Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Race

  • The Importance of Self-Control

    There is so much to learn from the Trayvon Martin affair.  One 'take-away' is the importance of self-control.  If Martin had been taught, or rather had learned, to control himself he would most likely be alive today.  But he didn't.  He blew his cool when questioned about his trespassing in a gated community on a rainy…

  • The Rage of the Wolff

    Robert Paul Wolff here vents "a rage that can find no appropriate expression" over "The judicially sanctioned murder of Trayvon Martin . . . ."  "Meanwhile, Zimmerman's gun will be returned to him.  He would have suffered more severe punishment if he had run over a white person's dog." What fascinates me is the depth of…

  • Piers Morgan on the Zimmerman Case

    Piers Morgan and many others think that someone ought to 'pay' for Trayvon Martin's unfortunate death, and that that person ought to be George Zimmerman.  Morgan demands justice for Trayvon and thinks that this can be achieved only be convicting Zimmerman of some crime.   But what murk and muddle in Morgan's mind makes him think this? …

  • An Addendum on So-Called ‘Racial’ Profiling

    One of my persistent themes is that conservatives must not talk like liberals, thereby acquiescing in the linguistic hijacking that liberals routinely practice, and putting themselves at a disadvantage in the process.  Conservatives  must insist on standard English and refuse to validate the Left's question-begging epithets.  Only the foolish conservative repeats such words and phrases as 'homophobe,' 'Islamophobe,'…

  • Charles Blow

    I saw Mr. Blow and his lovely wife on TV last night.  A charming couple.  I mean that sincerely.  But when I read his columns I am reminded that we live in the Age of Feeling, as Dennis Prager calls it. There is no thinking in Blow's op-ed pieces for The New York Times, only emoting. Add 'Blow'…

  • Is There Such a Thing as Racial Profiling?

    One of the tactics of leftists is to manipulate and misuse language for their own purposes.  Thus they make up words and phrases and hijack existing ones.  'Racial profiling' is an example of the former.  It is a meaningless phrase apart from its use as a semantic bludgeon.  Race is an element in a profile; it…

  • Old Posts on Trayvon Martin

    Here are some entries from April 2012.  A Pithy Summary of the Trayvon Martin Case  (VDH turned out to have had it nailed.) The Trayvon Martin Case and the Growing Racial Divide Florida's "Stand Your Ground" Law Irrelevant to Trayvon Martin Case See also Jacob Sullum.

  • The Zimmerman Verdict and the ‘Planetary’ Difference Between Left and Right

    The significance of the Zimmerman trial is that it is emblematic of the deep and ever-deepening racial divide in this country despite the successes of the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s and the increasing participation of blacks in all institutions of our society, a participation culminating in the election of a black president…

  • On the Zimmerman Acquittal

    A. W. e-mails and I comment: I know you've been following this case. I must say I'm impressed by the outcome. Even though I believed that Z's account of the events was consistent and that the prosecution's case was incredibly weak, I was expecting the all-female jury to cave in to the pressure and declare…

  • Race and Grievance

    Recently over the transom from Monterey Tom: . . . I have had   a strained relationship with a long-time black friend who really thinks  that opposition to Barack Obama is racially based.  Beyond the personal level, I  despise the tactic of dividing people in this country and capitalizing on the  fact that some people love to nurture grievances derived…

  • The Case Against George Zimmerman

    There is no case, and the man should not have been charged in the first place. The race-baiting, delusional Left is completely out  of control in this country as witness the Zimmerman prosecution, the Paula Deen shakedown, and the mindless uproar over the SCOTUS decision to strike down Article Four of the 1965 Voting Act. Curious how…

  • Use and Mention

    I am listening to Dennis Prager.  According to Prager, Harry Truman once wrote on a postcard "I am now in kike town."  And then Prager went on to make the correct observation that quoting a person's use of a word is not to use that word oneself.  Philosophers distinguish between use and mention.  It is one…

  • The Paula Deen Flap

    These days I have been pinching myself a lot to see if I have been dreaming: such is the lunatic course of events in this country.  Here are a couple of posts on the latest outburst of liberal-left race insanity.  Perhaps later I'll throw in my two cents.  Larry Elder Jim Goad Related: Michelle Malkin…

  • Do Blacks and Liberals Really Believe that Opposition to Obama’s Policies is Race-Based?

    Do they really believe it or do they merely say it to intimidate opponents?  Not good either way. Should a philosopher be upset that his country is unravelling?  He might find consolation in the thought that the owl of Minerva spreads its wings at dusk.  Related articles Ten Reasons Not to Vote Democrat Obama Backs…

  • Is ‘IRS’ Code for ‘Nigger’?

    Here. Makes sense, right?   Certain conservative individuals and groups have been harassed by the Internal Revenue Service for their political views.  The IRS is a a branch of the U. S. government whose president is Barack Obama, a man who is half-black and half-white, and therefore black.  Those who criticize the targeting of conservatives by the…