OK, that's a tongue-in-cheek suggestion. For one thing, he’s not a U.S. citizen. But attorney and legal and constitutional analyst Maureen Martin is convinced we need a presidential candidate with the “X Factor” Simon Cowell promotes and embodies.
Omniculture
Does Government Have the Right to Issue Licenses … for Anything?
The requirement for marriage licenses in the U.S. has been justified on the basis that the state has an overriding right, on behalf of all citizens and in the interests of the larger social welfare, to protect them from disease or improper/illegal marriages; to keep accurate state records; or even to ensure that marriage partners have had adequate time to think carefully before marrying.
Ethos Is a Choice
Reglazing the broken windows of our popular culture — the argument from character. by Warren Moore I was discussing argumentation with my frosh this morning, and while most of the class was devoted to Stephen Toulmin’s elements of argument, we spent a little time talking about the Aristotelian idea that ethos — the appeal based on the character of the speaker — is typically formed during the rhetorical act itself. In simpler terms, this is why one should avoid spelling/grammar errors on one’s resume, for example — it diminishes the applicant’s ethos. Likewise, decisions regarding tone and diction impact a speaker’s ethical standing, and thus his rhetorical effectiveness. (Indeed, even my use of his in the preceding sentence marks me to some audiences as an old frump, and possibly sexist in the bargain, even if it’s happening under the radar.) For an example of this, consider the career of Charles Rocket, or more recently, Michael Richards. But of course, this sort of diminution of ethos can only operate when there are standards or taboos (depending on one’s perspective). This brings us to a recent article by Myron Magnet at City Journal. Magnet reviews the recent kerfuffle between the mayor of
The Evasion of the Earbud People
It would be a mistake to blame the technology. As usual, it’s how people use — and abuse — it: Now that the Earbud People have invaded, they’ve taken over subways, academia, buses, and sidewalks from coast to coast and around the globe. They’re passively receiving sounds that they alone can hear. Other than mob violence or criminal behavior, theirs is the most antisocial public behavior one can imagine. Its only rivals are the Bluetooth-enabled cell phone conversations that turn all who engage in them into irritating public speakers, exposing their private thoughts to the unwilling listeners in the world at large. The young take all this for granted. They know no other ways of behaving in public. But to those who remember the pleasures of either conversation or solitude, the loss suffered by the Earbud People seems tragic. Earbud people are like heavily-medicated people — swathed in an inner universe that’s at once protective and unreflective. They’re neither in touch with others nor with themselves. Maybe they are once they’re at home, or at work, but they lose a lot of the joys of living when they’re out in public by encasing themselves, like walking mummies, in the sounds
Behold: Libertarian Ron Swanson’s Pyramid of Greatness
If you are not familiar with the show Parks & Recreation on NBC, I highly recommend it. One of the heroes of the sitcom is a character named Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman. Ron Swanson is a staunch libertarian, and his “meta joke” for the show is that he’s the head of the Parks Department in the town of Pawnee, Indiana—and his goal in life is to shut down that department (and most others) because they are useless wastes of time and the hard-earned money of the people. In a recent episode, a repeat, Ron explained to a fourth grader who John Locke was. And by helping himself to 40 percent of the girl’s lunch, how taxes work. Her assignment was to write an essay on “Why does government matter?” After a few hours with Ron, she handed in a two-word essay to her teacher: “It doesn’t.” It made me smile, and of course Ron Swanson was beaming from ear to ear. He is the best sitcom character on TV—a libertarian who is not mocked but is instead the sensible one on this popular NBC sitcom. This is on network TV! I have a feeling the Hollywood writers who created
Cultural Marxism — Is It Here to Stay?
If it does, you can blame … J. R. R. Tolkien? . . . one of the things that I talk about is what I like to call “West Coast White nationalism” because West Coast White nationalism, a lot of the people that I know on the West Coast who think in terms of a racially defined new order of society, you take one look at them and you think that they’re hippies or you think that they’re liberals. Their lifestyles and their attitudes embrace a lot of things like Eastern spirituality, and drinking fruit juice, and wearing sandals, and granola, and vegetarianism, and organic food and organic farming, all these sort of things that you think are kind of hippie things. If you look at the roots of a lot of the West Coast hippie culture and also the hippie culture in Europe for that matter, a lot of it goes back to Tolkien. What doesn’t come from the New Left, let’s say the Frankfurt School and things like that, a lot of it comes from Tolkien which is pretty much directly connected with European Traditionalism. — Greg Johnson According to this view, ’60s hippies took Tolkien’s “message of
Amy – Whatcha Gonna Do?
And so it has come to pass that Amy Winehouse has joined the 27 Club. Other members include Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain – all bright, groundbreaking talents who self-destructed before they reached their 28th birthdays to the detriment of pop music in general and their fans in particular. Mind you, I’m no scold when it comes to indulging in recreational pharmaceuticals, but I find it tragic when such activity becomes a lifestyle of addiction, despair, and death. I can’t – and won’t – presume to know what drove Ms. Rehab, the Lizard King, Mr. Hand Tricks, the Pearl, and Mr. Nevermind to self-medicate themselves to such an extent that drug abuse led to their respective deaths. But I will stick my neck out to assert the personal demons that killed them also might have been responsible for the art that made them celebrities in the first place. The Dionysian urge guiding many artists to creative heights may lead them to believe too highly in their celebrated artistic status. Convinced that they are indestructible, they knot themselves to the umbilical cord of death by imbibing, snorting, or injecting their drug of choice, perhaps in the belief
A Chat with My Daughter
by Warren Moore My fourteen-year-old was reading about the horror in Norway this afternoon, and asked me what the news meant by “right-wing extremist.” I told her that was a term for Nazi sympathizers and the like. Then she said, “There are left-wing extremists too, right? Like the PETA folks who burn government labs and stuff?” “Or like the Greenpeacers who vandalize genetically modified crops,” I said. “Why’d they do that?” “Because the crops aren’t ‘natural.’” “Well, they aren’t plastic, are they? That’s just dumb. Like the people on Whale Wars,” she said. “I can’t stand them; they’re a bunch of self-righteous jerks. I mean, they’re attacking ships with actual human beings on them. It’s not like the whales are choosing to fight back. If the whales start going Moby Dick on the Japanese, then I’ll be impressed.” “Well,” I said, “now when the Great Aquatic Mammal Rebellion begins, you’ll be blamed as an instigator.” “Meh,” she said. “Then we’ll just have to bomb the oceans… which will suck for us, too. But it’ll look cool. And it’ll take care of those rapist dolphins, too.”
Big Brother Loves You, Will Text You to Prove It
By Jim Lakely Worry not, scared Americans. The government bureaucracies that brought you the eternal “Orange Alert” in airports are now stepping up their efforts to protect you from a terrorist attack by plugging into your cell phone: Emergency officials will soon be able to blast critical alerts to anyone with a cell phone in a certain section of the city. If Times Square needs to be evacuated because of a bomb threat or if a hurricane is bearing down on Queens, warnings will be bounced from cell towers. . . . The system — called PLAN or Personal Localized Alerting Network — uses cell phone towers to send messages to everyone currently in a certain area, regardless of whether they’re visiting from out of town or have a phone registered elsewhere. People won’t have to register in advance to receive the alerts. Gotta love the creativity of government busy-bodies, especially when it comes to anagrams like “PLAN.” Seems fitting, but they could have done a lot better. How about PANIC, the Personal Alert Nonsense In Cellphones Or: Plying Asinine Nanny-state Intrusions Casually? ? Or maybe: Prying About, Not Including Consent? The program starts in New York, but will quickly spread nationwide — and will be pretty
Frontiers of Freedom: Should Businesses Have the Right to Discriminate Against Homosexuals?
By Sean Gabb On Wednesday the 13th April 2011, two men, James Bull and Jonathan Williams, kissed each other in the John Snow public house in Soho. Apparently, they were then asked to leave by a member of staff who called their act “obscene.” This alleged incident led to the usual sort of outrage. On the Friday following, several hundred homosexuals gathered in the street outside the pub to kiss each other. The pub closed early. Though its landlord has not so far made any comment to the media, the Metropolitan Police are now on the prowl, to see if he or his staff can be done under the “hate crime” laws. When I read this story last week, I simply sniffed and moved on. Not long ago, every sentence of the newspaper report would have had people scratching their heads. But modern England is a strange place. The only oddity now is that anyone running a pub in Soho could even notice if two men were kissing, let alone think it good for business to object. I have been drawn back to the story, though, by a news release from Peter Tatchell. Among much else, he declares that “Businesses
Cowabunga! Studio Tries to De-Christianize True Story
by Warren Moore You may remember the story of Bethany Hamilton, the surfer from Hawaii who lost an arm to a shark in 2003, and has made her way back to riding the waves. Her inspirational story has made its way to your local multiplex, in the form of the new movie Soul Surfer. However, keeping the “soul” in the movie was a challenge in itself, as CNN reports. Hamilton credits her Christian faith and the support of people at her church for overcoming her injury and returning to her surfing career. In particular, one important scene in the movie involves Hamilton’s youth group leader, Sarah Hill, counseling her in the wake of losing her arm. While Hill is likely pleased to have been played by Carrie Underwood, she was less pleased with what nearly happened on set: In one scene, Hill’s character is shown counseling Hamilton as she struggles with living as an amputee. She reads from Jeremiah 29:11 ” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ “The morning they went to shoot that scene, said Hill,
Real Life and Fiction Collide in Great Britain
By Mike Gray One in five Britons think Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and even Blackadder were genuine historical figures Twenty per cent of Britons believe the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Blackadder are based on historical personalities, a survey has found. Others believe there was a real Captain Mainwaring leading the nation’s home defence during the war and that Dad’s Army was based on him. Others think Clark Kent and Indiana Jones were genuine people too, according to Ask Jeeves. The confusion between fact and fiction goes both ways, it has emerged, with other respondents to the survey believing Che Guevara, Florence Nightingale and outlaw Jesse James were fictional, not real. — Daily Mail, 5 April 2011 Which of these are real and which fictional?
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