The heroin addict “was under the influence of the idea that some aspects of reality are more real than others: that the seedy side of life is more genuine, more authentic, than the refined and cultured side—and certainly more glamorous than the bourgeois and respectable side. This idea could be said to be the fundamental …
Flaunting the Body She Thought She Had
“I enter the [pub]. Everyone is shouting, but still no one can make himself heard (which perhaps is just as well). Twenty televisions blare: eight each playing two different songs (one rock and one reggae), and four relaying a wrestling match. Ten seconds of this and one feels one has a food mixer inside one’s …
Not From the Theory Down
“As a doctor working in a slum area with many immigrant residents, I see multiculturalism from the ground up rather than from the theory down. And it is clear from what I see almost every day that not all cultural values are compatible or can be reconciled by the enunciation of platitudes. The idea that …
Darwin or Design?
This next Monday, my brother Gordon Wilson will be involved in a debate on Darwinism at the University of Idaho. Those who are here in the area should come, and should bring an evolutionist friend with them. Should be very good.
Demented and Twaddlesome
In his statement endorsing Rudy Giuliani, Pat Robertson said this: “To me, the overriding issue before the American people is the defense of our population from the blood lust of Islamic terrorists.” This evil blood lust of theirs must be distinguished from the domestic and homegrown blood lust of ours, which is constitutionally protected, and …
Picking Up the Tab
“The aim of untold millions is to be free to do exactly as they choose and for someone else to pay when things go wrong” (Theodore Dalrymple, Life at the Bottom, p. 5).
What a Marvelous Thought
The Moscow City Council election is now over, and the results are in. Congratulations to Tom Lamar, the top vote getter, as well as to the other victors — Steed, Krauss, and Carscallen. Lamar is a genuine liberal, but he showed a lot of class in this election. In the aftermath of the bigotry kerfluffle, …
Easily Led in One Direction Only
“When a man tells me, in explanation of his anti-social behavior, that he is easily led, I ask him whether he was ever easily led to study mathematics or the subjunctives of French verbs” (Theodore Dalrymple, Life at the Bottom, p. ix).
Bigotry on Stilts
One of the drills that we go through here in our local controversies is this: our adversaries quote some outrageous thing from us, we say in reply that that’s “out of context,” and they say, “Yeah, right. You guys always complain that ‘it’s out of context.’ You just don’t like getting caught.” And so that …
The Matter Closed?
I said at the end of the previous post that I considered the matter closed. By that I meant that the Food Coop has done what they needed to do — they reprimanded an employee for distributing bigoted materials, and in so doing they have acknowledged that this kind of bigotry does exist in our …