Category: norms

Groomers And Their Agendas

     Considering the imperative nature of this subject, it surprises me that it took so long to become a subject of national discussion. But perhaps it shouldn’t. We dislike to discuss our own failures, and the explosion of groomers and grooming in our schools constitutes a failure of our responsibilities toward the weakest and most …

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The Numbing

     I wrote not long ago about the fraying of the norms that bind Americans together as a coherent society. That process is been going on for long time now, and has almost reached the level necessary for complete social collapse. However, while the fraying of our norms is necessary for collapse, it is not …

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The Fraying Part 2: Genesis And Consequences

     Yesterday’s rather melancholy piece provoked some contention, but there was less of that than there was of dour, semi-resigned agreement. Quite a number of my correspondents wrote to say “I wish you were wrong, but I fear you aren’t,” albeit not in so many words. Nearly all of them asked me not to mention …

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The Fraying

     This will be a rather sad piece, I fear. Still, hang in there. You never know when a ray of light might come through the clouds. *** Unreal City,Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,I had not thought death had undone so many.Sighs, short and infrequent, …

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Parallel Processes

     In the early morning – obscenely early by most Americans’ standards – is when the ideas that spur deeper contemplation usually occur to me. Perhaps that’s because the more recently awakened is one’s mind, the more likely it is to perceive without distraction. The world certainly provides a wealth of distractions, but at 4:00 …

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Godwin’s Veto

Many of you are likely familiar with the Heckler’s Veto. The gist is that a single heckler can shut down a speaker unilaterally. Perhaps he is so loud, so obnoxious, that nearby authorities are willing to silence the speaker just to rid themselves of the heckler. Or perhaps the cost of removing the heckler is …

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The House of the Rising Sun, Updated for Our Times

There are ways to fight back against the destructive zeitgeist that I see as being under the influence of powerful misanthropic forces. One of these is to take a popular tune and transform the lyrics, get it performed well, and post it. Should others like it too, it will take on a life of its …

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Conditions For Tolerance

     Sane persons in a sane society appreciate the value of a degree of conformity: not smothering, “everyone must be and think and do exactly alike” conformity, but a concession to important norms of conduct pertinent to public places and public events. It’s why we have “blue laws” about acceptable degrees of personal exposure on …

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