Category: Language Matters
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On ‘Homophobic’
'Homophobic' is a coinage of leftists to prevent one of those famous 'conversations' that they otherwise call for. It is a question-begging epithet and semantic bludgeon meant to close down debate by the branding of their opponents as suffering from a mental defect. This is why only a foolish conservative acquiesces in the use of…
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The Mystery of Language: Tool, Enabler, Dominatrix?
I have spoken before, romantically no doubt, of the mother tongue as our alma mater, our dear mother to whom we owe honor. Mater and matrix of our thoughts, she is yet deeper and higher than our thoughts, their sacred Enabler. So I was pleased to come across a similar, albeit more trenchant, observation in…
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Brand Blanshard on Santayana’s Prose Style
Brand Blanshard, On Philosophical Style (Indiana University Press, 1967), pp. 49-50. Originally appeared in 1954. Emphases added. The most distinguished recent example of imaginative prose in philosophy is certainly George Santayana. Santayana was no man's copy, either in thought or in style. He consistently refused to adopt the prosaic medium in which most of his colleagues were writing.…
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Do Christians and Jews Worship the Same God?
Yale's Miroslav Volf has a 17 December 2015 piece entitled Wheaton professor’s suspension is about anti-Muslim bigotry, not theology. It is a sloppy piece of mere journalism but it does raise an important question: What is theologically wrong with asserting that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, according to Hawkins’s opponents — and mine?…
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On Writing Well: The Example of William James
This from a graduate student in philosophy: I have always been an admirer of your philosophical writing style–both in your published works and on your blog. Have you ever blogged about which writers and books have most influenced your philosophical writing style? Yes, I have some posts on or near this topic. What follows is…
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Merry Xmas!
When I was eight years old or so and first took note of the phrase 'Merry Xmas,' my piety was offended by what I took to be the removal of 'Christ' from 'Christmas' only to be replaced by the universally recognized symbol for an unknown quantity, 'X.' But it wasn't long before I realized that…
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Hic Rhodus, Hic Salta
"Here is Rhodes, jump here" (through the hoops of political correctness). A graduate of Oriel College, Oxford University, sent me this statement concerning the Rhodes Must Fall petition. A memorial to Cecil Rhodes, that is. Can you say Der Untergang des Abendlandes? "Here is Rhodes, jump here." From Aesop's Fables #209, "The Boastful Athlete." A…
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Two Leftist Constraints on ‘Conversation’
Only politically correct topics may be discussed. So Eric Holder called for a 'conversation' on race as if we had never talked about this before. But I don't recall him calling for a 'conversation' on immigration. The other constraint is that 'conversation' must consist in an acquiescence by the conservative in the leftist's nonsense. No…
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San Bernardino, ISIS, Islam, and Refugees
A measured statement from the Christian evangelical camp by Mark Tooley. Excerpt: At the very least, Christian immigration advocates should urge U.S. immigration policies that strongly prohibit persons who reject American democratic principles. Over one hundred years ago immigration policies screened against anarchist sympathies, which murderously raged in Europe. Later U.S. policies screened against Bolshevism.…
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Flannery O’Connor on Pious Language
Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1979), p. 227 in a letter to Maryat Lee dated 28 June 1957: I doubtless hate pious language worse than you because I believe the realities it hides. To the unbeliever, pious language is just so much cant and hypocrisy and offensive for these reasons. …
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Profiling, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Everybody profiles. Liberals are no exception. Liberals reveal their prejudices by where they live, shop, send their kids to school, and with whom they associate. The word 'prejudice' needs analysis. It could refer to blind prejudice: unreasoning, reflexive (as opposed to reflective) aversion to what is other just because it is other, or an unreasoning pro-attitude…
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Word of the Day: Emolliate
To soften, to render effeminate. "Emolliated by four centuries of Roman domination, the Belgic colonies had forgotten their pristine valor." (Pinkerton) Entry from Webster's, 1913.
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Recognizing Microagressions and the Messages They Send
A remarkable document. Tell me what you think. To understand the Left you must understand that central to their worldview is the hermeneutics of suspicion which is essentially a diluted amalgam of themes from Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. Thus nothing has the plain meaning that it has; every meaning must be deconstructed so as to…
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‘Politicization,’ National Debt, and the Paris Attacks
The Republicans have been accused of 'politicizing' the debt crisis. But how can you politicize what is inherently political? The debt in question is the debt of the federal government. Since a government is a political entity, questions concerning federal debts are political questions. As inherently political, such questions cannot be politicized. If to reify…