Spielberg's Munich

Frontpagemag has this take on Spielberg's latest film Munich. I haven't seen it but I am not surprised by the claims that Spielberg is engaging in moral equivalency. There is nothing more pathetic than a man who works as an apologist for sub-humans who would gladly remove his head. When is the world going to relearn that the wages of appeasement are death. When you feed the crocodile, you will be eaten.

Heroic selfishness

If you want to understand how selfishness is a virtue, go find a copy of The Fountainhead and flip to the scene where Howard Roark is offered the commission for the Manhattan Bank Building. Roark's architectural practice has been floundering and he desperately needs the commission. Mr. Wiedler fights for him, but the board keeps him waiting. Finally, they offer it to Roark, but on one condition - Roark must change the building's facade to a more conventional design. Roark believes a building should have integrity just like a man; he believes that a building's form should follow from its function. Roark refuses the commission. The board members are incredulous; Roark is on the brink of utter destitution, yet he turns down a major commission in the heart of New York City in order to protect the integrity of his design. "Do you have to be quite so fanatical and selfless about it?" they ask. And there's this wonderful moment where Roark picks up his drawings and sqeezes them to his side, then responds, "That was the most selfish thing you've ever seen a man do."

Creationists defeated in Dover

A judge today in Dover, PA ruled "it is unconstitutional to teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom" on the grounds that "intelligent design is a religious view."

There is hope for mankind after all. Hallelujah!

Read the full article here.

The importance of 'should'

The culture is suffused with bad ideas. Here's an indication. In the kitchen at work today I overheard the end of a conversation between a colleague and our HR director. My colleague was expressing exasperation about some topic unbeknownst to me, and concluded by saying that someone 'should' have behaved differently. And then our cheerful HR director quipped, "There is no 'should'. There is only 'is'."

I was stunned speechless. I have never witnessed a more literal demonstration of the is-ought gap. Our HR director may not have realized it but she succinctly expressed the dominant view of ethics amongst intellectuals: namely that no rational ethics is possible. The philosophical mainstream maintains that it is impossible to move from a statement of fact to a statement of value - that is, to move from an is to an ought. This is the explanation for the moral relativism of the elites.

To understand how to bridge the is-ought gap, you should read a book called Loving Life by Craig Biddle. Or read the original source of the solution: Ayn Rand.

The incident was a powerful demonstration of how bad ideas trickle down into the culture.

Why I love Mad Money

Think of your typical business show. Pretty boring, right? Not so Jim Cramer's Mad Money. Mad Money is financial news and analysis on speed (or at least very heavy doses of caffeine). Jim breaks furniture, sweats profusely, and baffles his viewers with his encyclopedic knowledge of listed equities.

Most of the business professionals I know thumb their noses at Jim Cramer. They see him as a sort of financial cartoon-buffoon. And to be fair, he is a caricature of himself. However, I find enormous value in his show. I'm talking about a value beyond his financial acumen or stock picking ability - I won't comment on those. Jim Cramer is creating enormous excitement for capitalism! People who would otherwise never read the Wall Street Journal are now following with interest the fortunes of Conoco Phillips and Sirius Satellite Radio. Capitalism is not merely the only moral social system - it is also magnificent! And Jim Cramer is getting the word out! For that, I salute him.

Preying on Gatsby

I'm currently reading the Great Gatsby. I bought this book years ago but have yet to make my way past page 30. Finishing this book is not at the top of my value hierarchy, but I do intend to get to it. I could tell almost immediately that Fitzgerald subscribes to a proto-post modern philosophy. However, his writing is frequently beautiful. This quote, which was excerpted in God of Small Things, is what compelled me to buy the book in the first place:

"Gatsby turned out all right in the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men."

Wonderful rhetoric.

Home on the Ranj

After a brief sojourn at an msn space I am back to my original home in the blogger-sphere. Dear reader, I realize I have been infrequent in my posts for the past several months, but I intend to here resume my blogging habit with aplomb. Expect even more colorful commentary, brilliant analysis, and irreverant wit!

And with that I sound my battle cry. To the power of ideas! To the glory of man! To life extraordinary!