To my surprise, the National Review has a piece arguing that Brandeis was right to disinvite Ayaan Hirsi Ali from their commencement ceremonies. In fact, a whole panel was assembled to defend Brandeis on this front. Here are some of the highlights, with each block of text from a different author: The invitation to deliver… Continue reading A Moral Exemplar?
Author: Matt Bruenig
Last Word On Mozilla
I wrote about the Mozilla CEO termination thing (I, II, III). The point of my writing on it was just to continue my long-standing project of pointing out that most procedural arguments — by which I mean content-neutral and substance-neutral arguments nominally divorced from policy and cultural preferences — are not serious. It seems to… Continue reading Last Word On Mozilla
The Future Is Sophistic
I wrote a piece in Salon about how cultural conservatives (but also everyone) aren’t serious about their process arguments when it comes to really anything, but in particular issues of gay inclusion in society. Certain cultural conservatives say, when it’s convenient for them, to use market and civil coercion — the battlefield of civil society… Continue reading The Future Is Sophistic
Kevin Williamson’s Hilarious About Face
Writing in February against using laws to discipline those engaged in anti-gay bigotry, the National Review’s Kevin Williamson went for the old libertarian line: If anything, it is much more likely in 2014 that a business exhibiting authentic malice toward homosexuals would be crushed under the socio-economic realities of the current climate. That is a… Continue reading Kevin Williamson’s Hilarious About Face
Hobby Lobby April Fools Joke
In my last post, I wrote about the absurdity of economic process in the realm of the Hobby Lobby religious liberty arguments. To drive the point home at how arbitrary this procedural silliness is, I have a hypothetical April Fools joke one could play on Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby opposes “paying” for IUDs. Medicaid, government… Continue reading Hobby Lobby April Fools Joke