In Support of Snobbery
The Center - “The work of totalitarianism takes a lot of muscle, but most of it is done by just one: the wooden tongue.” 6/11/2021
The Center - “The work of totalitarianism takes a lot of muscle, but most of it is done by just one: the wooden tongue.” 6/11/2021An Open Letter to The Rumpus
First-Person - “…I cannot stand by while supposedly smart, thoughtful, and vocal leaders in the literary world choose to misuse (or condone the misuse of) the word ‘genocide.'” 6/8/2021
First-Person - “…I cannot stand by while supposedly smart, thoughtful, and vocal leaders in the literary world choose to misuse (or condone the misuse of) the word ‘genocide.'” 6/8/2021Review: Chris Bail’s “Breaking the Social Media Prism”
The Center - “To explain why the echo chamber corrective flopped, Bail puts forth an alternative theory of how today’s social media is helping drive polarization and mutual contempt between partisans.” 6/4/2021
The Center - “To explain why the echo chamber corrective flopped, Bail puts forth an alternative theory of how today’s social media is helping drive polarization and mutual contempt between partisans.” 6/4/2021Sohrab Ahmari and Michael Brendan Dougherty on Reclaiming Faith, Family, and Nation
The Right - “In an age of iconoclasm, Ahmari reiterates the indispensable need for the icon of tradition that points beyond itself to the everlasting, and Dougherty captures how the icon of national particularism can also point beyond itself to the universal.” 6/2/2021
The Right - “In an age of iconoclasm, Ahmari reiterates the indispensable need for the icon of tradition that points beyond itself to the everlasting, and Dougherty captures how the icon of national particularism can also point beyond itself to the universal.” 6/2/2021The Greatest of the Forgotten Conservative Thinkers
The Right - “A polity of such geopolitical importance would surely be expected to have birthed an intellectual reaction to the French Revolution that was comparable to its formidable military response.” 6/1/2021
The Right - “A polity of such geopolitical importance would surely be expected to have birthed an intellectual reaction to the French Revolution that was comparable to its formidable military response.” 6/1/2021Buy Out the Settlers
The Center - “The United States can offer a very innovative solution to a seemingly intractable conflict: Pay Israel to withdraw its settlers.” 5/22/2021
The Center - “The United States can offer a very innovative solution to a seemingly intractable conflict: Pay Israel to withdraw its settlers.” 5/22/2021The Cult of Democracy
The Right - “The bigger the election’s participation, the bigger the mandate, and so universal suffrage elections have grown into unwieldy, ugly beasts.” 5/21/2021
The Right - “The bigger the election’s participation, the bigger the mandate, and so universal suffrage elections have grown into unwieldy, ugly beasts.” 5/21/2021Beware of False Humanists
The Center - “At the same time, I cannot find a single discovery in the history of science that has been made by following the conviction that everybody is different.” 5/19/2021
The Center - “At the same time, I cannot find a single discovery in the history of science that has been made by following the conviction that everybody is different.” 5/19/2021The Two-faces of Classical Music: the Bureaucratic Tyranny of Music Schools
The Right - “The reasoning has nothing whatsoever to do with functionality; indeed, it has nothing whatsoever to do with viruses or health safety. The reasoning is about symbolizing conformity to bureaucratic rule.” 5/18/2021
The Right - “The reasoning has nothing whatsoever to do with functionality; indeed, it has nothing whatsoever to do with viruses or health safety. The reasoning is about symbolizing conformity to bureaucratic rule.” 5/18/2021Stoicism Offers an Antidote to Cancel Culture
The Center - “From a eudaimonic well-being perspective, the act of cancelling those we do not like—more often than not—leaves us worse off, precisely because it robs us of an opportunity to create the best version of ourselves.” 5/14/2021
The Center - “From a eudaimonic well-being perspective, the act of cancelling those we do not like—more often than not—leaves us worse off, precisely because it robs us of an opportunity to create the best version of ourselves.” 5/14/2021Review: Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman’s “Backsliding”
The Right - “With that said, there is considerably more to democratic regression than the simplistic idea of evil, right-wing leaders whose ideas resonate with bad people.” 5/11/2021
The Right - “With that said, there is considerably more to democratic regression than the simplistic idea of evil, right-wing leaders whose ideas resonate with bad people.” 5/11/2021A Brit’s Friendly Advice to American Conservatives
The Right - “In order to win, the American Right needs to bury dead dogmas, get its head out of abstract Platonic idealism, and look reality in the face.” 5/11/2021
The Right - “In order to win, the American Right needs to bury dead dogmas, get its head out of abstract Platonic idealism, and look reality in the face.” 5/11/2021Time To Get Vaccinated…Against Propaganda
The Center - “To these people, lockdown has been a raging success. To everybody else, it has been an unmitigated disaster.” 5/9/2021
The Center - “To these people, lockdown has been a raging success. To everybody else, it has been an unmitigated disaster.” 5/9/2021Lessons from Labour’s 2021 Election Defeat
The Left - “It is a crushing defeat that signals that Labour’s loss of several of its Northern constituencies under former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in the 2019 general election was not a one-off occurrence that could be fixed with a new leader.” 5/8/2021
The Left - “It is a crushing defeat that signals that Labour’s loss of several of its Northern constituencies under former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in the 2019 general election was not a one-off occurrence that could be fixed with a new leader.” 5/8/2021George Orwell’s Vision for a Socialist Britain: What Did He Actually Want?
The Center - “But every now and again, it is worth looking at his own vision of an ideal society. Interestingly, this is where this sharp-eyed critic comes across as short-sighted.” 5/7/2021
The Center - “But every now and again, it is worth looking at his own vision of an ideal society. Interestingly, this is where this sharp-eyed critic comes across as short-sighted.” 5/7/2021George W. Bush’s “Out of Many, One”: A Message of Gratitude
The Center - “And at a time when so many, on both the Left and Right, seem intent on tearing everything down, President Bush reminds us how much we have.” 5/3/2021
The Center - “And at a time when so many, on both the Left and Right, seem intent on tearing everything down, President Bush reminds us how much we have.” 5/3/2021