Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Civility

  • On Lame Appeals for Civility

    Trey Gowdy issued one on his show last night. The man needs to stiffen his spine and realize that our political opponents are enemies with whom we share insufficient common ground for productive debate.  They don't need debating but defeating.  He did guest a Dem pol who talked some sense and seemed decent, but the…

  • Civility is for the Civil

    A reader sent me a graphic to accompany one of my aphorisms: Civility is no virtue if a cover for cowardice. The meme is crude, but I see little point these days in being polite to our enemies. As another of my aphorisms has it,  Be kind, but be prepared to reply in kind. But…

  • Civility

    Civility is no virtue if a cover for cowardice.

  • Leftists and Civility

    Latest Substack article.

  • Dennis Miller on Obama, and the Art of the Verbal Counterpunch

    (This is a repost, slightly redacted, from 9 October 2014.) Last night on The O'Reilly Factor, the sharpest comedian out there uncorked the following: He makes Narcissus look like he invented self-effacement. In battling the Left, it is not enough to have facts, logic, and moral decency on one's side; one must turn the Left's…

  • The Main Thing is to be Polite: Or So Rod Dreher Seems to Think

    As you may have gathered, I have a high opinion of Rod Dreher.  A friend and I are currently working through his The Benedict Option. But the scent of Never-Trumpery is large about him. His Trump Summons Demons begins as follows: Tonight at a rally in North Carolina, the President of the United States criticized…

  • Politics is War: Civility and Decency are Secondary Values

    Sohrab Ahmari, Against David-Frenchism, conclusion: Progressives understand that culture war means discrediting their opponents and weakening or destroying their institutions. Conservatives should approach the culture war with a similar realism. Civility and decency are secondary values. They regulate compliance with an established order and orthodoxy. We should seek to use these values to enforce our…

  • On Civility and a Concession to Hillary

    Civility is a good old conservative virtue and I'm all for it.  But like toleration, civility has limits.  If you call me a racist because I argue against Obamacare, then not only do I have no reason to be civil in my response to you, I morally ought not be civil to you.  For by being…

  • Is Civility Still Possible?

    James Schall appears to return a negative answer. In the course of so doing he clarifies the concepts of the civil, the uncivil, and uncivilized. Related: On Civility and Recent Civility Initiatives

  • Trump Against the Pussycons

    'Pussycon' is a crude moniker for those I have variously described as milquetoast conservatives, yap-and-scribble do-nothings, and bow-tie boys. Esther Goldberg: The hanky-clutching, cluck-clucking, tsk-tsking faction of the Conservative movement is in for a rough and bumpy ride over the next four to eight years. They’re the ones who wanted a Republican president who looked…

  • Diversity Worth Having

    Diversity worth having presupposes a principle of unity that controls the diversity. Diversity must be checked and balanced by the competing value of unity, a value with an equal claim on our respect. Example.  One language only in the public sphere makes possible many voices to be heard and understood by all.  To communicate our…

  • Trumpian Propositions

    From a reader: a. If Trump is the nominee, the Republicans will win the election.b. If Trump is the nominee, the Republicans will not win the election.c. If Trump is not the nominee, the Republicans will win the election.d. If Trump is not the nominee, the Republicans will not win the election. I think (a)…

  • Mizzou and Public Spaces: The Right to Photograph

    This from reader J.J.C.: I'm sure you've heard a lot about the Mizzou [University of Missouri] protests so I'll spare you the details. But one particular debate caught my eye. Some of these student protesters claimed that the press has no right to photograph them because to do such is an intrusion on their privacy (obviously the press has…

  • The True Gentleman

    Here, via Volokh: The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who…

  • Leftists and Civility

    The Right has not cornered the market on civility, not by a long shot.  But in my experience, liberals and leftists are worse in the civility department than conservatives. If you don’t agree with me on this, then this post is not for you. To try to prove my assertion to libs and lefties would…