Dear visionaries, I was asked off line for the reasons I oppose the war in Iraq. But before summarizing those reasons, allow a brief response to John’s translation of my request. John said, “Translation: Do not comment about the war on terror or the war on Iraq. I might disagree with you.” Actually, I would …
Relativism and the Invasion of Iraq
Dear visionaries, The role of debate in a free society is often misunderstood — it is too readily assumed that people disagree simply because they are disagreeable. We also tend to misunderstand the corrosive effects of relativism. When objections are made to topless car washes — let us say — the whole thing is dismissed …
American Gospel
Dear visionaries, I believe a fundamental flaw in analyzing America’s foreign policy in the Middle East (or anywhere else) is that we persist in speaking as though the “two sides” represented are limited to the Mutt and Jeff of our two party system. The real issue of substantive debate in foreign policy is between the …
A Surrogate Religion
Dear visionaries, I wanted to commend Tony for writing a fair article for this last weekend’s newspaper on the growing rift in Moscow between liberals and conservatives. However, something which I mentioned to him during the interview (and which he did include) needs to be emphasized yet again. A generation or two ago, the jibe …
Half Time
Dear visionaries, The reason we are all getting tired of the discussion surrounding Timothy’s use of the epithet slut is not because the discussion is over. Not at all. We are simply approaching half time when we all have to switch directions. Not many of you knew this, but Timothy is actually a performance artist …
There’s a Single Standard Somewhere
Dear visionaries, Susannah quotes me: “You all are in a hopeless bind here.” And then she says that the bind is only hopeless if their goal is to establish a single standard for everyone that satisfies me. She goes on to add that this goal isn’t on most people’s agenda. And to this I say: …
Epistemic Relief
Morning, visionaries, The remarkable thing about relativism is that, for all the advertising hype, it really isn’t that elastic. It never stretches very far, and only stretches to the left. Jim tells Timothy to keep his “simple minded insults against women” to himself. Timothy’s attitude is apparently the “real obscenity.” Really? There is such a …
Social Good
Morning, visionaries Jon also inquires: “Perhaps we could agree that equal opportunity to access social goods is a fundamental principle of this society . . .” This sounds grand as a slogan. But is a private club, members only, a social good? Is a restaurant owner’s desire to manage a place that maintains a certain …
Free Enterprise
Visionaries, Jon argues for the propriety of restraining the biases of business owners by referring to: “A fundamental principle of the social contract to which we are all parties . . .” In this, he has begun to address the question we have been asking since the beginning of this meandering debate, back when we …
Legal or Moral?
Dear visionaries, In response to Randall, I fully understand that the current legal situation makes a distinction between speech and restaurant management. I want to know why. How come? By what standard? What is so magical about speech? Why is the First Amendment first misunderstood and then absolutized? Why is the Tenth Amendment ignored? Give …