Metaphysics

I finished reading this book without my head exploding. In related news, the ultimate chapter is a supposed "refutation" of so-called "anti-realism." Leading aside the fact that one of the main figures Loux targets in this chapter is Hilary Putnam, who is NOT an anti-realist in any sense except in being an anti-metaphysical realist, he doesn't deal with any arguments older than 1981! Realists are so useless.

The Uses and Disadvantages of History for LIfe

"And so it came to pass that Steve Forbes was prowling a bookstore in Naples, Florida a few years back looking 'for something interesting to read.' Forbes’ employees must live in dread that at such moments their maximum leader will stumble onto Max Stirner’s The Ego and Its Own or Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking; but happily for them, the quarry this time was Hannibal Crosses the Alps by John Prevas. And boy, did it ever get our correspondent thinking. First, he published a review of the book—well past its publication date–in his eponymous magazine, and thereby embodied a first principle of leadership: executive vanity will always trump timely coverage."

Who doesn't love Max Stirner? Full link here.

Heartless?

I'm sorry, this is just ridiculous. Yes. it is a misfortune that Governor Sanford cheated on his wife. But this is a man who was hell-bent on denying the most unfortunate of his constituents the resources they need to survive in a time of economic crisis in the name of a misguided political and economic ideology. He had to be overturned by his own legislature. He was going to use this fact about himself as a point in his favor as Republican candidate for president. He does not deserve our forbearance.

Tell me what about this is fake or contrived:





Suck it, Simmons.

On Fragility

David Brooks, seconded by Andrew Sullivan, seem to agree that the Iranian regime is "fragile." I don't have fully formed thoughts on this, but it strikes me as a very strange characterization. Would you describe a government as fragile if it is threatened by enormous demonstrations? Fragile in what sense? It seems like the vast amount of effort expended by the demonstrators, perhaps millions of them, is an indicator of the stability of a regime. Additionally, I think the comparison of Iran to "other autocratic regimes" is inapposite. Iran has a vibrant public culture that would never have been allowed to develop in the the former Soviet Union and its satellites (which I imagine is Brooks's intended "autocratic regime").

I am also dubious of the idea that a governing system based on the "banishment of reality" is somehow inherently more fragile than one based on "reality." We only have to look at our very recent history to see how effective the government can be at manipulating "reality." Reality doesn't speak for itself, and can serve the interests of repressive regimes just as well as those we would be inclined to prefer.

(Brooks also identifies the shouting from the rooftops as a new custom, springing organically from the "new situation," but that's an homage to similar actions taken by Ayatollah Khomeini's supporters during the 1979 Revolution.)

Let's All Call Bullshit

On the Post's decision to let Froomkin go. Are they out of their motherfucking minds? The Post is filled with the most inept, serially stupid, war-mongering, incurious opinion staff in the nation. Their one asset was Froomkin. And now they've decided to junk him. Fire them all. Fire them all from your browsers, from your newstands, from you porches, from your trips to the fucking can. Let's hurry all of their news careers to their graves. Maybe then a new, more responsible media establishment, that cares about the truth, that cares about adversarial journalism, that cares about protecting the people from the depradations of those in power will emerge.

Boycott the Washington Post

Dan Froomkin let go from the Washington Post. What a crock of shit. Dan Froomkin has consistently demonstrated that he is the best White House reporter working for a mainstream newspaper, but the Post would rather their editorial direction go with their new hire, Bill Kristol, the legacy columnist with an absolutely atrocious track record of being wrong and war-mongering, and his neocon brother Charles Krauthammer. The only reason to read the post in the last 8 years has been Froomkin. There is no longer any reason anyone should read the Post. It is a den of thieves and insiders, who care for nothing except preserving the Beltway status quo. Reading over the last couple of months the Post try to fend off accountability for torturers and war criminals in the name of "bipartisanship" or "moving on" has been sickening, but this is the last straw. Shame on the Post. I used to have some sympathy for the current plight of newspapers, but now I am looking forward to your reduced role in our nation's public life. Rot in Hell.