Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Leftism and Political Correctness

  • The ‘Progressive’

    A 'progressive' is one who has made no progress in understanding the world. If he had, he would understand that his proposed changes are not improvements.  This assumes, charitably, that he understands the difference between 'change' and 'improvement.'

  • Is the Left Out for Power Alone?

    Tucker Carlson and many other conservatives say that the Left is out for power alone, but it is not true. I grant, of course, that leftists love power and will do anything to gain it and maintain it. But why do they want it? Not for the sake of power alone, but to implement their…

  • Truth is not a Leftist Value

    Posted today on my Facebook page. I could not resist making some additions for the present venue. ……………………….. My title is a Dennis Prager riff. But it needs a bit of nuancing, a job for a philosopher, not a talk show host.  Truth is a value for leftists in an instrumental sense: they will tell…

  • Questions about Pronouns, Sex, and ‘Wokism’

    Elliot Crozat writes,  During my visit, one of our conversation topics was pronoun usage. If I recall, on one of the hikes, you gave the example "He who hesitates is lost” and asked about the function of ‘He.’ You then said that this pronoun seems to function as a universal quantifier such that, for any x,…

  • Left, Right, Gender, and Sex

    There is nothing in the graphic below to disagree with, although more could be said. But one quibble: The correct word is not 'gender,' but 'sex.' Gender is a grammatical category first and foremost. But it is not unreasonable to allow a widening of the term to cover certain social roles that one's sex fits…

  • Climate Coloniality

    More totalitarian wokery.

  • Denial of God, Denial of Nature

    These are opposite poles of the world of woke-leftist lunacy.  The metaphysical naturalist denies God and elevates nature, and in some cases make an idol of nature. The theist, while not denying nature, subordinates it to God. He may succumb to idolatry too if his concept of God is unworthy.  Both naturalist and theist are…

  • Why shouldn’t the demented, the incompetent, and the morally corrupt hold high public office?

    Is that not in keeping with  the woke Left's 'equity' delusion, namely, that equality of outcome among individuals and groups is a choice-worthy goal regardless of  their merit and qualifications?

  • Why the Left Won’t Budge on Anything

    This from a long-time reader with my comments in blue:   Really enjoy your site . . . .   From north of the border, I'm watching the abortion chaos and the Machiavellian machinations of court document leakers.    Since having a child, I have come to the admittedly not the most logically airtight position…

  • No Takers Without Makers

    You can't take wealth and 'redistribute' it unless someone makes it. But human nature is such that people need incentives to make things. People will work hard for themselves, their families, their friends, and their communities but not for something as nebulous as the 'common good' when, as inevitably is the case under socialism, the…

  • What is the Most Pernicious of the Left’s Errors?

    Contemporary leftists (cultural Marxists) deny that there is a reality antecedent to our classifications and conceptualizations. (V. I. Lenin was of course an exception along with other classical Marxists.) Everything becomes a socio-political construct. How convenient for identity-political totalitarians! The bird of reality can be carved up in any way that suits the will to…

  • ‘Equity’

    'Equity' as currently used by wokesters refers to equality of outcome.   It could be achieved in a footrace by attaching weights to runners so as to insure that they all cross the finish line at the same time. One would thereby purchase the benefit of envy-free equality of result at the cost of excellence…

  • Institutions and Credibility

    Key institutions appear to be working very hard to destroy their own credibility. The Roman Catholic Church, the Center for Disease Control, the fourth estate, the military, the business 'community,' academe, the entertainment industry, and the government in all three branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial have very little credibility left.  Each of…

  • Dissent = Hate = Violence

    An 'equation' of the lunatic Left.   This takes the cake. My reasoned dissent from the propositions the leftist enunciates is taken by the leftist to be identical to hatred of the leftist as a person. Having confused proposition with person, the 'progressive' knucklehead goes on to conflate emotional state with overt action.   The…

  • Ex-Leftist Tells All

    I have mentioned Michael Rectenwald (yes, that is how he spells his name) here and here. Tom Woods today tells the story of Rectenwald's move from Marx to Mises. I thank Tony Flood for the link.  Michael Rectenwald, formerly a professor at New York University, spent his life as a leftist — a self-described Marxist,…