Monthly Archives: October 2017

Part And Parcel

October 31, 2017 – 7:15 pm

A Muslim terrorist in a rented truck mowed down pedestrians in New York today, killing eight people. At a news conference, Governor Cuomo assured us that the killer was a “lone wolf”, and that there was no evidence of a “wider plot”. Rubbish. The “wider plot” has been in effect for fourteen centuries. It continues […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Jihad | Comments (6)

A Diagnosis Of Liberalism, 1964

October 30, 2017 – 11:00 pm

I’ve been reading James Burnham’s Suicide of the West. Published in 1964, it is an anti-liberal jeremiad, and a corking good one. It also anticipates a number of themes that have become central tenets of both traditional-conservative and neoreactionary criticism. I’m still only about three-quarters of the way through, but I’ll offer some excerpts. Burnham […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Reaction | Comments (2)

The Nettle Ungrasped

October 27, 2017 – 3:17 pm

A few days ago I mentioned a manifesto called the Paris Declaration — signed by, among others, Roger Scruton — and gave it two-and-a-half cheers. I did allow that I had a “quibble or two”, but in general I thought — and I still do think — that it was an important step in the […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Reaction | Comments (4)

¡Math Is Hard!

October 24, 2017 – 3:47 pm

From Campus Reform: Prof: Algebra, geometry perpetuate white privilege The story is about one Rochelle Gutierrez, a professor of mathematics at the University of Illinois. We read: “On many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness. Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Reason and Philosophy, Tomfoolery, Reaction | Comments (15)

Turn And Face The Strange

October 24, 2017 – 12:02 pm

Here is David Bowie, in a 1999 interview, predicting in considerable detail the transformative, revolutionary effect of the Internet on media and culture.

By Malcolm | Posted in Music and Recording, Society and Culture, Technology | Comments (2)

Something To See Here

October 23, 2017 – 2:27 pm

Here is former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy’s detailed summary of the reeking DOJ/Clinton/Rosatom affair. (The Hill has also been covering the story, for example here.) Corruption and obfuscation at this level should be front-page news, every day. If it had happened under a Republican administration, it would be.

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (3)

Thread Of The Day

October 22, 2017 – 11:10 pm

Here’s Twitter’s most interesting and unusual feed, @ThomasWictor, on Niger and Benghazi.

By Malcolm | Posted in Military | Comments (1)

Go Not Gently!

October 21, 2017 – 11:45 pm

A group of concerned thinkers, including Roger Scruton, have written a rousing manifesto calling for the defense of Europe against its accelerating cultural suicide. The document is called The Paris Statement, and it is good strong stuff. (I learned about it from this article at Reaction, where you can find additional commentary.) You can read […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Reaction | Comments (5)

‘A’ For Effort

October 17, 2017 – 11:51 pm

Ah, Diversity. How its worship enriches us! It doesn’t, of course. But it does, at least, make for some last-minute entertainment, here on the deck of the Titanic. There are some areas of human activity that lie forever beyond the reach of heartfelt wishes and fond imaginings: places where reality is still there even after […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Technology, HBD | Comments (8)

As It Will Be In The Future, It Was At The Birth Of Man

October 15, 2017 – 10:23 pm

From Albion’s Seed, page 896: There is a cultural equivalent of the iron law of oligarchy: small groups dominate every cultural system. They tend to do so by controlling institutions and processes, so that they tend to become the “governors” of a culture in both a political and a mechanical sense. The “iron law of […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (5)

Goodbye, Columbus

October 12, 2017 – 9:29 pm

Everywhere you look, the Admiral of the Ocean Sea is out, and Indigenous Peoples are in. (Well, the indigenous peoples of Europe, not so much…) Those of us who don’t get all our history from Howard Zinn, however, know that the Noble Savage was a good deal more savage than noble. Some details here.

By Malcolm | Posted in Rubbish | Comments (1)

C6ISR

October 11, 2017 – 7:00 pm

Here’s an interesting Twitter thread, from Thomas Wictor: the world’s leading authority on WWI flamethrowers, and a most unusual fellow.

By Malcolm | Posted in Military | Comments (3)

Yikes!

October 10, 2017 – 4:02 pm

The volcanic island of La Palma (one of the Canary Islands) is in the news after an earthquake swarm. Why “yikes”? See here.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (1)

The Marshmallow Test

October 10, 2017 – 3:12 pm

I’ve finally been reading David Hackett Fischer’s Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. (I’ve known for years that this book was essential reading for anyone interested in the cultural history of the United States, but late is better than never.) The book is delightfully engaging. I just came across this, in a chapter on […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (1)

Outline For A Diagnosis Of Late Modernity: Part 1

October 8, 2017 – 11:54 pm

After the Las Vegas shooting, I noted that when I was a boy guns were a common and unremarkable part of normal American life: I grew up in a rural area of west-central New Jersey. When I was a boy, all the households around me had a gun or two. We boys used to stack […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Ruminations | Comments (3)

The “Irrational” Slur Against Trump Voters

October 8, 2017 – 1:04 pm

With a hat-tip to Bill Vallicella, here’s a long and detailed assessment of the claim that Donald Trump’s voter-base — middle- and working-class Americans — made an irrational choice that was contrary to their own interests. The author demonstrates that this view is unsupportable, and that those who make it are usually applying a standard […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics, Reason and Philosophy | Comments (0)

Eastward Ho!

October 7, 2017 – 11:26 pm

Sorry for the lack of substantial content around here lately. From time to time I become so weary of the passing scene that I hardly know what to say about it. I’ll be back to normal soon, I expect. Meanwhile: Diplomad is kissing California goodbye. Can’t say I blame him.

By Malcolm | Posted in Shameless Filler | Comments (1)

More

October 4, 2017 – 7:24 pm

As the gun-ban furor continues, here are two more items you should read: I used to think gun control was the answer. My research told me otherwise. Mass Shootings Are A Bad Way To Understand Gun Violence

By Malcolm | Posted in Guns | Comments (3)

The X Factor

October 4, 2017 – 1:21 pm

Just after the slaughter in Las Vegas, Hillary Clinton (remember her?) took to Twitter to offer this tendentious and ignorant comment: The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots. Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get. In Ms. Clinton’s moated and wholly self-referential mind, […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Guns | Comments (7)

Don’t Kid Yourselves

October 3, 2017 – 8:56 pm

In the wake of the LV massacre we hear the usual outcry from gun-rights opponents. It’s just another instance of the great and widening chasm separating the two Americas, and as always the hue and cry will simply push the two sides farther apart. In confronting this act of evil, the “progressive” mind leaps reflexively, […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Guns | Comments (1)

Straight Into Darkness

October 2, 2017 – 4:20 pm

Sorrow is everywhere today: following on the sickening atrocity in Las Vegas is the news that Tom Petty — one of the greatest rockers and songwriters of my generation — has died.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (1)

Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off

October 2, 2017 – 11:18 am

I’m still waiting for the Muse to return from vacation. Meanwhile, here’s a fine post on disagreement by our friend Bill Vallicella. Note the link in Bill’s post to the acerbic NRx blogger ‘Porter’. I’d earlier called Bill’s attention to Porter’s post on the NFL brouhaha, which you might enjoy also.

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (0)