The Myth of Progress
Throwing phrases like “arc of the moral universe,” “right side of history,” and “settled science” on the dustbin of history:
What does the president also mean by the “right” and “wrong” side of history, other than equating his side with “right” and thus historically, morally, and logically inevitable? But history has no such predetermined Hegelian course. Roman republicanism and classical culture were certainly on the right side of history for centuries–until life in AD 500 insidiously became far more dangerous, brutish, and materially impoverished. Beheading was supposed to be the signature of past savages, not the highlight of twenty-first-century video ads for ISIS recruitment.
Did Europe come to the “end” of its history with the European Union or is the confederation’s unworkability leading to a return of centuries of national rivalries? In the 1990s, various manifestations of the so-called Schengen Agreement establishing a borderless free passage zone between sovereign European nations was declared a harbinger–later along with the Euro–of an inevitable pan-European borderless community. That one-world arc was also the dream of Roman Emperors, Napoleon, and the drafters of the League of Nations. But by 2016, Schengen, when coupled with Europe’s inability to control its borders on the Mediterranean, had proved a disaster. Was the German mark or Greek drachma relegated to the wrong side of history; or will both reemerge soon from its right side?
(h/t Instapundit)
Today’s Word Is ‘Dystopia’
“It was devised to make sure that the great mass of the people could not control government… ever again.”
Martin Durkin’s Brexit: The Movie.
To See, Or Not To See, At The CBC
CBC decided to really walk that headline back, eh? pic.twitter.com/F8VcaDXsAx
— Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) May 13, 2016
I, Napoleon
The political agenda of the transgender community often seems to demand that we be complicit in their convictions, that we humor them, pretend that we view them as the genuine article when in fact they seem to be staging a kind of masquerade, dressing in a costume, playing at make-believe. We are not asked just to follow the humane policy of live and let live, exhibiting acceptance and tolerance as well as fighting for their rights as human beings, but we are required to act as their enablers, enter into their fantasies, protect them from the truth of a devastating fallacy. We are expected both to support them politically, an easy task for most liberals, and affirm their deeply guarded conceptions of selfhood, something that lies well outside the province of the struggle for equal protection under the law–in truth, that lies firmly in the field of counseling or psychotherapy. I know of no other human-rights movement in which supporters are adjured, not only to advocate for the greater civil liberties of a minority, but to aid and reinforce its self-delusions, to guard those who harbor them from the truth.
That about sums things up.
Related: Chicago students required to adopt transgender newspeak.
A Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb For Iran
I spent more than a decade interviewing people all over the world, sometimes on the phone and via email, but most of the time in person on the other side of the world. I’ve interviewed every type of person imaginable, from military commanders and heads of state to war refugees and homeless people who sleep outside in slums.
Trust me on this: government officials are almost always the worst sources and interview subjects. That’s true everywhere in the world. They live in rarefied bubbles. They lie. They leave things out, sometimes because they want to and sometimes because they have to. They’re often incompetent and even more often shockingly ignorant. Everyone has opinions, and lots of people have agendas, but nobody has an agenda the way government officials have agendas.
It has never even occurred to me to an interview a government official in one country about what’s happening in another country.
There are exceptions. Occasionally I’ve been delighted by government officials in the most unlikely places, including in Cairo. In general, though, they’re the least interesting and the least reliable.
The last person you should be talking to, in other words, is Ben Rhodes.
Reader Tips
The SDA tribute to schlocky music form the 60’s and 70’s continues tonight with Albert Hammond and It Never Rains In California.
Tips thread open.
Honey, I Finished The Internet
March for Life, Ezra at Parliament, electoral reform and more
It’s patio time so I mixed in beer and politics today. Here is the podcast of today’s radio show.
Brian Lilley speaks with; – Alissa Golob, about the March for Life and a new poll on abortion in Canada. Lorne Gunter, from PostMedia, about winning when pushing back against the government. Ezra Levant on access to information. Faith Goldy on the dynamic pro-life movement. Grant LaFleche, Columnist w/ St. Catharines Standard on Wynne mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations. Diane Deans, Councillor Gloucester – Southgate, about the traffic congestion and OC Transpo ridership levels. Randall Denley on his column: “Ottawa can’t defend its political donation rules “. And craft beer talk with Majic 100’s Nancy Slater to wrap up the show.
Here, Tell These People Something They Don’t Know About Me
How Deep, Señor Maduro?
Pollspotting!
Lethbridge Herald – Do you agree with the plan to encourage increased renewable energy investments in Alberta?
#bringbackouradults
Here’s how you can help – #PrayForSophie
Wynneing!
U.S. wind power company seeks $475M in NAFTA claim
Canadian taxpayers are facing a $475-million free-trade claim from an American company that alleges the Ontario government invented scientific pretexts to stop wind farms in the Great Lakes.
That’s on top of a $500-million lawsuit against the province by Ontario-based Trillium Power Wind Corp. over the same “temporary” ban (now five years old and counting), and an Ontario Provincial Police investigation into whether government officials destroyed emails and documents that should have been kept as evidence.
[…]
Those filings include extracts from numerous emails government officials sent each other, complaining about how frustrating it was to try to come up with scientific explanations for things the politicians had chosen to do for political reasons.
The emails were obtained by Windstream through access to information and during the course of document production as part of the legal proceedings.
More Pavilions At Folkfest
Reader Tips
In pithy response to last night’s selection, SolidFPlus sends us Dawn of Correction.
By The Spokesmen. Tips open.
First Rule of Portraits
Who is this?
No cheating.
Naomi Klein’s Unfettered Capitalism
What! With over 40 billion dollars spent annually to comply with CDN Government regulation. A third of which are useless. More than a million Provincial regulations from bicycles to Ice Cream stands. Billions in tax compliance costs and state cronyism…..
Why Is There Always A Big Screen TV?
In Canada, the outcome of adopting the UN declaration may be less bloody, but it surely won’t be free from conflict. Until the Trudeau government came along, Ottawa’s major concern about endorsing the declaration was that it could be seen as giving First Nations (and possibly Métis people) the right to veto any development that affects them. Given how difficult it already is for ordinary industrial projects to navigate the objections of special interest groups, including First Nations, that’s an especially well-founded concern. The prime minister has already frustrated the energy sector by adding extra complications to the federal review process to indulge the green lobby. By endorsing the UN’s declaration, he may enhance his personal brand of being soft on issues where the Tories came off steely, but he will also certainly make it more difficult to get things built in this country.
“Two kinds of Canadians visit Cuba…”
The only difference between Canadian Thanksgiving and the one you guys celebrate a month later is that, besides having to listen to some 30-year-old who reads comic books “graphic novels” and still lives with his parents drone on about Columbus and smallpox blankets, we also have to hear about all the “cute little cars” they have in Cuba.