Freedom and Worry on Campus

The Atlantic: John McWhorter writes about academics who worry about career damage if they don't believe in orthodox progressivism.


[Photo by William Moreland at Unsplash]

Back Off

Being nice to people often simply requires that you leave them alone.

First Paragraph

"The first time I went to France, I didn't like it much. My godmother had invited me to join her on holiday in Brittany in the late 1950s to look after her children. I have two memories of the trip: daringly calling out, 'Ah, les flics!' at the police on the seafront and trying to learn to sail on a boat with a grizzled Frenchman who kept yelling about 'le foc' - the mizzen sail, not a Breton approximation of a four-letter swear word."

- From France on the Brink: A Great Civilization in the New Century by Jonathan Fenby

Big Brother is Real

Levantine Culture

Many people acted as if they were in an old James Bond movie, or the days when playboys smoked, drank, and, instead of going to the gym, cultivated relationships with good tailors.

- Nassim Nicholas Taleb on life in pre-chaotic Lebanon

On My List

When Grandma Has Teeth

Joseph Epstein and Kurt Harden on the value of tough teachers. An excerpt:

I remember my favorite college professor.  He taught Introduction to Constitutional Law.  I wouldn’t describe him as the Maclean type but when he called on you, it was important that you knew the readings; otherwise the next 15 minutes would be a lesson to other students on the importance of knowing the readings…at your expense.  There was no moving on to the next person once he sensed that you were unprepared.  The fear and shame was real.

[Photo by Nhia Moua at Unsplash

"Ordinary Men"

Jordan Peterson on Christopher Browning's classic study of ordinary men who participated in mass murder during the Holocaust.

Research Moments

One of the quiet joys of research is when you come across a significant but relatively obscure event or individual.

I ran across one last night while working on a writing project.

Big smile.

September Has Arrived