sz.de/1.4789472 Eine interessante kurze Sendung darüber, ob Respekt oder Enttäuschung die richtige Reaktion sei, wenn jemand zurücktritt, der in der Öffentlichkeit für etwas gestanden und gekämpft hat.
I don’t miss the nastiness of the Left – UnHerd
The Tories recognise that human beings are inherently broken; the Left is convinced we’re perfectible
— Read on unherd.com/2020/02/i-dont-miss-the-nastiness-of-the-left/
Well said, Giles Fraser. LJ
RIP George Steiner
“George Steiner, philosophe et critique, est mort à l’âge de 90 ans” : http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/george-steiner-philosophe-et-critique-est-mort-a-l-age-de-90-ans-20200203
In defence of Alastair Stewart | Coffee House
In defence of Alastair Stewart on Coffee House | Here is a good test case going on before our eyes. The broadcaster Alastair Stewart has left his job of…
— Read on blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/01/in-defence-of-alastair-stewart/
In Memoriam – Roger Scruton – Hillsdale College
I had not heard of Hillsdale College until I chanced upon a speech online given there by Kimberley Strassel. I sensed that its ethos was one in which it was still possible to seek truth through study without loss of faith in the inherent value of the knowable object, as had been the case when I had had the great privilege of studying French and German Literature at Christ Church under Alban Krailsheimer and David Luke. That knowledge was inherently valuable was also a truth understood plainly, concretely and resolutely by my father, who had worked as a coal-miner in Wales at the age of fourteen, yet whose numeracy and literacy survived until he died aged 89, and by my mother, whose love and knowledge of English literature were compendious, notwithstanding the modesty of her circumstances. I was therefore fortunate indeed to grow up in an home in which faith in the beauty and importance of music and literature was unassailed by the trickery and deceits of the world of intellectuals of the second rank (amongst whom I include the disingenuous proponents of deconstruction) and privileged to be allowed to speak to the young in these terms during my years as a teacher.
Visiting the website of Hillsdale College, Michigan, I find, coincidentally perhaps, a tribute to a very special human being, Roger Scruton, who died this week and whose importance I had only recently discovered. I also find that all is not lost.
His speech is of the greatest importance, as is, I believe from what has been admittedly little more than a cursory glance, the work that is undertaken at Hillsdale College. LJ
In Memoriam – Roger Scruton – Hillsdale College
— Read on www.hillsdale.edu/roger-scruton/
(55) Douglas Murray And Roger Scruton On The Future Of Conservatism & Debate | The Spectator – YouTube
An excellent discussion between Douglas Murray, Sir Roger Scruton and an enquiring and courteous audience.
“Our greatest Prime Minister, in my view, Lord Salisbury, was in office for twenty years, and no one can remember him.”
Simon Evans Is Right – BBC Sounds
An interesting examination of the rôle of the authentic comedian, currently beleaguered by the neo-orthodoxy of the woke cult and its swelling pressure to lean acquiescently and naively to the perilous political left, notwithstanding lessons from 20th century history.
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— Read on www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0008hkz
The author of “Woke”, a satire as important in our times as the works of Erasmus and Voltaire were to theirs.
Andrew Doyle in conversation.
Excellent analysis from Jordan Peterson
Amy Chua – Wikipedia
Amy Chua – Wikipedia
— Read on en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Chua
In her discussion with Anne McElvoy on the podcast “The Economist Asks” Amy Chua offers some wise and unusually balanced insights into the problematic schism entailed by identity politics and the damage caused to the “connective tissue” holding heterogeneous societies such as the USA and the UK together.
The Economist asks: Have identity politics gone too far? | The Economist asks on acast
Tribalism has always existed, but is now playing a far more pivotal role in society: from the rise of gender and ethnic affiliation, to nationalist parties in Europe and even the appeal of Donald Trump. Amy Chua, author of “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” and “Political Tribes”, explains why the politics of sharp-edged identities have become so powerful.For information regarding your data privacy, visitacast.com/privacy
— Read on play.acast.com/s/theeconomistasks/eed21a66-66ac-4463-8f46-f107aec42d8a
Marquis de Condorcet
Marquis de Condorcet – Wikipedia
— Read on en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Condorcet
Well said, Roger Scruton!
This point is very well made. I wish I had said it. Sadly, I didn’t, though it is consonant with what I have thought for years and said, without undue repetition, for years.
“It also, though, goes to the heart of what we think communication is. You know, if you think of communication as an exercise in respect for the other, you don’t repeat yourself. Repeating yourself suggests that you’re either demented or that you just don’t care about the other person’s response; you’re prepared to override it and say the same thing again and again. There’s no way in which a chanted slogan invites an answer. I think there’s a whole politics of that kind which grows out of the mass movements on the left but also invades the language of the left.”
The Cat. Episode IV
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
cf-media.sndcdn.com/Srz6ZQiGTpr5
Click to access CandC_Main_Noach_FINAL.pdf
Some very interesting reflections on the Jewish Torah, of particular importance in this age of heteronomous transference of personal responsibility to agencies beyond the person, that is, to others.
“Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.” Tacitus
“When the state is at its most corrupt, its laws are at its most numerous.” Tacitus
How true those words are, even to-day! LJ
“A man’s real life is that accorded to him in the thoughts of other men by reason of respect or natural love.”
A quote from a Joseph Conrad’s “Under Western Eyes”, by which I am reminded of St.Benedict’s reflections on the acquisition of self-knowledge as something unachievable through self-scrutiny, but only through the eyes of others. LJ
Histoire de France (Jacques Bainville)
Conscience before consciousness – TheTLS
The letter referring to “cerebral Macron” and setting his average mind alongside the grandeur of that of De Gaulle is amusing. It stands no comparison, of course. That on Kant is also good, as is the principal letter on the rehabilitation of synderesis. A good start to the day here in St.Martin, as the neighbours turn on their swimming pool cleaner to drive away the serenity of the early morning. LJ
Conscience before consciousness – TheTLS
— Read on www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/private/letters-to-the-editor-202/
From Satire III, by John Donne
Let him ask his; though truth and falsehood be
Near twins, yet truth a little elder is;
Be busy to seek her; believe me this,
He’s not of none, nor worst, that seeks the best.
To adore, or scorn an image, or protest,
May all be bad; doubt wisely; in strange way
To stand inquiring right, is not to stray;
To sleep, or run wrong, is. On a huge hill,
Cragged and steep, Truth stands, and he that will
Reach her, about must and about must go,
And what the hill’s suddenness resists, win so.
Yet strive so that before age, death’s twilight,
Thy soul rest, for none can work in that night.
To will implies delay, therefore now do;
Hard deeds, the body’s pains; hard knowledge too
The mind’s endeavours reach, and mysteries
Are like the sun, dazzling, yet plain to all eyes.
Jonathan Sumption: “Don’t apologise!”
Sound reasoning, though some nuances are omitted, doubtless owing to the need for brevity. Christopher Hitchens deserves a hearing on related matters.
Lyndon @ Adonis Blue 