I was about eleven or twelve or perhaps thirteen years old when I first read Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. It made an indelible impression on me, probably greater than it would have if I’d waited till at least college age. I’m … Continue reading →
Quite a few people have recommended that I read the essay “The Challenge of Marxism” by Yoram Hazony, appearing in Quillette. It’s fascinating and it’s long. I have mixed feelings about it, or at least parts of it. I agree … Continue reading →
Knowingly. But after all, those same leaders – mayors and city council members – were chosen to check off certain identity boxes, as well as for their leftist ideology. DAs were chosen in an Orwellian manner: for their propensity to … Continue reading →
Mark Knopfler is British. But “Telegraph Road” is his song about the history of America – in particular, the city of Detroit, but certainly more than that: A long time ago came a man on a track Walking thirty miles … Continue reading →
The other day a commenter wrote, in a thread about buying clothes: As a hardcore nudist I probably find this more interesting/amusing than most. I’m also retired, so I no longer feel any need to try to impress anyone with … Continue reading →
Some days I wake up and it takes a while for it to hit me that so many Americans seem to have lost their minds. Oh, I’m not talking about the small number of people who are doing the burning … Continue reading →
People have lost their way, and the press fills their heads with propaganda. You could say it’s a vast conspiracy. And certainly the left is organized, and the internet helps spread the word. But it wouldn’t matter so much if … Continue reading →
Or perhaps they already have. I’ve written before about how a course I took in college on Russian Intellectual History stopped me from joining the left in the late 60s. Here’s an excerpt: It was there I learned – without … Continue reading →
It occurs to me, not for the first time, that the older a person is the more historical context that person has for any event. Except for the rare youthful history buff, most young people have little background knowledge to … Continue reading →
Hmmmm: It was all prophesied in 1997 in Neil Howe and William Strauss’ “The Fourth Turning,” and, depending on who you ask, it was either a breakthrough in “generational theory,” a strange work of pseudo-science, or both. In the book, … Continue reading →
As Kathy Shaidle writes in her discussion of the life of Valerie Solanas, the woman who wrote an anti-male manifesto and then came very close to murdering Andy Warhol in that annus horribilis 1968: Yesterday’s mental illness is today’s social … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a slightly revised repeat of a previous post – and today’s attempt to get away from politics.] When I was in junior high school, there was a large poster of the Periodic Table of the Elements that … Continue reading →