“That trend is multiculturalism, the doctrine that is now the orthodoxy throughout all the institutions of British public life. Put at its simplest, it holds that Britain is now made up of many cultures that are all equal and therefore have to be treated in an identical fashion, and that any attempt to impose the …
Don’t Touch That Remote
“Thou shalt have no prerequisites: Every television program must be a complete package in itself. No previous knowledge is to be required. There must not be even a hint that learning is hierarchical, that it is an edifice constructed on a foundation. The learner must be allowed to enter at any point without prejudice” (Neil …
Inverted Pride
Paul tells us in Ephesians that no man ever hated himself. But at first glance, this might seem counterintuitive to some, especially in this age of self-absorption. Can we really say this about someone who is consistently depressed, filled with self-loathing? Or assert that a suicide really loves himself? Why could we not say that …
Suicide of the West
“Human rights doctrine is thus the principal cultural weapon to undermine the fundamental values of Western society—with an activist judiciary turned into culture warriors, marching behind the banner of militant secularism” (Melanie Phillips, Londonistan, p. 29).
Infotainment
“Those who run television do not limit our access to information but in fact widen it. Our Ministry of Culture is Huxleyan, not Orwellian. It does everything possible to encourage us to watch continuously. But what we watch is a medium which presents information in a form that renders it simplistic, nonsubstantive, nonhistorical and noncontextual; …
East and West
The late Richard Weaver hated the title of his book, Ideas Have Consequences. That is unfortunate because the title is outstanding, and carries a wealth of theology in three simple words. Ideas have very pointed consequences, and very particular destinations. One of the best illustrations of this is the profound differences that have developed between …
Islamist-Chic
“This has produced the extraordinary phenomenon of radical Islam—which denies female equality and preaches death to gays—marching under the banner of human rights. The self-styled progressives on the British left, for whom human rights have replaced Christianity as the religion for a godless society, have formed a jaw-dropping axis with militant, fundamentalist Islamism. These two …
Gotta Monger Something
“The executive director of the National Religious Broadcasters Association sums up what he calls an unwritten law of all television preachers: ‘You can get your share of the audience only by offering people something they want’” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, p. 105).
When You Are Being Run Out of Town, Get Out in Front and Make it Look Like a Parade
“In Britain, by contrast, the Church of England has been in the forefront of the retreat from the Judeo-Christian heritage. At every stage it has sought to appease the forces of secularism, accommodating itself to family breakdown, seeking to be nonjudgmental and embracing multiculturalism” (Melanie Phillips, Londonistan, p. xxii).
Now This
“We have become so accustomed to its discontinuities that we are no longer struck dumb, as any sane person would, by a newscaster who having just reported that a nuclear war is inevitable goes on to say that he will be right back after this word from Burger King; who says, in other words, ‘Now …