"The Coddling of the American Mind" is a smart essay in The Atlantic written by Greg Lukianoff, President and CEO for the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist best known for his book: "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People … [Read more...]
The Modern Scarlet Letter
A "new" morality is emerging in America. David Brooks, in the New York Times, coined it: "The Shame Culture." I find the description apt. I use the word new with air quotes because, as Solomon so famously wrote in Ecclesiastes, "there is nothing new under the sun." The same is … [Read more...]
Defend the Rights of Others
There are two unrelated news stories that make, I believe, the same point: defending the rights of your neighbor, even if you disagree with that neighbor, is important. This is a foundational concept that gets lost far too often. The first event I want to discuss is the tragic … [Read more...]
Why write?
Why write? Two questions every writer encounters: "Why write?" and "What do I write about?" Novelists have a natural answer: tell a story. Non-fiction writers illuminate ideas. Political writers have a more complicated task. The field is crowded, noisy, and poorly argued. TV … [Read more...]