People who claim to be citizens of the world have always impressed me as purchasing their citizenship on the cheap. They’re the siamese twins of those humanitarians who love everyone in general but no one in particular. The old word for them is cosmopolitans. Since they are now supported by a series of multinational corporations a new name has been coined: globalists. I think I understand them. If they issued cards, I could be a card-carrying member. I worked and... Read more
A wife these days is considered little more than a recreational partner. You can see it in what passes for courtship. The “singles-scene” is mostly a network of institutions dedicated to facilitating “recreational-sex” or recreational interests. While match-making algorithms at eHarmony.com and elsewhere, do query customers on subjects like “values” and politics, the questions are asked in the interest securing interpersonal harmony during one’s off hours. Who wants to bicker all the time about religion when you’re supposed to be... Read more
When the choices you’re given don’t answer your question you know the people giving you their answers aren’t really listening to you. That’s what I think whenever I hear gender-egalitarians and complementarians bicker. I find the complementarian position more to my liking, at least it retains the form even though it has lost the function. The egalitarians are just wage-slaves serving the interests of their statist and corporate masters. They lost me decades ago. Nature or Nurture? One of the... Read more
Sexual desire is a swamp. There’s no firm ground to stand on in psychology, biochemistry isn’t much help either. Some of the most miserable people I’ve known can’t stop thinking about sex. And the more they sink into sexual desire, the more miserable they are. Here’s something that may help: if sex doesn’t get you out of yourself, you’re doing it wrong. I’m not talking about ecstasy, a word we’ve managed to ruin. I’m talking about the world around you,... Read more
The time may be near when we can greet a new Anthony as a deliverer–an ascetic whose conspicuous self-denial holds a mirror up to us and makes us loathe ourselves. That’s an odd thing for a Presbyterian to say. We’re known for warning people about the dangers of asceticism. Just yesterday I read a jeremiad on the subject. But it felt a little like a warning to moles on the dangers of hang-gliding. I confess, I wouldn’t mind seeing some... Read more
I’ve had a small measure of success writing fiction for young adults. What I mean by success is some people have actually read my stuff and have seemed to like it. Art is long and life is short. I don’t recall where I heard that. It’s too good not to have been coined by someone I should know. Regardless, it is true for me. I’m working on a series. That’s dangerous because publishing a book is a promise of more... Read more
Confession is good for the soul, here’s mine: one of the authors of this book is a friend. Now, I don’t always agree with the things my friends say. And I don’t always review their books. I am reviewing this book; that says something. What does it say? Among other things, it says this is a book you should read if you are one of those people who believe the world can be set right by a single election cycle.... Read more
My latest contribution to my favorite magazine is available online. The magazine is Touchstone, and the article is my review of Inside Out. You can start reading it here and finish reading it there. If you like it, please like it (and share it) from there and from here. I know that’s a little extra work (and redundant), but it will help introduce people to Touchstone (did I mention it is my favorite magazine?), and it will introduce people to... Read more
I recall reading somewhere that oriental potentates grew their fingernails long in order to show that they didn’t have to work with their hands. I did a cursory search on the internet to see if that is so and I didn’t come up with anything. Maybe I got the idea from watching Flash Gordon. Ming the Merciless looks like he had a first-rate manicurist. Most people agree, manual labor necessarily includes some measure of drudgery. We can even see the... Read more
Since reading, The Black Swan I’ve been a fan of Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I’ve also enjoyed, Fooled by Randomness and Antifragile. And since setting down Antifragile I’ve been looking forward to his next book. Lucky for his many fans, Taleb has been leaking samples of it. Here’s where you can find a repository for chapters that are still in the process of being polished.) Taleb is a somewhat unorthodox, Orthodox Christian from the Levant. That’s not what drew me to him... Read more
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