If you’re unfamiliar with the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, it’s time to get acquainted with it: Linguistic relativity, sometimes called the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis or Whorfianism, is a hypothesis in linguistics and cognitive science that holds that the structure of a language affects its speakers’ world view or cognition. The strong version claims that language determines …
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Feb 03 2016
Cause People
[I’ve received numerous requests to repost this old chestnut, which first appeared at the Palace Of Reason on June 29, 2003 — FWP] Cause People can be very difficult. Trying. Often hazardous to your health. But they’re getting a progressively larger fraction of the media’s attention, so it’s well to be up on …
Aug 27 2015
If This Goes On
An early Robert A. Heinlein novella with the above title described an American theocracy that was eventually brought down in a violent revolution. I have no idea whether the young Heinlein was subject to influences that might have predisposed him to believe that such a future was probable. However, the Afterword to his collection …
Aug 06 2015
The Most Awful Day
[This piece first appeared at Eternity Road on August 6, 2005. Today being the 101st — yes, the 101st — anniversary of the day I deem “most awful” in post-Industrial Revolution history, and a number of geopolitical trends having bent in the direction of large-scale replays thereof, I felt it appropriate to repost it. — …
Jul 04 2015
Do The Right Thing
It’s more than the title of an overhyped Spike Lee movie. It’s a way of life…or it should be. Many people talk a good game. They proclaim, propound, and promise. They make extravagant statements about what they would do – or will do – if this or that should occur. They pose as …
Jun 20 2015
“Compelling Government Interest”
Time was, I wrote more than I do today about the abstract ideals that undergird freedom. These days, my attention is more focused on current events and what they portend. I’m not sure why that should be, except that it’s clear that, as Jubal Harshaw said in Stranger In A Strange Land, wallowing in …
Mar 19 2015
Off The Mishnory Road: Absolutes
I’ve long held the belief that any man who’s willing to assert the absolute truth of even one statement must eventually accept that every well-formed statement – i.e., a statement that either posits a fact or a causal mechanism — is either absolutely true or absolutely false, men’s contrary opinions notwithstanding. The concept behind that …
Mar 19 2015
Off The Mishnory Road: Fun And Games
I’ve subjected my Gentle Readers to three “Politically Insoluble” essays. The themes in those essays have kept me going back to the core concept behind them all: “They say here ‘all roads lead to Mishnory.’ To be sure, if you turn your back on Mishnory and walk away from it, you are still on the …
Mar 17 2015
Off The Mishnory Road: The Stoic Virtues And Masculinity
Before we launch into today’s tirade, please read Dystopic’s latest opus at The Declination. The snippet that inspired me is at the very beginning: There is a certain irony in the fact that Progressives, with their White privilege narrative, are too deeply rooted in European history to notice that other cultures are fundamentally unlike them. …
Aug 15 2014
Owners
Brace yourself, Gentle Reader. It’s a day for fundamentals and fundamental questions: Who owns the economy — if you have any idea what that is? Who owns the ground beneath your feet? Who owns your car, or your phone? Who owns the law? Who owns you? Have you been asked those questions anywhere else lately? …
Jul 19 2014
Language Corruption Continues
From The Analects of Confucius: Zi-lu said, “The ruler of Wei has been waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government. What will you consider the first thing to be done?” The Master replied, “What is necessary to rectify names.” “So! indeed!” said Zi-lu. “You are wide of the mark! Why must …
Jul 15 2014
Strifings
No, that’s not a misspelling. Two remarkable articles came my way early this morning. They touch upon the same subject from different perspectives. What they reveal is critical to the quality of American life. First, let’s have some plaintive commentary from a sweet woman better known for her beauty and her acting: What has happened …
Apr 25 2014
The Forbidden Subject
It seems that no matter who you are, how innocent your deeds, or how ethically you treat your fellow man, you are absolutely forbidden to speak on certain subjects, on pain of ostracism, being abandoned to the mercies of the State, or worse. The premier such subject, eclipsing all others, is the correlation between certain …
Apr 17 2014
Habituations
[The following first appeared at Eternity Road on July 31, 2009. — FWP] In reply to this earlier piece, longtime reader and frequent commenter Goober wrote: It isn’t their fault. The founding fathers knew for a fact that even the kindest and most altruistic of governments would and could overstep their bounds on occasion. That …
Apr 03 2014
From My Cold Dead Hand
[April 3, 2014: In light of developments in Connecticut and New York, I’ve reposted the piece below. Those who are ready, willing, and able should consider joining the forces that will assemble this coming Saturday before the Connecticut state capitol. There is no issue more urgent than this one. — FWP] [February 2, 2013: The …
Mar 02 2014
Pieties
[In light of this piercing cartoon from the great Chris Muir, I have reposted the following piece, which first appeared at the Palace Of Reason on March 29. 2002. — FWP] A recent, tax-funded study, conducted by the Public Service Research Institute, dared to delve into the truth or falsity of the allegations that New …
Feb 08 2014
The Calculus of Freedom
Peter Grant has resurrected the most important political questions of all time: those that were undoubtedly on Thomas Jefferson’s mind as he penned the critical passage of the Declaration of Independence: Who decides what constitutes “happiness”? Who decides what constitutes “the populace’s welfare”? Who determines what is (or what should be) “the ultimate good” of …
Jan 28 2014
Licensure
Five years ago at Eternity Road, I wrote: A colleague of your Curmudgeon’s made a piercing observation the other day. Imagine, he said, that a group of policemen have come to your house determined to execute a warrantless, causeless search and seizure. When you cite your Fourth Amendment guarantee of the right to be free …
Jan 26 2014
On Privacy
I hadn’t intended to write about this, but it seems to have risen to the top of the public agenda. The activities of the NSA aren’t the only things that have privacy-rights advocates’ hair standing on end. The recent, extremely disturbing case of the harassment of John Filippidis by Maryland police must concern any Second …
Jan 21 2014
Exclaves
[This disturbing piece from Daniel Greenfield has prompted me to repost the following, which first appeared at Eternity Road on March 15, 2006 — FWP] Your Curmudgeon has occasionally referred to tight-knit Islamic communities in majority non-Islamic nations as enclaves. This is in keeping with the dictionary definition of an enclave: an enclosed territory that …
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