Omniculture

Notable Quote: Victor Davis Hanson on “Global Warming” versus “Climate Change”

January 3, 2011
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Notable Quote: Victor Davis Hanson on “Global Warming” versus “Climate Change”

People who respect language and live in the real world, such as Victor Hanson, are frequently baffled by how truth is always the first casualty in contemporary political discourse. Hanson recently noted: “There are a number of improbables, anomalies, paradoxes, ironies, absurdities — call them what you wish — on the national scene that simply defy reason. We usually fault an ignorant media as culpable for creating narratives that have no basis in fact and yet are rarely questioned.” With regard to the weather: When did global warming so easily get away with becoming “climate change”? . . . . Philology usually is a good barometer of ideology: when global warming became climate change and now is evolving to “climate chaos,” you can see a case study in deductive thinking, as symptoms are fudged to conform to a preexisting diagnosis. Circular reasoning also is characteristic: we convince the coal-devouring and nuclear-producing Chinese that there is a soon to be big (Western-subsidized) global market for wind turbines and solar panels, given the spread of Gorism among Western elites and grandees, then we frighten Americans that the Chinese will soon capture the entire “green” market that we fostered unless we … (fill

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How the West Was Mild — Until Big Government Took Over

January 1, 2011
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How the West Was Mild — Until Big Government Took Over

by Mike Gray The picture of the lawless frontier may be a Hollywood construct with little basis in actual history. In an article in the Fall 2010 Independent  Review, “The Culture of Violence in the American West: Myth versus Reality” (PDF, 13 pages, 460 KB), Thomas J. DiLorenzo seeks to demythologize the Wild West as a place where life was short, nasty, and brutish because citizens carried guns and were universally afflicted with itchy trigger fingers: In sum, this work by Benson, Anderson and Hill, Umbeck, and others challenges with solid historical research the claims made by the “West was violent” authors. The civil society of the American West in the nineteenth century was much more peaceful than American cities are today, and the evidence suggests that in fact the Old West was not a very violent place at all. History also reveals that the expanded presence of the U.S. government was the real cause of a culture of violence in the American West. If there is anything to the idea that a nineteenth-century culture of violence on the American frontier is the genesis of much of the violence in the United States today, the main source of that culture is

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Movies You Were Too Good to See in 2010 : NPR

December 30, 2010
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NPR, of all places, makes the case for good, old-fashioned entertainment in the movies. Without agreeing with all of the writer’s evaluations, it’s nice to see a populist look at the cinema. Story here.

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Is Hollywood Unusually Prone to Coincidences? And Why Won’t ‘True Grit’ Be Getting Much Respect in Europe?

December 30, 2010
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Is Hollywood Unusually Prone to Coincidences? And Why Won’t ‘True Grit’ Be Getting Much Respect in Europe?

On WND, Erik Rush doesn’t think the wholesale promotion of minority actors to command positions on highly-rated TV shows is just a coincidence: An interesting phenomenon has recently come to light … suggesting that at least one faction in Hollywood is attempting to directly influence public opinion as regards President Obama. If this is true, it goes far beyond simply carrying the water for those with whom they are ideologically kindred, as described in Negrophilia. . . . . In order to to counter the perception of ineptitude that has come about associated with Obama and his lack of leadership skills, an effort seems to have been made to portray blacks in high places as competent leaders in dramatic roles. To be fair, some of these occurrences took place prior to Obama actually taking office, but a good case could be made that it was the intent of these organizations to prepare the American public for the leadership of a black individual via positive portrayals of black leaders. I would contend that America needed no such preparation, but that’s another issue. The stronger argument exists in these concerned parties making their efforts in the face of Obama’s subsequent plummeting popularity.

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Author/Philosopher Denis Dutton Dies

December 28, 2010
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Dennis Dutton, an American author and philosopher who moved to New Zealand and served as a professor of philosophy, has died. Dutton was the founder of the excellent website Arts and Letters Daily. Story here.

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Genetic Basis for Religion Found

December 22, 2010
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Genetic Basis for Religion Found

Actor-writer John Cleese explains the rock-solid evidence for atheism, in this very funny video: H/t to Bruno Behrend.

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Abu Dhabi hotel regrets $11M Christmas ‘overload’ – USATODAY.com

December 20, 2010
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An $11 million Christmas tree in Abu Dhabi suggests its owners might not have understood the true spirit of the season: Abu Dhabi hotel regrets $11M Christmas ‘overload’ – USATODAY.com.

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Christians Need Not Apply?

December 18, 2010
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Christians Need Not Apply?

By Warren S. Moore The institution at which I earned my Masters degree, the University of Kentucky, is in the news today, as e-mails have revealed that a search committee expressed concerns about Prof. Martin Gaskell’s fitness to direct the University of Kentucky’s student observatory. His offense? Being openly Christian, with the aggravating factor of being “potentially evangelical.” Please note: Gaskell is not a creationist, and says in the article that the young-earth folks are engaged in “very poor science.” But he’s been known to think in a manner that might reconcile astronomy with Biblical accounts, so out he goes. As Gaskell’s attorney notes: “Unfortunately too many people get hung up on the idea that you have to be one extreme or the other,” said Manion, who works for American Center for Law & Justice, which focuses on religious freedom cases. They say “you can’t be a religious believer and somebody who accepts evolution, which is clearly not true. And Gaskell’s a perfect example of that.” This is disheartening for so many reasons, not least the fact that Sir Isaac Newton (who was religious, though not an orthodox Christian) apparently wouldn’t have been able to get a gig at UK.

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Vulgarity, Cultural Influence, and the Left

December 17, 2010
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Vulgarity, Cultural Influence, and the Left

By Mike D’Virgilio For some reason that we can’t quite figure out, Rolling Stone magazine started showing up at our house in my 18 year old daughter’s name. She had no interest, but I enjoy music and popular culture, so I’ve been browsing through a few issues and reading things that interest me. One thing about the magazine that I find interesting (other than how much popular music I can’t relate to anymore) is the use of vulgarity, most prominently the “F” word. I’m no prude. and I’ve been known to throw around my fair share of impolite language, especially when I’m practicing or playing golf. But even then it’s limited and I take care who might hear me. And there are very few people in my life who I know well enough and who I’m comfortable enough around to use the occasional swear word. And that is the operative word, “occasional.” I always wonder about people who swear habitually. Not that my virgin ears or sensibilities are offended. For instance, I have no problem hearing vulgarity used in movies, as long as it’s not gratuitous. Sometimes life is vulgar, and such words are not out of place, but what

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A Cultural Think Tank for America

December 6, 2010
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A Cultural Think Tank for America

By Daniel P. Crandall You just finished another long day in the office. The project is ahead of schedule and under budget. Your boss calls you into his office before you leave for the night. Your heart skips a beat as you wonder if unemployment looms behind his doors. Once you walk in, he looks you in the eye and gives you a hearty congratulations; you’ve received glowing accolades from customers that will lead to future projects, and you are to be honored by your peers at an upcoming convention. This is the feedback laborers in the corporate fields crave. Nothing drives productivity like compliments and rewards for a job well done. Every rational person recognizes the power awards and positive reviews have in reinforcing behavior and producing the products we enjoy. So why, when it comes to popular culture, do most conservatives do little but shovel burning coals on writers, artists, filmmakers, and others laboring in the cultural influence professions? There is an old adage that you can tell what someone values when you open her checkbook. Conservative organizations, for years, told purveyors of pop culture that political activism is far more valuable a commodity than artistic endeavors. Look

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A Multi-Modal, Media House of Mirrors

December 1, 2010
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That’s not a bad summary of this blog post, which shows Ann Althouse listening to a podcast of Rush Limbaugh speaking on his radio show about a blog post she wrote the previous day about Limbaugh’s radio show from that same (i.e. the previous) day.  I like the Althouse blog post that started it all, as well as the house of mirrors feel of the whole exchange – watching a thought turn into a conversation that reverberates across time and media.

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Opera Company of Philadelphia “Hallelujah!” Random Act of Faith

November 26, 2010
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Opera Company of Philadelphia “Hallelujah!” Random Act of Faith

Once in a while something special happens in America culture to bring joy to our country’s vast population of Christians, and especially those who take their Christian faith very seriously.  We are more used to being the butt jokes and ridicule, or the object of libertarian fears, and more often than not just ignored. Just stay in your closets, or churches, and quit bothering us with your absolute standards and exclusive claims on The Truth. It’s just tough for Christians to be popular in a pluralistic culture permeated by relativism. But even though in many ways Christianity has become an outlier in American culture, the history of the Christian faith’s influence on the development of America cannot be completely ignored, nor can a vibrant sub-culture of conservative Catholic and Protestant Christians. So in some ways this something special I refer to doesn’t surprise me. Despite every effort of our secular cultural elites to ban Christianity to the wasteland, the faith remains in the DNA of America, and out it pops every once in a while. This event happened in of all places a Macy’s in Center City, as they call it, Philadelphia. Someone had the brilliant idea of getting 650

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"Culture is the expression of the guiding philosophy of the day."—Murray Rothbard
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