The conflagrations in France provide an occasion for deciding what is actually valuable. The post Preparing for the Fire appeared first on The American Conservative .
Culture Culture Preparing for the Fire The conflagrations in France provide an occasion for deciding what is actually valuable. All four of my grandparents were refugees, fleeing real persecution and the prospect of death. My mother was a refugee, and her sister was a refugee twice in her life by the age of 42. I, however, have never faced any danger (give or take a serious illness or two) that I did not court voluntarily. Sometimes I feel a little guilty at my own good fortune by comparison with that of my immediate ancestors. Recently, however, I experienced a very faint echo of what…Open
A teacher of English told me in his class more than sixty years ago that his job was to teach discrimination: between the meritorious and the meretricious, the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad. If the result of his teaching was that we emerged able to discriminate, as discriminating persons, he would […] The post Cofnas, Arday, and the Ever-Expanding ‘Discrimination’ Definition appeared first on The American Conservative .
Culture Cofnas, Arday, and the Ever-Expanding ‘Discrimination’ Definition The terms of bureaucratic discipline drift ever further from the actual usages of the English language. A teacher of English told me in his class more than sixty years ago that his job was to teach discrimination: between the meritorious and the meretricious, the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad. If the result of his teaching was that we emerged able to discriminate, as discriminating persons, he would have succeeded. I suppose that it would now be as impossible to return the word discrimination to the sense in which my teacher (now long dead)…Open
Graffitists and modern architects alike are screaming into the void of mass culture. The post The Age of the Ego appeared first on The American Conservative .
Culture Culture The Age of the Ego Graffitists and modern architects alike are screaming into the void of mass culture. Photo by Romain Doucelin/NurPhoto via Getty Images Once more on my way from the center of Paris to the airport, I marvelled at the sheer hideousness of almost everything built since the end of the Second World War, the precise time when France was becoming richer than it had ever been. There must be a lesson here somewhere, but I don’t know what it is. Also remarkable, though not pleasing, was the sheer scale of the spray-painted tagging of practically…Open
What emergency could possibly justify omnipresent bureaucratic hectoring? The post Something Doesn’t Look Right appeared first on The American Conservative .
Takimag Something Doesn’t Look Right What emergency could possibly justify omnipresent bureaucratic hectoring? TakiMag Photo by Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images One might think that a severely alcoholic Stalinist could never be a good writer, let alone a fine novelist, but the case of Patrick Hamilton refutes this commonsensical opinion. His novel of an English boarding house during the war, The Slaves of Solitude, published in 1947, is a beautifully observed and completely non-ideological study of the character of the residents of just such an establishment. If one had to guess the political opinions…Open
AI:Theodore Dalrymple uses Patrick Hamilton’s 1947 novel *The Slaves of Solitude* to critique the modern resurgence of pervasive bureaucratic hectoring and state paternalism. Drawing parallels between wartime rationing mandates and contemporary public service announcements—ranging from transit safety warnings to instructions on how to interact with immigration officials—Dalrymple argues that this constant nagging serves no legitimate national emergency. Instead, he suggests this behavior stems from a fundamental distrust by the governing class toward the citizenry, creating an endless cycle of reminders designed to ensure obedience and provide perpetual employment for bureaucrats who view the population as inherently incapable or…Open
What does the prevalence of tattoos mean in the era of mass culture? The post The World Cup of Ink appeared first on The American Conservative .
Culture Culture The World Cup of Ink What does the prevalence of tattoos mean in the era of mass culture? TakiMag Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images My interest in professional sport these days ranges from minimal to nil, but even I could not altogether avoid or evade the hysteria over the recent World Cup, which recurs every four years. It would have been easier to miss the outbreak of the Third (or would it be the Fourth?) World War. As everyone now knows, Spain beat Argentina in the final, in a match more remarkable for its non-sporting qualities than for its…Open
The troubles of the Sahel reveal the dysfunctions not only of Africa, but of the West. The post The Mali of the Mind appeared first on The American Conservative .
Foreign Affairs The Mali of the Mind The troubles of the Sahel reveal the dysfunctions not only of Africa, but of the West. When recently I learned that the Russian mercenaries who prop up the military regime in Mali had been driven out of the town of Kidal, I was very pleased, for defeat could not have been inflicted on people more deserving of it. The only fly in the ointment was that the victors were allies of the Islamists who are quite likely to overrun the Sahel and even some of the coastal countries of West Africa. Of course, Mali will not mean much to most readers, even if they have heard of Timbuktu. But Mali has played a…Open
The explanations must be out there, even if we cannot find them. The post The Golden Oriole Rule appeared first on The American Conservative .
UK/Europe The Golden Oriole Rule The explanations must be out there, even if we cannot find them. There have been fewer golden orioles in my garden in France this year: or perhaps, more accurately, I should say that I have heard fewer of them. Their single, slightly melancholy or plaintive whistling cry (one could hardly call it a song) has been much less evident than last year above the chirping chorus of the cicadas. It is difficult to see golden orioles, despite the brilliant yellow plumage of the males, for they are shy birds, and are much more manifest by sound than by sight. It is possible that it had been too hot for them this…Open
Too much disorder makes life a hell—but what of too much order? The post Perfection’s Prison appeared first on The American Conservative .
Culture Perfection’s Prison Too much disorder makes life a hell—but what of too much order? My computer’s wallpaper shot, the picture that comes up whenever I turn the computer, changes regularly, at whose or what’s instigation I know not, but certainly not at mine. I suppose that it—or is it they?—must have some inkling of my taste, for never does anything visually offensive to me appear. Recently, a panoramic view of the Bavarian town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber came up. The town was picture-perfect: not a parked car in sight, nor (come to think of it) any human being, human beings being so messy. At first I took the…Open
RIP George Rowlett. The post The 84 Club appeared first on The American Conservative .
Culture The 84 Club RIP George Rowlett. For two superstitious reasons, I believe that I shall die at the age of 84. The first is that 84 is the mean age of my parents at death. Such a mean is only a rough guide to one’s longevity, of course; if it were more exact, the life expectancy of populations could not change, but history demonstrates that it does change. Moreover, if it were anything other than a rough guide, siblings would all die at the same age, which experience again shows is false. Habitués of cemeteries, however, will have noticed that long and short lives tend to run in families. The second reason for my belief…Open
Screaming on the train is not just annoying; it speaks to a deeper change in ideology and mores. The post Self-Control Goes Off the Rails appeared first on The American Conservative .
Takimag Self-Control Goes Off the Rails Screaming on the train is not just annoying; it speaks to a deeper change in ideology and mores. TakiMag Small incidents can reveal much of significance beyond themselves: ways of thought, for example, or even the nature of cultures and subcultures. For example, on the train from London to Paris recently, I sat near a small group of young English women, dressed in the cheap, glossy, figure-hugging finery that, no matter their figures, they thought glamorous. They talked loudly the whole way and interspersed their conversation with prolonged shrieks, or sometimes cackles, of laughter. …Open