There's a new savior in town--and his name is Glenn Beck.
Black pastor C.L Jackson, speaking at Glenn Beck’s much hyped “Restoring Honor” rally today, told the crowd of many thousands of tea party patriots, “We were brought together by what I call this servant of God, son of God, Glenn Beck.” Jackson, who was present when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I have a dream speech” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on this day 47 years ago, found the inspiration to stand on those same steps and compare Glenn Beck to his personal savior.
(The crowd and Lincoln Memorial beyond).
To quote John Batchelor from the Daily Beast:
It is a farce of an event in the way the bookish Karl Marx meant it, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
As paper fans fluttered in the hands of the peaceful and excitable crowd who gathered on this hot August day on the National Mall of Washington DC, Pastor Jackson continued his speech by relating the New Testament story of the women who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. ...
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The taxi's coming to take me to the airport in about three hours. I just woke up with a start, thinking that I'd overslept, and now I'm afraid to go back to sleep for fear that I will. I'm all packed, and it's the middle of the night, so Ricochet buddies, would you please help keep me awake for the next few hours?
I'll give you something to start with. This reminded me of our earlier conversation about the critical things we just don't notice when we're focussing on something else.
I posted a link to our conversation about whether Islam itself is the enemy to my Facebook page. Some of my friends here in Istanbul (who are Moslems, and, as the word "friend" suggests, not my enemy) weighed in with responses that I think confirm my assertion that the Islamic world is not monolithic. In particular, my friend Babür left a long, thoughtful response, which I'll reproduce in full. ...
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I'm hoping--since you seem to be a group of avid readers, and you're probably quite close to my ideal target audience--that you can give me some good advice.
The book-publishing industry is dying. In the past few years I've sent at least a dozen book proposals off to do the rounds. I'm fairly sure that ten years ago, all would have generated some interest. Not anymore. The print publishing industry is well on its way to obsolescence, and the major publishers haven't a clue how to make money from new publishing technology.
I'm just not sure what kind of book to pitch. Writing fiction is out of the question. It just doesn't sell. Besides, reality these days is mighty interesting--why bother with fiction, I keep thinking, when the world seems stranger and more interesting than anything I could imagine? But non-fiction books about the things I'd naturally think of writing don't seem to sell, either. I was certain that a lively book about Margaret Thatcher would have real commercial potential. I was wrong.
Still, some books are selling. Some writers are still finding a way to make it work. ...
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During our podcast conversation about Sarah Palin, I noticed that everyone seemed to express some variant on the sentiment that they wished they liked her more because she so obviously infuriates the people they most loathe. I discussed this phenomenon in a review of her autobiography. It's a curious kind of blackmail. Why should we pretend to love her just because pantywaist leftists are snobs about her? If the same snobs refuse to eat Velveeta, that still doesn't mean it's a great cheese.
So, Conor Friedersdorf has a good idea:
| Conor Friedersdorf: I want to say thanks again for a great discussion on all this. It's inspired an idea that I'd like to run by everyone. A Muslim group founds a community center, saying one of their express intentions is opposing radicals. Some people like me are inclined to trust them (in the present case, anyway). And others like Peter see this as deliberate provocation, but believe the rule of law requires that they be allowed to build. Time will tell RE their intentions, but meanwhile, maybe the best strategy is calling their bluff. Identify the most useful things an Islamic mosque and community center could do to discourage radical Islam. Statements, specific programs, whatever. Approach the folks who run it in friendly spirit. Say, "Hey, my group wants to discourage radical Islam too. How about we partner to do these things." And voila. If they're genuinely anti-radical, you'd be helping their efforts, and if not, you'd be exposing their true behavior. · Jul 25 at 3:27am
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Let's think this through together. What are the most useful things an Islamic mosque and community center could do to discourage radical Islam?
A Ricochet reader (but not participant -- we're working on getting him to join), asked me to post this question on the effect of the California gay marriage decision and its effects on religions:
We allow gay marriage, and then what?
If the courts create a constitutional right to gay marriage, discrimination of the protected class becomes illegal. Many churches, the Catholic Church for one, will refuse to perform gay weddings, not out of hatred or bigotry, but because of doctrine. For over two thousand the Catholic Church has celebrated marriage as one of its seven sacraments. The Church will not knowingly administer a sacrament when it goes against a fundamental doctrine. A huge crisis is inevitable because there is no middle ground. How will courts choose between the first amendment right to the free exercise of religion for some and the 14th amendment equal protection rights of the other?
My view is that the First Amendment's guarantee of free exercise of religion prohibits the state from forcing religious group to conduct ceremonies that they do not wish to. ...
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The arrival of the Great Uniter in the White House has left us more divided than at any time in almost 150 years. It’s not just a matter of Red States vs. Blue States or super-heated political rhetoric; rather, there’s such an enormous chasm caused by distrust, and even disdain, that it’s hard to imagine finding a way to bridge the gap. The political well has become so poisoned we all may die of thirst. John Edwards—who seemed to enjoy having two of everything—campaigned on the notion of there being two Americas, and he may have been correct, at least numerically. Each of the two seems to have less and less regard for the other, and the result is the geographical whole is in serious trouble.
In this age of 24-hour political news and Internet echo chambers, it’s hard to imagine any sort of real accommodation between the sides. And, while most of us here at Ricochet share a belief in who’s to blame and which direction we should move, maybe it’s time to throw up our hands and concede that America, as we know it, is simply not working. ...
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So there's a list going around of the 20 Worst Americans as judged by 43 bloggers. NR's Jim Geraghty pokes a bunch of big holes in the list's inclusions and omissions --
I don’t think it’s healthy to mix the categories of “people who bug me” and “history’s greatest monsters.” Even if the Simpsons did put Jimmy Carter atop that list first.
-- and to that I give a big cosign. But rather than haggling over America's Most Horrendous, it'd be more fun to crowdsource a top 20 list of best Americans. Wouldn't it? And who better to ask than Ricochet members?
As you know, our Code of Conduct prohibits the discussion of "99 percent of conspiracy theories."
But!
Mathematicians will note the implication: One percent of them are allowed! But which ones, I wonder? Just for today, let's play a little game. Do you ever have a sneaking suspicion that one of those really whacked-out conspiracy theories no right-thinking person is supposed to embrace just may be true? Why?
The contributor who makes the most compelling and lucid defense of the most ostensibly totally lunatic conspiracy theory will win today's Ricochet Gold Medal. It's just glory, but heck, it's a lot of glory. To get yourself in the mood you will want to begin by asking: Does Claire actually know in advance who the winner will be? Why is she asking this? Cui bono?
Don't get too excited about this game though. Only one percent will make the qualifying round, and once this discussion's over, it's over--except for the lucky winner.
I'll begin. ...
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James, I'm guessing you haven't spent much time in animal shelters. Every year in America, five million cats and dogs are gassed to death or lethally injected with sodium pentobarbital in these shelters. The word 'euthanasia' is a grotesque euphemism. There is no mercy in these deaths. Most of the animals are healthy, rambunctious, and young. They die terrified, and they die pointlessly: very few are vicious; most are capable of forming deep affectionate bonds with humans. This is what happens -- what really happens -- every day in these shelters. The links are graphic and upsetting. They're also reality.
Concern for the welfare and dignity of animals is not confined to nihilist Leftists such as Peter Singer or local totalitarians who seek to regulate pets out of existence. Have you read Matthew Scully's immensely moving, immensely disturbing book Dominion? A completely conservative case can be made, should be made, for treating animals with mercy and respect. Animals are not ordinary commodities, they are living creatures, and they feel pain and fear. ...
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France's lower house of parliament recently approved a bill to ban the wearing the burqa in public. I've posted a bit flippantly about this before, but in fact it's an issue about which I'm genuinely deeply conflicted. I loathe the burqa with every atom of my being, the more so because I live in Turkey and can see exactly what the garment means, every day--not only for the women who wear it (very few, here), but for the women who don't. They, too--or perhaps I should say, "we, too," since I live here as well--are gravely affected the culture that gave rise to the notion that this garment is a terrific thing. But I just can't be insensible to the religious freedom arguments. Martha Nussbaum recently made what I think is the best case that can be made against the ban. She responds to her critics here.
Do you find her arguments persuasive? If not, why not?
Inspired by recent higher education posts by Rob and Claire, as well as by a long ago one by Peter regarding appropriate and entertaining books for teens, I wonder if Ricochet can come up with books that American middle and high school students must read in school? We can assume there would be a decent teacher, but not a great one. We should assume students of all backgrounds and of average intelligence.
For starters, I wonder if I’m the only dolt on here who had the following problem: I was asked to read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn before I knew anything about slavery, Animal Farm without grasping the most basic forms of government, The Scarlet Letter without really “getting” adultery, and Romeo and Juliet with only a modicum of understanding of my own English, much less that from 400 years earlier.
I was supposed to have digested these, among too many others, before high school. I read them as an adult, so I can appreciate their “classic” status. ...
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Republicans have a habit -- stretching back over 40 years -- of nominating the "next guy in line" for president. Sometimes that works out pretty well -- the Reagan who ran in 1980 had been honed by his brief 1976 attempt to win the nomination from Ford. Sometimes, not so much, cf. McCain, 2008. There are always dark horses and out-of-left-field names in the mix, but in the end, the Tired Old Party usually picks the Next In Line.
Right now, though, there are two Next In Lines, according to Republican tradition. There's the guy who ran for the nomination last time and lost -- that's the Reagan 1980 model -- and is called the "front runner." That's Mitt.
And there's another Next In Line. That's the guy who ran on the losing ticket last time. That's Sarah Palin.
Frankly, neither one of them has what 2012 is going to be asking for.
The debate about the decriminalization of marijuana started on this thread, and many of the points I'd make have been raised already. I'm sure we're all familiar with the arguments generally made for and against decriminalization. The standard arguments in favor--the libertarian argument, the "It's just not that dangerous" argument, the "We've got better things to do with our prisons" argument, the "It's unenforceable anyway" argument--seem to me considerably more persuasive than the "Highly debated Dutch schizophrenia study" argument* and the "I know people who just lie around all day and smoke dope and watch Beavis and Butthead reruns" argument, which seem to be all the other side have left. ...
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You've got questions. We've got answers.
Here's the place to post whatever you'd like us to talk about -- all of us, one of us, or some of us, in any combinations.
We're listening. Fire away.
You can call it what you like -- blue collar vs. white collar; trade vs. profession; making things vs. selling things -- but to me, the clearest way to divide occupations is this:
Do you do stuff with your hands -- like build things or fix things or smash things or screw things onto other things -- or do you do stuff with your mouth -- like sell things or say things on paper or argue things or say things on the telephone?
People who work in the skilled trades mostly do stuff with their hands. People who work in journalism or banking or other "white collar" jobs mostly do stuff with their mouths.
(Yeah, I know: writing is done by hand. But really, journalism and the like are talking professions.)
There are an awful lot of Americans, these days, who do stuff with their mouths. Not so many who do stuff with their hands. And that's a big problem. ...
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I was an English major. I love novels. But these days, unless it's a book by Alan Furst -- or Ricochet's own Andrew Klavan -- or some other novelist who writes in what are dismissively called "genres," it's just awfully hard to keep my eyes open.
And I'm not the only one.
In the Daily Telegraph (London), Harry Mount and Michael Deacon have a pretty interesting discussion about What's Wrong with Novels These Days. It comes down to, as I've experienced, boredom:
Roald Dahl described the typical Booker Prize novel as "beautifully boring." A few months ago Daisy Goodwin, who was one of the judges for the Orange prize, made a similar complaint, saying almost all the novels submitted seemed to be soul-draining accounts of loneliness, misery and rape. Whether this is the fault of publishers for publishing such novels, or of chain stores for over-promoting them, or prize judges in general for acclaiming them, or the public for demanding them (if indeed they, or rather we, are), I don't know.
And they also posit this as the cause:
The best writing I can think of from the past decade is TV writing. ...
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The f-folks at FIFA are dissing the US, saying the World Cup doesn't need our support. My response has the elegance of brevity but is unprintable. The left has been trying to shove this god-awful sport down our throats forever, as one of its more underhanded assaults on American exceptionalism. They've polluted our schools with it so we'll have a stake in it through our children. And it stinks. No one ever scores--which is unAmerican right there--and if God hadn't meant us to throw, he wouldn't have given us hands. And the way sportswriters keep reassuring us how "athletic" it is, as if that will take our minds off the fact that it's also foreign and effeminate. I mean, ballet dancers are athletic, but look how they dress! And what's with the chequered ball? I hate this game.
Net Neutrality is one of those wonky issues that just begs to be skipped over. In a world of limited mental bandwidth, some things are just kicked to the side so that we can spend time thinking and reading about important stuff, like taxes and illegal immigration and mosques in downtown Manhattan and Tiger Woods' divorce.
Here's the nutshell version: should internet service providers be required to carry all data -- no matter whose -- for the same rate? Meaning, should they be prohibited from charging, say, Facebook traffic or Hulu videos less -- or more -- than some New Internet Startup to carry their packets of data?
My answer: no. I'm against regulating ISPs. If they want to charge more for some data and less for another kind, my view is, let them. If their customers don't like it, they'll walk. If there aren't enough ISPs in a region to foster useful competition, then attack the problem that way, by creating ISP competition, not by regulating (or, really, pre-regulating businesses before there's even a problem to address). There's a cogent argument against Net Neutrality here.
Other people answer a different way. ...
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Thank you, Confucius the OEV, for pointing out this lucid piece by Ron Radosh. He sums up the key question prompted by the GZM debate:
An important issue is now emerging in the conservative constituency. It boils down to the following: Is Islam itself our enemy, and should Americans work to oppose Islam throughout the world; or, is it only radical Islam, what Christopher Hitchens calls Islamofascism and others call Islamism, the enemy we must oppose?
He provides a tour of the opinions, overt or implied, of politicians and prominent observers who have weighed in on the issue since September 11. He notes:
One must also heed what Daniel Pipes wrote some years back, that the real problem is identifying correctly who is and who is not a moderate Muslim. Imam Rauf may not turn out to be one—but that does not mean that moderate Muslims who actively seek influence are not real moderates. “With time,” Pipes wrote, individual Muslims are finding their voice to condemn Islamist connections to terrorism. ...
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