Minutiae

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The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
--Cornelius Tacitus (c. 116 A.D.)

Sunday, November 10, 2002

"Peace Protesters"

posted by Rachel 11/10/2002
. . .

Snurffle
It's always nice to come across someone intelligent enough to enjoy having their preconceptions adjusted.

posted by Rachel 11/10/2002
. . .

"...as usual, neither pols nor pundits wish to look the problem in the face or make the obvious connections. For them, the real and most pressing question raised by any social problem is: “How do I appear concerned and compassionate to all my friends, colleagues, and peers?” Needless to say, the first imperative is to avoid any hint of blaming the victim by examining the bad choices that he makes. It is not even permissible to look at the reasons for those choices, since by definition victims are victims and therefore not responsible for their acts, unlike the relatively small class of human beings who are not victims. One might extend La Rochefoucauld’s famous maxim that neither the sun nor death can be stared at for long, by saying that no member of the modern liberal intelligentsia can stare at a social problem for very long. He feels the need to retreat into impersonal abstractions, into structures or alleged structures over which the victim has no control. And out of this need to avoid the rawness of reality he spins utopian schemes of social engineering."
-Theodore Dalrymple
The whole article is delicious.

posted by Rachel 11/10/2002
. . .

If you've ever read "The Princess Bride," remember the part where Inigo's father is trying to make the six-fingered sword? That's what it's like living with Benno right now. He's working on a project and we're having the same sort of interactions.

posted by Rachel 11/10/2002
. . .

Time magazine thinks that the Wellstone memorial may have cost Democrats the election on a national level.
As Armed and Dangerous said, this is diagnostic. If the thinkers of the party (including the stupid-enough-to grin laugh and whisper politicians) are so out of it that they didn't understand the effect this would have, they may not stand much chance next time around either.

posted by Rachel 11/10/2002
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