Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Leftism and Political Correctness

  • In Debt We Trust

    I saw the documentary In Debt We Trust on TV on one of the lefty channels.  Trailer here. It is a typical leftist treatment of the problem of indebtedness, but interesting  nonetheless. One of the people interviewed states that "Society preaches the gospel of shopping." That is the sort of nonsense one  expects to hear from libs…

  • If You Are a Conservative, Don’t Talk Like a Liberal

    I've made this point before but it bears repeating. We conservatives should never acquiesce in the Left's acts of linguistic vandalism. Battles in the culture war are often lost and won on linguistic   ground. So we ought to resolutely oppose the Left's attempts at linguistic corruption. Take 'homophobia.' A phobia is a fear, but not…

  • On Black Reparations

    Warning to liberals: clear thinking, moral clarity, and political incorrectness up ahead! If you consider any part of the following to be 'racist' or 'hateful' then you are in dire need, not of refutation, but of psychotherapy.  Please seek it for your own good. There is no question but that slavery is a great moral…

  • Further Left Than Chomsky

    "There is no further left than Chomsky.  Further left than Chomsky is Stalin."  (Dennis Prager,  just now, on his radio show.)  And Chomsky gets paid to speak on college campuses, he doesn't get pie in the face, and doesn't need a body guard.  But Ann Coulter and David Horowitz need body guards.  (Prager made these…

  • Capital Punishment and Deterrence

    Bill Keezer e-mails: With respect to capital punishment: When I was a lab-tech at Ball State University, one of the professors was telling me about a demonstration of static electricity he did at the state prison in Pendleton, IN. He was using a Van de Graaff generator to create long, spectacular sparks and light neon…

  • The Absurdity of Gender Feminism

    Christina Hoff Sommers usefully distinguishes between equity feminism and gender feminism.  I am all for the former, but I find the the latter preposterous.  In his chapter on gender in The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, Penguin 2002, Steven Pinker explains the distinction: Equity feminism is a moral doctrine about equal treatment…

  • Voter ID Again

    This was written in September of 2006 and posted on the old blog.  But the topic is back in the news.  My view hasn't changed, so I repost. WARNING! Polemical post up ahead. Don't like polemics? Don't read it! More puzzling to me than liberum arbitrium indifferentiae is the question, asked of old, asked now,…

  • I Lay in a Supply of Incandescent Light Bulbs

    Virginia Postrel writes, If you want to know why so many Americans feel alienated from their government, you need only go to Target and check out the light bulb aisle. Instead of the cheap commodities of yesteryear, you’ll find what looks like evidence of a flourishing, technology-driven economy. There are “ultrasoft” bulbs promising “softer soft…

  • National Donut Day

    Celebrate it by eating a donut or engaging in some other politically incorrect act such as smoking a cigar.  Tell the 'food fascists' to shove it. 

  • Leftists Have Their Secular Doomsdays

    And these haven't come to pass.

  • Ladderman Revisited

    This post dated 17 November 2004 is from Ladderman  and ought to be preserved.  So I reproduce it here. Maverick Philosopher posted a short sharp reply to the now common leftist claim that America is becoming a "theocracy" under President Bush. Excerpt: "Hostility to religion, especially institutionalized religion, is a defining characteristic of the Left. We've known…

  • Ed Schultz Plays the Race Card

     Ed Schultz:  "The Republican Party Stands for Racism." For more examples of leftist scumbaggery, see my Race category. Another example of why calls for civility are silly.  You must not be civil to moral scum.  You must denounce them and their lies.  When they lie about us we must tell the truth about them.  Every…

  • The Wages of Appeasement

    I am right now listening to Michael Medved interview Bruce S. Thornton, a colleague of Victor Davis Hanson, and author of The Wages of Appeasement.   Here is a Front Page interview with Thornton.  Excerpt: MT: Could you talk a bit about one of the recurring themes among the three historical examples you write about in…

  • Soul Food

    People are generally aware of the importance of good nutrition, physical exercise and all things health-related. They understand that what they put into their bodies affects their physical health.  Underappreciated is a truth just as, if not more important: that what one puts into one's mind affects one's mental and spiritual health. The soul has…

  • Universal Health Care

    I'm for it: I want everyone to have health care. But the issue is not whether it would be good for all to have adequate health care, the issue is how to approach this goal. I can't see that increasing   government involvement in health care delivery is the way to go. Phrases like 'universal health…