Douglas Murray places this remark from G.K. Chesterton in epigram of his The madness of crowds: gender, race, identity: "The special mark of the modern world is not that it is sceptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it." His book is a restrained testing of the absurdities of identity politics, social justice and … Continue reading Forgiveness and the madness of crowds
identity politics
Identity Crisis – some theses on identity politics
What are we to make of the phenomenon of identity politics? Here are some exploratory theses. There is a vast debate on the merits and meaning of identity politics today. This debate springs from the increased use of claims of exclusive political authority grounded in the lived experience of one or other shared attribute of a … Continue reading Identity Crisis – some theses on identity politics
Could the culture wars descend into civil wars?
Over at the online magazine Quilette, a Shakespeare scholar at a minor English university, Neerna Parvini, commenting on the Brett Kavanaugh appointment hearing, that turmoil of identity politics fuelled by partisan cynicism, raised a very dire prospect. "If I was being pessimistic, I’d say it was a moment in which the left chose a nuclear … Continue reading Could the culture wars descend into civil wars?
The death of the soul
In The Australian this weekend Greg Sheridan, the conservative and perceptive foreign affairs journalist, comments on the decline of religion and its impact on Western liberal mores. He restores Nietzsche's parable of the madman, who proclaims to an indifferent crowd that God is dead, and then revokes his claim, but still sees a dark prophecy: … Continue reading The death of the soul
