Category Archives: Society
In Defense of the Flip-Flop
“I have no other end in this writing, but only to discover myself, who, also, shall, peradventure, be another thing tomorrow, if I chance to meet any new instruction to change me.” – Montaigne The term flip-flop has become as … Continue reading
The Inevitability of Compromise
“A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” –James 1:8 In the movie All of Me the soul of Lilly Tomlin’s character is mistakenly trapped inside the body of Steve Martin’s character. Anyone who has seen this movie has … Continue reading
Arguments of Degrees
A while back I wrote about how the things we’re told we shouldn’t talk about—religion and politics—are precisely some of the most important things we can talk about. Sitting with someone of a different mind about either subject, but who … Continue reading
My Introduction to Montaigne
In plodding my way slowly through the Great Books series, I found a special treat in Michel de Montaigne, a 16th Century French philosopher. His thoughts peel back the surface of human interaction, often to an uncomfortable degree. But he … Continue reading
The Victim Juggernaut
The way some people use the term “main-stream media,” you would think it has only four letters. The opposite of this MSM is, of course, the underground, iconoclastic, revolutionary side-stream media that is struggling to make its voice heard above … Continue reading
Monuments to the Faith
For a long time in the U.S. there has been a battle between people who want to be able to display religious symbols, particularly the Ten Commandments, on government property (such as city parks, government buildings, etc.) and those who … Continue reading
Saul, Paul, and Crist (no, it’s not a typo)
“[Fanatics of various hues] hate each other with the hatred of brothers. They are as far apart and close together as Saul and Paul.” – Eric Hoffer, The True Believer The animosity between the two principal political parties in the … Continue reading
The True Mirror of Our Doctrine
The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine. – Montaigne The other day I saw a news article that said that Glenn Beck, a nationally-syndicated political talk show host who also has a TV show, a … Continue reading
The True Believer by Eric Hoffer; book review
I recently read for the third time a book I was introduced to in PoliSci 101 as an extra credit assignment. In the past, to me The True Believer; Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer was … Continue reading
Watch your tongue
As any English-speaker who has learned a Romance language knows, there are a lot of cognates, both true and false, between English and Romance languages. A cognate is a word that resembles its counterpart in another language. For example, even … Continue reading