In the early 1940s, as a young teenager, I was utterly appalled by the racist and jingoist hysteria of the anti-Japanese propaganda. The Germans were evil, but treated with some respect: They were, after all, blond Aryan types, just like our imaginary self-image. Japanese were mere vermin, to be crushed like ants.
Category Archive: December 7
Some may remember, if you have good memories, that there used to be a concept in Anglo-American law called a presumption of innocence, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Now that’s so deep in history that there’s no point even bringing it up, but it did once exist.
It is the goal of the American university to be the brains of the republic.
It’s perfectly obvious that there is some genetic factor that distinguishes humans from other animals and that it is language-specific. The theory of that genetic component, whatever it turns out to be, is what is called universal grammar.
It is right that we be concerned with the scientific probity of metaphysics.
An aristocratic culture does not advertise its emotions. In its forms of expression it is sober and reserved. Its general attitude is stoic.
Stability is when the U.K. and U.S. invade a country and impose the regime of their choice.
Debt is a social and ideological construct, not a simple economic fact.
You never need an argument against the use of violence, you need an argument for it.
The ‘free-floating intellectual’ may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.