Let me begin thus: even after all this time — and even after all the damage that has been done to the country by the left and the various and variegated intrusions and infiltrations of its ideology throughout our culture, our language, and our very espistemology — there are those on the right who are still so committed to covering for their mistakes about Obama (a “good man” who loves
academics
June 30, 2015
No, intentionalism didn’t kill the rule of law, and putative conservatives should know better than to claim otherwise
April 4, 2014
Radical identity politics, homosexuality, and the irony of the new jihad
I had planned to pen a long blistering attack on both the radical pro-gay political orthodoxy, and the cowardly risk-averse actions of Mozilla, whose CEO resigned when it was learned — and some say, leaked, by way of an increasingly politicized IRS run, as is the Federal Civil Rights Division, by “progressive” activists (who in earlier times we’d simply call “authoritarians,” “fascists,” or “everything this country’s founders and framers hoped
March 4, 2013
“Pickle Company to Distraught Mom: Yes, We’ll Change Our Name”
“Cains Pickles removes a derogatory term from its labels after a mother’s protests,” Andri Antoniades informs us by way of editorializing — that “derogatory” term being “midget”, for those of you who didn’t know that any pickles short of, say, “Uncle Willy’s ‘Sho Do Likes Me Some o’ Dem Pickles’ Pickles” could even muster the audacity to deride or denigrate. Yet the Cain pickle company, being risk-averse as are most
March 1, 2013
Homophobolicious! Or, hatred, deliciously prepared, and laid lovingly on a bun
I’ve been warning about this for years: the surrender of meaning to committed and politicized interpretive communities — which can only come about once we as a society have legitimated an incoherent idea about how language functions — will lead inevitably to a kind of coordinated mob effort to play at victim in order to turn anything they find unpalatable into potential objects of “hate” that “threaten” them, with that
January 13, 2013
“A conspiracy so immense”: ideological commitment and the timidity of pragmatic politics
“What will it take for the mainstream media to cover the progressive movement?” Washington Free Beacon: Let’s pretend that in the spring of 2012 Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, John Engler of the Business Roundtable, Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity, and Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association began to organize an assembly of right-leaning groups. Let’s pretend that in the months since there had been not one
January 10, 2013
The curse of right-wing textualism
Revealed, yet again — and yet again by a “conservative” lawyer. Starting to see a trend? [H]ere’s what we’re talking about. 31 U.S.C. § 5112(k): The Secretary may mint and issue platinum bullion coins and proof platinum coins in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, may prescribe from time to time. […] Is the platinum coin legal? Several folks
September 24, 2012
The rape of intent: “Austin Man Hangs Empty Chair From Tree Symbolizing President Obama”
The proof of your racism is the fact that we see it. You can deny it — as “investigative journalists” we’ll fight for your right to burn a flag or shit on a police car or burn Bushhitler puppetes in effigy, after all — but once you hang a folding chair from a tree, regardless of whether or not you used twine or a lynching rope complete with noose, well,
February 27, 2012
Racism is how you made me feel. At least, for an hour or so. Or until I’m satisfied that you are good and cowed, and maybe embarrassed
Coming soon to an area outside a “free-speech zone” near you, official policing of “racism” and intolerance, as determined by…airline officials, speech police, and people who just feel wronged. In the UK, for instance, some things are just not said: David Jones, the creator of the popular, animated children’s character Fireman Sam, was recently accused of racism and held by Gatwick Airport (United Kingdom) security for an hour. The situation,
October 25, 2010
Manufacturing Manufactured Consent
James Taranto takes up the Juan Williams story and gives it a few shakes: So how is it that Juan Williams got the ax while Nina Totenberg is still a member in good standing of the NPR news staff? “The answer is obvious,” says [Stephen] Hayes: “It’s Fox.” We’re not so sure. CEO Schiller quotes NPR policy as stipulating that in outside appearances, “NPR journalists should not express views they
March 29, 2010
Provocateurism, 9
In an earlier thread — under a post made famous by its violence toward women and its Steve McQueen fantasies — Nishi asks rhetorically, “where are the conservative professors, filmmakers, comics, scientists, actors, artists?” Her point being that a (perceived or actual) dearth of prominent conservatives in those fields equates to a population among conservatives of those who can cultivate neither the requisite intellect or social sensibilities to join those