The Purposeless Society
Without faith or nation, there is no greater whole beyond the individual.
Sam Ashworth-Hayes
· 9 min read
Art & Culture
A collection of 877 posts
To Skate—Perchance to Soar
Skateboarding is simple and complex, pointless and transformational.
Damian Platt
· 16 min read
Songs from Orwell’s Glass Asylum
Bowie’s album beautifully captures the essential romance in the story.
David Cohen
· 10 min read
Marie Antoinette: Figure of Myth, Magnet for Lies
Marie Antoinette was not entirely innocent in her lifetime; in fact, she was guilty of many extravagances.
Matthew Fraser
· 14 min read
Death of an Old-Fashioned Clown: An Obituary of Fred Willard
Fred Willard was a kind of Holy Fool even among fools.
Simon Evans
· 7 min read
As Common Sense Returns to the Gender Debate, Radicals Set Upon Their Own Allies
The entire argument was about whether one particular trans ally had become too famous at the expense of more worthy and authentic competitors.
Jonathan Kay
· 12 min read
The Purpose of Imaginative Fiction
“What’s it about?” is usually the first question we ask when someone recommends a new book, and it’s the wrong question.
Elena Shalneva
· 9 min read
COVID-19 Betrays America’s Curdled Cult of Optimism
A philosophy of optimism was central to the flourishing of the American project. But it’s also useful to consider whether insisting that success and greatness lie around every corner can become a maladaptive response to problems that are complex and brutal.
Daphne Merkin
· 5 min read
No, COVID-19 Is Not a 'Disaster for Feminism'
It often seems like it’s mostly feminists who disparage female work and praise so highly the world of corporate and professional success.
Marilyn Simon
· 7 min read
My Former Life as a Radical
They believe in the perfectibility of man in their own image: a combination of unscrupulous optimism and narcissism.
Gerfried Ambrosch
· 11 min read
By Seeking ‘Safer Spaces’ for Actors, We’re Creating a Hostile Environment for Art
I honestly have no idea why any actor would want to appear in a serious play featuring protagonists who are not, in some way, “screwed up.”
Sky Gilbert
· 8 min read
Confessions of an Equity-Industry Propagandist
It was my job to turn a regressive sow’s ear into a progressive silk purse.
Janet Mackay
· 8 min read
Remembering Roger Scruton, Defender of Reason in a World of Postmodern Jackals
Scruton did not entertain petty prejudices, and had no wish to tell anyone how to live or who to love.
Barbara Kay
· 8 min read
Laws and Values
Scott Z. Burns’s political thriller ‘The Report’ is a careful examination of the CIA’s interrogation methods.
Michael J. Totten
· 10 min read
Religious Progressivism
It is not only religious “zealots” who get obsessed about good and evil. All human beings do.
Colin Turfus
· 7 min read