Black War Cinema and the Representation Paradox![]()
The Right - “For all of their insistence on cultural revolution, progressives are not yet ready to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.” 6/8/2023
The Right - “For all of their insistence on cultural revolution, progressives are not yet ready to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.” 6/8/2023Confessions of a Beautiful Soul![]()
The Right - “Despite the book’s homage to Friedrich Schiller via its title, we get nothing even remotely reminiscent of the profound intellectual mind meld between him and his great friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.” 5/28/2023
The Right - “Despite the book’s homage to Friedrich Schiller via its title, we get nothing even remotely reminiscent of the profound intellectual mind meld between him and his great friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.” 5/28/2023Review: “Crassus: The First Tycoon” by Peter Stothard![]()
The Center - “Now, Peter Stothard has given us the final decades of the republic through the eyes of Crassus—Rome’s wealthiest man and former consul who famously embarked on a vainglorious and ultimately failed conquest of Parthia that culminated in his embarrassing death.” 5/26/2023
The Center - “Now, Peter Stothard has given us the final decades of the republic through the eyes of Crassus—Rome’s wealthiest man and former consul who famously embarked on a vainglorious and ultimately failed conquest of Parthia that culminated in his embarrassing death.” 5/26/2023Excerpt: “Heal Your Daughter”![]()
The Center - “As one example, some time in 2018 and 2019, many of the young people in my practice suddenly started reporting gender dysphoria and declaring themselves trans. Charismatic social media stars were effectively saying: ‘If you don’t fit in, if you don’t like your body, then you’re trans. Everything will get better after you transition.'” 4/30/2023
The Center - “As one example, some time in 2018 and 2019, many of the young people in my practice suddenly started reporting gender dysphoria and declaring themselves trans. Charismatic social media stars were effectively saying: ‘If you don’t fit in, if you don’t like your body, then you’re trans. Everything will get better after you transition.'” 4/30/2023Review: “Uncommon Wrath” by Josiah Osgood![]()
The Center - “[Josiah] Osgood’s book is a welcome and exciting read about the rivalry between Caesar and Cato; Cato, in the process, finally receives some much-deserved due in the story of the republic’s final decades.” 4/29/2023
The Center - “[Josiah] Osgood’s book is a welcome and exciting read about the rivalry between Caesar and Cato; Cato, in the process, finally receives some much-deserved due in the story of the republic’s final decades.” 4/29/2023On Literary Science and the Bounds of Knowledge![]()
The Left - “But philistinism is not limited to the arts. I believe that those who cannot appreciate the wondrous beauty of the real world as revealed by science are philistines, too.” 4/27/2023
The Left - “But philistinism is not limited to the arts. I believe that those who cannot appreciate the wondrous beauty of the real world as revealed by science are philistines, too.” 4/27/2023Do They Really Believe in Eugenics?![]()
The Right - “While denouncing the eugenics movement, one must also recognize that its repudiation by the progressive mainstream signals the rise of a self-centered ethos that is destructive in its own right.” 4/13/2023
The Right - “While denouncing the eugenics movement, one must also recognize that its repudiation by the progressive mainstream signals the rise of a self-centered ethos that is destructive in its own right.” 4/13/2023Review: “How Hitchens Can Save the Left” by Matt Johnson![]()
The Left - “[Matt] Johnson believes that by adopting [Christopher] Hitchens’s approach—his allergy to party politics, his hatred of racism and nationalism, his emphasis on pluralism and humanism—the contemporary left will not just benefit at the ballot box but will also benefit morally and intellectually.” 4/12/2023
The Left - “[Matt] Johnson believes that by adopting [Christopher] Hitchens’s approach—his allergy to party politics, his hatred of racism and nationalism, his emphasis on pluralism and humanism—the contemporary left will not just benefit at the ballot box but will also benefit morally and intellectually.” 4/12/2023Review: “The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On ‘Liberal’ as an Adjective” by Michael Walzer![]()
The Right - “Reading between the lines, we learn in fact that [Michael] Walzer believes that the Right, wrong in its continuing adherence to capitalism, but correct in its eschewal of intellectual fashion, currently has a monopoly on political wisdom.” 4/11/2023
The Right - “Reading between the lines, we learn in fact that [Michael] Walzer believes that the Right, wrong in its continuing adherence to capitalism, but correct in its eschewal of intellectual fashion, currently has a monopoly on political wisdom.” 4/11/2023Prelude to War: Lessons from the Second Spanish Republic![]()
The Right - “The Second Spanish Republic has many parallels with modern American politics. Much like its counterparts in Spain, the American left of today is no less preoccupied with terraforming the cultural landscape.” 3/21/2023
The Right - “The Second Spanish Republic has many parallels with modern American politics. Much like its counterparts in Spain, the American left of today is no less preoccupied with terraforming the cultural landscape.” 3/21/2023Would Socrates Be Anti-Woke? A Stoic Critique of Identity Politics![]()
The Center - “For the Stoic, however, personal identity is not a fragmented life of intersecting cultural identities but rather a holistic and unified embodiment of rationality endowed by nature.” 3/19/2023
The Center - “For the Stoic, however, personal identity is not a fragmented life of intersecting cultural identities but rather a holistic and unified embodiment of rationality endowed by nature.” 3/19/2023Review: Spencer Klavan’s “How To Save The West”![]()
The Right - “Being a classicist and student of Greek philosophy, Klavan turns to his education to solve these philosophical dilemmas.” 3/14/2023
The Right - “Being a classicist and student of Greek philosophy, Klavan turns to his education to solve these philosophical dilemmas.” 3/14/2023Review: Waller Newell’s “Tyranny and Revolution: Rousseau to Heidegger”![]()
The Center - “Beginning with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, proceeding through the luminaries of German Idealism and Romanticism—climaxing with Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel—then marching beyond Hegel to Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger, Newell gives a reading of philosophy gone wrong. Horribly wrong.” 3/8/2023
The Center - “Beginning with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, proceeding through the luminaries of German Idealism and Romanticism—climaxing with Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel—then marching beyond Hegel to Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger, Newell gives a reading of philosophy gone wrong. Horribly wrong.” 3/8/2023Marxism Has Been No Deliverer from Ethnic Strife![]()
The Right - “Any utopian project that tolerates humanity’s diverse values and identities only to the extent that they help advance a narrowly defined vision of progress can only end in indiscriminate violence.” 3/4/2023
The Right - “Any utopian project that tolerates humanity’s diverse values and identities only to the extent that they help advance a narrowly defined vision of progress can only end in indiscriminate violence.” 3/4/2023Review: Carl Trueman’s “Strange New World”![]()
The Right - “It bears repeating that this is a very good book. Trueman performs a thorough but concise excavation of the intellectual, philosophical, and metaphysical currents that he sees as moving below the crashing waves of our present cultural storm.” 2/21/2023
The Right - “It bears repeating that this is a very good book. Trueman performs a thorough but concise excavation of the intellectual, philosophical, and metaphysical currents that he sees as moving below the crashing waves of our present cultural storm.” 2/21/2023From Tanks to Think Tanks![]()
The Right - “One can judge the winds of change in foreign policy by the sudden proliferation of think tanks piping up and stating the obvious. There are tanks and think tanks and, despite the commitment of the Leopards, it may be the think tanks that are gaining the upper hand.” 2/18/2023
The Right - “One can judge the winds of change in foreign policy by the sudden proliferation of think tanks piping up and stating the obvious. There are tanks and think tanks and, despite the commitment of the Leopards, it may be the think tanks that are gaining the upper hand.” 2/18/2023Review: Bowen Blair’s “A Force for Nature”![]()
The Center - “Nancy Russell was one of those great heroines whose quest to save the Columbia Gorge in Oregon serves as an inspirational tale that embodies the best of American grit and determination.” 2/10/2023
The Center - “Nancy Russell was one of those great heroines whose quest to save the Columbia Gorge in Oregon serves as an inspirational tale that embodies the best of American grit and determination.” 2/10/2023How Enmity Imperils Liberal Democracy![]()
The Center - “Rather than calm debates about policy and its implications, both good and bad, we now live in a political era defined by emotion, where political discussions mutate into threats to our personal and group safety.” 2/8/2023
The Center - “Rather than calm debates about policy and its implications, both good and bad, we now live in a political era defined by emotion, where political discussions mutate into threats to our personal and group safety.” 2/8/2023The Value in Reading Byung-Chul Han![]()
The Right - “Han occupies a somewhat unique position in today’s world that defies typical Right-Left categorization. This is partly because of Han’s bridging of multiple worlds: East and West; art and philosophy; theology and politics.” 1/22/2023
The Right - “Han occupies a somewhat unique position in today’s world that defies typical Right-Left categorization. This is partly because of Han’s bridging of multiple worlds: East and West; art and philosophy; theology and politics.” 1/22/2023The Case for Retiring “Confederate Heroes Day”![]()
The Left - “As we come to know more about the morally repulsive aspects of our national history—and, more importantly, face those realities—removing symbols of our collective failure in the past is not an attempt to deny our history. Rather, it is a sign of growth, a willingness to face our history.” 1/19/2023
The Left - “As we come to know more about the morally repulsive aspects of our national history—and, more importantly, face those realities—removing symbols of our collective failure in the past is not an attempt to deny our history. Rather, it is a sign of growth, a willingness to face our history.” 1/19/2023Multiculturalism Is Madness![]()
The Right - “The fact is that, historically, Great Britain has had a remarkably stable demographic makeup for at least a thousand years, if not much longer. The idea that what we have experienced since 1997…is in any way comparable or equivalent to the past is nonsense, at best, and disingenuous, at worst.” 1/19/2023
The Right - “The fact is that, historically, Great Britain has had a remarkably stable demographic makeup for at least a thousand years, if not much longer. The idea that what we have experienced since 1997…is in any way comparable or equivalent to the past is nonsense, at best, and disingenuous, at worst.” 1/19/2023Free Speech: An Eternal Struggle![]()
The Center - “While Americans and other Westerners may be living in a golden age of free speech, there are still billions of people in the world who have yet to enjoy its blessings.” 1/16/2023
The Center - “While Americans and other Westerners may be living in a golden age of free speech, there are still billions of people in the world who have yet to enjoy its blessings.” 1/16/2023Philadelphia Schools Have Replaced Critical Thinking with “Criticality”![]()
The Center - “Like so many school districts in a post-George Floyd America, Philadelphia’s is rushing to embrace anti-racism.” 1/11/2023
The Center - “Like so many school districts in a post-George Floyd America, Philadelphia’s is rushing to embrace anti-racism.” 1/11/2023We Are All Socialists![]()
The Right - “Echoing this notion from on high, in 2016 the [World Economic Forum] announced the imminence of a post-historical future in the Marxist sense: ‘Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better.'” 12/21/2022
The Right - “Echoing this notion from on high, in 2016 the [World Economic Forum] announced the imminence of a post-historical future in the Marxist sense: ‘Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better.'” 12/21/2022What Is a Human?![]()
The Center - “In fact, heterosexuality and the male-female binary can be observed across countless species. The onus of proof, therefore, is on those who claim that we are an exception.” 12/21/2022
The Center - “In fact, heterosexuality and the male-female binary can be observed across countless species. The onus of proof, therefore, is on those who claim that we are an exception.” 12/21/2022The Boredom of War![]()
The Right - “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s biggest enemy is not the West’s reticence to sending more drones, more weapons, and more fighter jets. President Zelenskyy’s biggest enemy is boredom.” 12/12/2022
The Right - “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s biggest enemy is not the West’s reticence to sending more drones, more weapons, and more fighter jets. President Zelenskyy’s biggest enemy is boredom.” 12/12/2022Review: Maurice Glasman’s “Blue Labour: The Politics of the Common Good”![]()
The Right - “For Labour forgot that life involves loss and tragedy. It forgot that ‘human beings are not commodities, but creative and social beings longing for connection and meaning.'” 11/30/2022
The Right - “For Labour forgot that life involves loss and tragedy. It forgot that ‘human beings are not commodities, but creative and social beings longing for connection and meaning.'” 11/30/2022No, Let’s Not: Perpetrators of Pandemic Authoritarianism Cannot Be Forgiven![]()
The Center - “It must become embarrassing to admit one ever supported uninformed and nonconsensual participation in a medical experiment or mass house arrest and coerced isolation.” 11/7/2022
The Center - “It must become embarrassing to admit one ever supported uninformed and nonconsensual participation in a medical experiment or mass house arrest and coerced isolation.” 11/7/2022No Easy Answers: Facing Ecological Crises Honestly![]()
The Left - “But we need to replace fanciful dreams of endless energy from renewables with full-cost accounting, which an increasing number of experts are taking seriously. There are destructive environmental and social consequences to constructing the infrastructure for that energy production.” 10/8/2022
The Left - “But we need to replace fanciful dreams of endless energy from renewables with full-cost accounting, which an increasing number of experts are taking seriously. There are destructive environmental and social consequences to constructing the infrastructure for that energy production.” 10/8/2022The NatCons v. Ukraine![]()
The Center - “At least Hazony recognizes that the democratic world should defend Ukraine. Other nationalists do not agree.” 10/6/2022
The Center - “At least Hazony recognizes that the democratic world should defend Ukraine. Other nationalists do not agree.” 10/6/2022Jordan Peterson’s “A Conservative Manifesto” Is Not Conservative![]()
The Right - “It is instead Hayekian liberalism delivered with a Calvinist grimness.” 10/4/2022
The Right - “It is instead Hayekian liberalism delivered with a Calvinist grimness.” 10/4/2022Review: Slavoj Žižek’s “Surplus-Enjoyment: A Guide for the Non-Perplexed”![]()
The Right - “Combining inanity with compelling anecdote, idiocy with sensible instruction, Žižek addresses himself to the ‘mess we’re in.'” 10/3/2022
The Right - “Combining inanity with compelling anecdote, idiocy with sensible instruction, Žižek addresses himself to the ‘mess we’re in.'” 10/3/2022The Joy of the Knife: On Autoimmune Responses in Politics![]()
The Right - “If we look at culture as a superorganism with its own immunological mechanisms, we can recognize modern societies as being profoundly dysregulated, and this gets worse the more modern they get.” 9/24/2022
The Right - “If we look at culture as a superorganism with its own immunological mechanisms, we can recognize modern societies as being profoundly dysregulated, and this gets worse the more modern they get.” 9/24/2022The Second Elizabeth, a Life Appreciated![]()
The Center - “From that distant day when I saw her ride down Poonamallee High Road in Madras, the epitome of regality and restraint, Elizabeth II did her best in balancing the demands of tradition, the weight of history, the requirements of society and culture both at home and abroad, and also attended to her family.” 9/22/2022
The Center - “From that distant day when I saw her ride down Poonamallee High Road in Madras, the epitome of regality and restraint, Elizabeth II did her best in balancing the demands of tradition, the weight of history, the requirements of society and culture both at home and abroad, and also attended to her family.” 9/22/2022Canada and the Many Problems with Euthanasia![]()
The Right - “The story goes on to detail another Canadian citizen who was repeatedly and continuously offered euthanasia, to such an extent that he began recording these occasions.” 9/19/2022
The Right - “The story goes on to detail another Canadian citizen who was repeatedly and continuously offered euthanasia, to such an extent that he began recording these occasions.” 9/19/2022
