“Almost all of the characteristics we associate with mature discourse were amplified by typography, which has the strongest possible bias toward exposition: a sophisticated ability to think conceptually, deductively, and sequentially; a high valuation of reason and order; an abhorrence of contradiction; a large capacity for detachment and objectivity; and a tolerance for delayed response” …
One Little Word Shall Fell Him
Christians are people of the Word, and as a result they are people of words. We love the Truth, and this is why we must necessarily love truths. The flip side of this is that when a love for the Lord Jesus declines, one of the first places it manifests itself is in an obvious …
A Question of Relative Strength
“A suicide bomber may be a weak weapon, but not against a suicide culture” (Mark Steyn, America Alone, p. 210).
But Not the Formality of an Open Mind
“Obviously, my point of view is that the four-hundred-year imperial dominance of typography was of far greater benefit than deficit. Most of our modern ideas about the uses of the intellect were formed by the printed word, as were our ideas about education, knowledge, truth and information. I will try to demonstrate that as typography …
A Really Curious First Priority
“After September 11, the first reaction of just about every prominent Western leader was to visit a mosque: President Bush did, so did the Prince of Wales, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, the prime minister of Canada and many more. And, when the get-me-to-the-mosque-on-time fever died away, you couldn’t help feeling that this …
Take This Blog, For Instance
[Speaking of McLuhan] “I believed then, as I believe now, that he spoke in the tradition of Orwell and Huxley—that is, as a prophesier, and I have remained steadfast to his teaching that the clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, …
Ron Paul: YouTubin’ FeeNom
Something funny is going on.
Some Good Leepike News
A couple days ago, I mentioned that Books & Culture had named Leepike Ridge their book of the week. That was a fun business, and now there’s some more news to add. The book is selling quite briskly, and has gotten to a sales ranking at Amazon that is higher than some comparable titles that …
Optimistic Cultural Realism
When Rome, the Eternal City, was sacked in 410 AD, St. Augustine was brought to write his monumental work, the City of God. Part of the reason he felt the book had to be written was because many Christians had had their faith rattled by the event. Over the course of the previous centuries, Christianity …
To Deny Their Own
“Multiculturalism was conceived by the Western elites not to celebrate all cultures but to deny their own: it is, thus, the real suicide bomb” (Mark Steyn, America Alone, p. 194).