Sunday, January 23, 2011
Speaking the same language ...
... as radical Islam: Rousas John Rushdoony: Christian Reconstructionism.
See also Christian Theocratic Views?
Guess these people don't feel the love.
See also Christian Theocratic Views?
Guess these people don't feel the love.
I think he's on to something ...
... Pascal Bruckner: 'Happiness is a moment of grace'. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
There's a Zen story about a Roshi who, in discussing satori, points out to his students that if you place your hands together gently, you can raise water to your lips to drink. But if you clutch the water, it simply spills onto the ground.
Bruckner suggests that with nothing standing between ourselves and happiness, other than our willingness to grasp it, there is a moral compulsion weighing on us to be happy – and it's precisely this social pressure that makes so many people unhappy. "We should wonder why depression has become a disease. It is a disease of a society that is looking desperately for happiness, which we cannot catch. And so people collapse into themselves."
There's a Zen story about a Roshi who, in discussing satori, points out to his students that if you place your hands together gently, you can raise water to your lips to drink. But if you clutch the water, it simply spills onto the ground.
I feel the same way ...
... Is it Just Me?
I don't like being preached at, and I despise sanctimony, especially from a commercial enterprise.
I don't like being preached at, and I despise sanctimony, especially from a commercial enterprise.
Thought for the day ...
The closer men came to perfecting for themselves a paradise, the more impatient they became with it, and with themselves as well. They made a garden of pleasure, and became progressively more miserable with it as it grew in richness and power and beauty; for then, perhaps, it was easier to see something was missing in the garden, some tree or shrub that would not grow. When the world was in darkness and wretchedness, it could believe in perfection and yearn for it. But when the world became bright with reason and riches, it began to sense the narrowness of the needle's eye, and that rankled for a world no longer willing to believe or yearn.- Walter M. Miller, Jr., born on this date in 1923
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Something to think about ...
... How Like Kingdoms Without Justice are to Robberies. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Yes, it must ...
... PLOT: The Center Must Hold. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I agree with Maxine, however, regarding The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
I agree with Maxine, however, regarding The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Serendipity ...
... The Here and Now. (Hat tip, Dave Lull, who reminds me that I mention Parks's book here).
Dave also sends along this: How to meditate: An introduction and also this.
Dave also sends along this: How to meditate: An introduction and also this.
Haunted by his egoism ...
... A Phony Who Reformed. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
This makes me wonder if we were ever really supposed to like Holden Caulfield.
This makes me wonder if we were ever really supposed to like Holden Caulfield.
Cruel and unsual ...
... The Most Emailed 'New York Times' Article Ever.
What amazed me about this what how it brought home how canned Times articles tend to be. I used to grouse, when I worked for the The Inquirer, that what had ruined journalism was journalism school, which produced scads of people who wrote the same article the same way over and over again. I didn't realize how right I was.
A must read ...
... Christian charity in Haiti is the Jewish thing to do.
I think David is a saint. I have learned a good deal more about being a Christian from him than I have from some priests.
I think David is a saint. I have learned a good deal more about being a Christian from him than I have from some priests.
Nowhere still ...
... Real Men Find Real Utopias.
The book is startling and depressing evidence of what has happened to American academic Marxism, at least its sociological variant, over the last thirty years. It has become turgid, vapid, and self-referential. Wright lives in a bubble of like-minded sociologists and political theorists. On page 322, he thanks Marcia Kahn Wright, his wife, for suggesting to him “the term ‘interstitial’” as a way of expressing something about “strategic logic,” whatever that is. Apart from Mrs. Wright, Erik Wright’s favorite source is Erik Wright. He has read all of his works and finds them remarkable. He moves fluidly between Wright of 1985 and Wright of 2010, as if history has not changed. Actually, for Wright, history has not changed. The issues that rivet Wright unfold in an eternal graduate sociology seminar where the clock has stopped. In a memoir elsewhere, Wright comments that every September since kindergarten in 1952 he has been in school. It might be time for him to take a break.
The Marxist notion of "capitalism" is itself a false idea. Commerce brings with it all sorts of problems, most of which derive from the problems of human nature -- greed and dishonesty, for example. To think that you can come up with a "system" of commerce that will necessarily cancel these human tendencies is pure fantasy. Forget about "real" utopias. Take a look at real people doing real things. Notice how some will cheat. Then figure out what might be done about that. Oh, and it just could be that government is not the best agent for addressing these problems. You see, the aforementioned problems of human nature -- greed, dishonesty, as well as a thirst for power and the potential to use force -- also apply to government. The real problems facing real people in the real world simply cannot ever be solved just by sitting on your ass and thinking about them.
Thought for the day ...
Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends.- Isabel Paterson, born on this date in 1886
Friday, January 21, 2011
How odd ...
... Keith Olbermann leaving MSNBC, ends `Countdown'.
I think that Olbermann is a pretentious idiot, but he pulls in the network's highest ratings. So there are plenty of people who think he's worth watching. I think Fox should hire him.
Twain and Huck once more ....
... Would Mark Twain have removed n***** from Huck Finn? Hell, yes.
I don't know. Figuring out that the dead would do differently something they did when they were alive, if they were alive today, is a lot like predicting, which, as Niels Bohr said, is difficult, especially if you're talking about the future. I wonder: Has anybody interviewed any of the kids in danger of being exposed to this controversial work about this?
This is indeed hilarious ...
... and all you left-wingers out there didn't think I watched Jon Stewart, right? Hah!
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Word Warcraft | ||||
| ||||
A nice man ...
... and not at all a bad poet: The Books: Favorite Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Gaming to a golden tomorrow
... Upgrading the World: Could real life be made better by making it more like a videogame? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Ms. McGonigal's notions about how to enliven what gamers call "RL" ("real life") run the gamut from shallow to, well, that's it, really. It's not that she has nothing interesting to say about the role of videogames in shaping reality; it's that she has little if anything to say about reality itself. She writes like someone who has never seen a Shakespeare play or volunteered at a soup kitchen or fallen in love or raised a child or said a prayer.
Cross-blogging ...
... First, Nige: Days of Vinyl and Poses.
... Next, Patrick Kurp: `We Were Intently Listening'.
... and Nige again: Looking Back...
... Next, Patrick Kurp: `We Were Intently Listening'.
... and Nige again: Looking Back...
Hmm ...
... How a Marxist might see the creed. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
"Man lives on nature," Marx concluded. No kidding. So does everything else on the planet. Nature is what is going on on the planet. This hardly seems grounds for satori. Also, Marxism is an invented thought-system. Capitalism is simply a word designating a mode of commerce that has evolved beyond barter and makes use of a medium of exchange called money. All sorts of problems are connected to the conduct of commerce, some of which have profound moral implications, not the least of which is that, as Jesus said, "the poor you have always with you." I presume that Eagleton understands that the economic system that prevailed in the former Soviet Union was state capitalism. He can hardly fail to understand that such prevails today in China. In any event, if he wants to subscribe to Marx's philosophy and remain a Catholic, more power to him. But his attempt to have Marx and Jesus seem to speak the same language is not much different from others' attempts to have science and theology seem to do the same thing.
How very interesting ...
... Tracking down my online haters. (Hat tip, Scott Stein.)
I remember being flamed one day by people at Daily Kos for something I had written. I answered all of them, often more than once. By day's end one of them posted that, while he didn't agree with me, he had to admire that I had patiently responded to everyone without ire. The it stopped. I was fine with it. Part of the job as I saw it.
The anonymous trolls, however, are something different. Just pseudo-tough guys, I suspect.
I remember being flamed one day by people at Daily Kos for something I had written. I answered all of them, often more than once. By day's end one of them posted that, while he didn't agree with me, he had to admire that I had patiently responded to everyone without ire. The it stopped. I was fine with it. Part of the job as I saw it.
The anonymous trolls, however, are something different. Just pseudo-tough guys, I suspect.
Memorable, though ...
... The Meal that Ended My Career as a Restaurant Critic. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
As for the poor lobster — it was a long, long way from its home in the chilly Atlantic. The creature had been boiled so mercilessly that the pale chunks of its flesh resembled disemboweled mattress stuffing: straw-like, fibrous, and impossible to cut even with a knife.
Thought for the day ...
Only the mysticism of the human center, which makes man accessible to grace and nourishes his core, corrects the personality and allows it to grow from measure to measure.- the great Pavel Florensky, born on this date in 1882 (martyred in 1937)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
On this very day ...
... Oscar Wilde visits Walt Whitman in Camden, New Jersey. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Continuing ...
... Teaching Huck Finn: Novices need not apply.
Here's an idea: Start the class by playing some rap tunes in which the word the dreaded appears. Then ask if anybody found the use of the word in those songs offensive. Then read a passage from Huck in which the word also appears. Then ask the same question.
This week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: The Great Leap Forward, Vichy, Tolkien’s cavern, and more!
Thought for the day ...
All great and beautiful work has come of first gazing without shrinking into the darkness.- John Ruskin, who died on this date in 1900
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
This should attract readers ...
... The Washington Post Enhances Sunday Newspaper with Increased Arts and Pop Culture Coverage. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Where newspapers get the idea that people whose primary interest is pop music are just waiting to hear newspapers weigh in on that subject is beyond me. Newspapers might try attracting readers by focusing on people whose primary interest is reading. The problem is that many people who work at newspapers desperately want to be hip, or to have others think that they are. Of course, wanting to be hip is a sure sign that you aren't. You're either hip or you're not. And if you really are hip, and work for a newspaper, trust me, watch out.
RIP ...
... Wilfrid Sheed, Writer of Gentle Wit, Dies at 80. (Hat tip, John Brumfield.)
OI feel chilly and grown old. I never met him, but we both grew up in Torresdale, and nuns who taught me knew his family.
OI feel chilly and grown old. I never met him, but we both grew up in Torresdale, and nuns who taught me knew his family.
Hmm ...
... Birds Of A Feather, Flock Together: 60 Owls Descend on Hungary Town. (Hat tip, Dave Lull, who claims to know nothing further about it.)
Nige sends along this: Long-eared Owls in Túrkeve.
Post bumped.
Nige sends along this: Long-eared Owls in Túrkeve.
Post bumped.
Thought for the day ...
My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people.- Patricia Highsmith, born on this date in 1921
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
So what ...
... if Christmas is over: Transmissions from a Lone Star: For instant Christmas spirit, blow here.
This should be interesting ...
... Internet Freedom and American Power. (Hat tip, Daniel E. Pritchard.)
Wonderful indeed ...
... A stroll with Albert Jay Nock. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Nock has influenced me more than any other writer I can think of.
Nock has influenced me more than any other writer I can think of.
Following up ...
... On the Trail of John Steinbeck: 5 Questions for Traveler and Writer Bill Barich. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
As for the usual lament re "the Limbaughs," I suggest he follow my approach: Change the dial. I don't listen to any talk radio, including NPR. I don't watch TV news. I simply have what I regard as better things to do with my time. On the other hand, for those who like that sort of thing, well, that's the sort of thing they like. And it's a free country -- still, more or less -- and they can listen to and watch what they like.
Hmm ...
... Memo to Corbett: Bring back state poet. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
I am a firm believer in the separation of poetry and state.
I am a firm believer in the separation of poetry and state.
Bryan surfaces ...
... The Net Delusion: How Not to Liberate the World. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
The Net Delusion is a polemic and should be read as such. It is an angry and often overwritten tumult of evidence. There are arguments against some of what Morozov says, but none, I think, that can justify the full-blooded cyber-utopian position.
I think a problem arises simply from the fact that, as Bryan notes, Morozov is an apostate. His anti-utopianism is his former utopianism turned inside out and therefore retains much of the shape of the original mould.
Understanding to oppose ...
... The Medium Is McLuhan.
“Many people seem to think that if you talk about something recent, you're in favor of it,” McLuhan explained during an uncharacteristically candid interview in 1966. “The exact opposite is true in my case. Anything I talk about is almost certain to be something I'm resolutely against, and it seems to me the best way of opposing it is to understand it, and then you know where to turn off the button.” Though the founders of Wired magazine would posthumously appoint McLuhan as the “patron saint” of the digital revolution, the real McLuhan was more a Luddite than a technophile. He would have found the collective banality of Facebook and other social networks abhorrent, if also fascinating.
Color me skeptical ...
... Mark Vernon on The Self-Help Summit. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I don't know. It all strikes me as another example of the contemporary epidemic of narcissism. I'm with Henry Miller: Happiness consists in finding a more or less pleasant way of passing the time.
Thought for the day ...
Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.- Charles de Montesquieu, born on this date in 1689
Monday, January 17, 2011
Good idea ...
... Stop Defending the Liberal Arts.
Here's my suggestion: Just start offering the old Jesuit ratio studiorum. Cut out the trendiness altogether.
Here's my suggestion: Just start offering the old Jesuit ratio studiorum. Cut out the trendiness altogether.
Much in what he says ...
... Responding to Another. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I'm pretty much in agreement with this assessment. To be honest, I couldn't slog my way through that symposium. First, reviewing and criticism are not the same thing. A review is a literary consumer's report. You read the book, give the prospective reader of it some idea of what it's about, and offer reasons why you think the book works or doesn't. I really don't think people read book reviews in order to arrive at an understanding of society. They read them in order to find out if the book being reviewed is worth their time and money.
It worked for Salinger ...
... who, oddly enough, is not mentioned: New Rules For Writers: Ignore Publicity, Shun Crowds, Refuse Recognition And More. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
Vocation ...
... Passion and the Pursuit of Truth. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The modern intellectual engages in thought without end, for all purpose would be denounced as agenda or ideology. Restless before this convergence of freedom and uselessness, his occupation takes a critical turn and becomes the mere dissecting of all the interested buzz of the world of practical action. Because it lacks a sense of where thought might find fulfillment, the intellectual realm becomes not a place above the mundane world, but a parallel zone of criticism, where the beliefs of others may enter only to be seen through. The intellectual life reduces itself to functional nihilism, warding off despair only by means of attacking the latest ideology voiced beyond its doorstep.
The lessons of hot type ...
... Burning issue of the day: After a period, one space or two?
... and also, the "refreshingly banal" -- Annals of mediocre writing: JFK’s Harvard application.
... and also, the "refreshingly banal" -- Annals of mediocre writing: JFK’s Harvard application.
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