sin of Soft
“For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Heb. 12:3). Comes now the Ninth Short-Circuit Court of Appeals, upholding legislation in California that bans licensed counselors from helping young people who want to deal biblically with same-sex attraction. The law bans counseling that …
So You Can Play With Your Ears
I would like to begin by commending this interview of Michael Munger by Russ Roberts. They are discussing the shifting attitudes of white Southerners on slavery in the ante bellum period. Slavery began as a necessary evil and by the 1830’s wound up being thought of as a positive good. How did that happen? This …
The Labyrinth of Brainy Parts
“Serious thought takes the world as it actually is. This is quite different from taking it as ‘serious’ thinkers do, locked up as they are in the back recesses of their brainy parts” (Writers to Read, p. 28).