Several discussions, occurrence and articles over the last few months have led me to develop a unifying thought about the concept of linguistic prescription and its manifestation in the social and political realms. In particular, it seems to me that many of the world’s great debates, and the problems that arise from them, are centered … [Read more…]
I recently took the Which Early Christian Heresy Are You? quiz and my result was Arianism. I posted on Facebook my disappointment at not receiving Pelagianism. But after a few days of contemplation, I’ve started to wonder if I’m really that disappointed. Pelagianism and Me In a nutshell, Pelagianism is the idea that there is no … [Read more…]
According to Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, you can’t be both Catholic and libertarian. Well, I guess that basically consigns all the members of the Catholic Libertarians Facebook group to hell. The problem is, Cardinal Maradiaga doesn’t seem to know much about libertarianism. Here are some comments in reply to particulars from the article: 1. Catholics … [Read more…]
Recently, Neshaminy High School in Bucks County, PA, made a ripple when the student editors of the school newspaper (The Playwickian) decided that they would no longer print the name of the school’s mascot — the Redskins — within its pages. The editors’ reasons focus on sensitivity, as indicated in an unsigned editorial published last … [Read more…]
As it turns out, I’m a horrible libertarian: I’m allowing my kids to take New York State’s standardized tests. The first of these, the English Language Arts, are being administered this week, and the math version will follow in a few weeks, after spring break. Given my social media contacts, I’ve seen a lot of … [Read more…]
Andrew Cohen over at Bleeding Heart Libertarians argued earlier this week that the partial U.S. government shutdown is immoral on libertarian grounds. Cohen’s opening analogy is confusingly opaque, but if you can get past the first paragraph, he does bring up some interesting points. First, Cohen avers that even though the government does a lot of things libertarians dislike, … [Read more…]
A couple weeks ago, film and TV critic Inkoo Kang published a thought-provoking article over at Vulture blaming Fox Mulder for a perceived rise of anti-government, anti-science sentiments in the new millennium. The key, Kang says, is the coolness behind Mulder’s “anti-government paranoia … and skepticism of science.” Furthermore, Kang sees Scully’s knowledge of science as … [Read more…]
Earlier today, I was debating whether to write a post about 9/11 or whether to leave that to the many others who are already writing, talking and remembering about that day. Instead, I was going to write about something more mundane, a personal goal reached. As I got in my car after work and was … [Read more…]
A couple weeks ago independent investigative journalist Ben Swann posted one of his signature “Reality Check” segments on the topic of NSA copyright claims being used to chill speech. The segment focused on an event in which Zazzle, the online marketplace where people can sell merchandise based on their own custom designs, removed some NSA-related T-shirts and … [Read more…]
A couple days ago, President Obama came to Central New York. I know because the traffic on I-690 was backed up, and I got stuck in the mire on the way home. For some reason (perhaps to avoid State Fair traffic), the presidential entourage — coming from Buffalo and Rochester in Western NY — went … [Read more…]