On the Middle East, my idea was it would have been amazing for the region to have an imperial system that is hegemonic and benevolent enough to stabilize it (a bit similar to the Ottoman Empire), but this isn’t happening any time soon.
The Turks are ambitious but the Arab majority in the region doesn’t want to fall under their yoke -again-, and then you have the Israelis, and the Iranians.
In Lebanon, some members of the increasingly shrinking Christian portion of the population, have floated the idea of Swiss-style cantons, as they are aware of their waning influence, but to no avail!
This is disheartening because, beginning in the latter half of the 1800s, Arab Christians made significant contributions to the revival and modernization of the Arabic language and intellectual culture! Modern Arab nationalism was largely the creation of Christian intellectuals from the Levant, to bridge the divide between them and the Muslim majority, and it worked and flourished… for a while..
Irish language. Church were always lukewarm. They were about the Irish state generally.
Seems to be cultural shock from the famine. My parents used to refer to bad behavior /rudeness as being ``old fashioned'' This is from the Devotional Revolution. Essentially a cultural space, where people where listening to poetry got replaced by one where people are saying the rosary
Also Irish was taught as a dead language and not a living one.
Cool, would be fun. My town is on the far west side of the Appalachians but I can get to Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) or Charleston (West Virginia) pretty easily.
Ref. Sam Freedman and your comment that liberals have no response to the threat to civilised countries posed by immigration of the non-civilised.
I don't read very much written by liberals but I have always liked and respected Paul Theroux's work and I brought "On the Plain of Snakes" on holiday with me.
He starts with a chapter called "Borderlands" where he drives along the American side of the border with Mexico, and crosses over at several points. He spends literally pages in lurid descriptions of the murders committed by the criminal gangs, aided and abetted by the police - beheading their victims and putting their remains on display.
He spends more pages describing the Mexicans he meets who are trying to cross illegally into the USA.
Nowhere is there a comment about what benefit or otherwise the USA might get from such immigrants. The critique of Trump is that "he characterized...Mexicans...as rapists and murderers".
BUT MANY OF THEM ARE, PAUL. YOU JUST SPENT A DOZEN PAGES GIVING US THE GORY DETAILS!
"I’ve thought about this a lot since, and how our entire civilisation was changed and overturned by the decisions of just a few men. How much better the world be if run as an Anglo-French carve up, how much better if our entire civilisation had not become framed by a Teutonic death cult and its legacy."
One also has to wonder what would have happened had Chamberlain and Daladier said no in 1938 and the Nazis got bogged down in the border fortifications of Czechoslovakia followed by a coup attempt that would have restored the monarchy.
"I’m in favour of taboos against racism, but they have to go in tandem with taboos against pursuing extreme and radical policies that transform the country in a way which most people don’t like, and a recognition that every people on earth have a right to resist such change. Taboos are only going to go so far, and can eventually become counter-productive if they end up breeding shame-resistant political actors (Trump the showcase example)."
Matthew Yglesias seems to believe something similar.
"Years ago, there was a take that what some disparage as “political correctness” is really nothing more than the basic habit of being polite.
I don’t think that holds up to much scrutiny.
What is true, though, is that politeness is a virtue, and that the habit of bending over backwards to try to be polite to people who are disadvantaged or groups that have historically been discriminated against makes sense.
And while not everything that right-wingers attack as “woke” or “PC” is just politeness, much of it is, and the impulse in some quarters of the right to say that we need to become a ruder, crueler society that no longer observes politeness norms is bad. The mistake of anti-racist excess was in going beyond trying to downplay ethnic differences to insist on measures that in fact reify them and increase their salience. But going in the other direction, and doing it in a mean-spirited way, isn’t going to solve anything and poses massive downside risks."
Young female extremism is probably the most under-discussed social problem of our age, despite being far more of an issue than ‘radicalisation’ among young men.
We don't make any demands of young women as a culture .. so
Charleston (South Carolina I presume) to Washington DC doesn't take you through the Appalachians, I'm sure you know that. Your best bet would be to head west from Charleston to Asheville, NC then take the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Shenandoah National Park. It will add several hours to the drive but it is a beautiful drive. You might still be able to get a room at Big Meadows Lodge near the NP, and of course there are lots of places to stay in Asheville.
Often with arguments it's hard to decide who won as opposed to who expresses my side of the argument. But after reading david Goodhart's piece, Sam Freedman's response and David Goodhart's response to that, I would say that David Goodhart won the argument, and I say that not because I'm on Goodhart's side but because I believe a neutral, impartial Marsian would also have said he won, though obviously I can't prove that.
I've looked like a middle-aged sex tourist since puberty. It's unfortunate.
Definitely try to visit the Blue Ridge region in Appalachia. It is beautiful, and I've found it to be the most hospitable region in the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Mountains It looks so beautiful
On the Middle East, my idea was it would have been amazing for the region to have an imperial system that is hegemonic and benevolent enough to stabilize it (a bit similar to the Ottoman Empire), but this isn’t happening any time soon.
The Turks are ambitious but the Arab majority in the region doesn’t want to fall under their yoke -again-, and then you have the Israelis, and the Iranians.
In Lebanon, some members of the increasingly shrinking Christian portion of the population, have floated the idea of Swiss-style cantons, as they are aware of their waning influence, but to no avail!
This is disheartening because, beginning in the latter half of the 1800s, Arab Christians made significant contributions to the revival and modernization of the Arabic language and intellectual culture! Modern Arab nationalism was largely the creation of Christian intellectuals from the Levant, to bridge the divide between them and the Muslim majority, and it worked and flourished… for a while..
Irish language. Church were always lukewarm. They were about the Irish state generally.
Seems to be cultural shock from the famine. My parents used to refer to bad behavior /rudeness as being ``old fashioned'' This is from the Devotional Revolution. Essentially a cultural space, where people where listening to poetry got replaced by one where people are saying the rosary
Also Irish was taught as a dead language and not a living one.
"I’m keen to see some of the Appalachian region if I have time: any subscribers out there, send me a message"
Oh wow I moved to Appalachian Ohio two days ago, coincidentally. Back to my home town to help watch over my aging parents. This place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens_County,_Ohio
I'll send you a message. Need to calculate how much time I'm willing to spend driving...
Cool, would be fun. My town is on the far west side of the Appalachians but I can get to Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) or Charleston (West Virginia) pretty easily.
Ref. Sam Freedman and your comment that liberals have no response to the threat to civilised countries posed by immigration of the non-civilised.
I don't read very much written by liberals but I have always liked and respected Paul Theroux's work and I brought "On the Plain of Snakes" on holiday with me.
He starts with a chapter called "Borderlands" where he drives along the American side of the border with Mexico, and crosses over at several points. He spends literally pages in lurid descriptions of the murders committed by the criminal gangs, aided and abetted by the police - beheading their victims and putting their remains on display.
He spends more pages describing the Mexicans he meets who are trying to cross illegally into the USA.
Nowhere is there a comment about what benefit or otherwise the USA might get from such immigrants. The critique of Trump is that "he characterized...Mexicans...as rapists and murderers".
BUT MANY OF THEM ARE, PAUL. YOU JUST SPENT A DOZEN PAGES GIVING US THE GORY DETAILS!
"I’ve thought about this a lot since, and how our entire civilisation was changed and overturned by the decisions of just a few men. How much better the world be if run as an Anglo-French carve up, how much better if our entire civilisation had not become framed by a Teutonic death cult and its legacy."
One also has to wonder what would have happened had Chamberlain and Daladier said no in 1938 and the Nazis got bogged down in the border fortifications of Czechoslovakia followed by a coup attempt that would have restored the monarchy.
https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780060955250/the-oster-conspiracy-of-1938/
Or for that matter if France won in 1871 or Austria in 1866!
"I’m in favour of taboos against racism, but they have to go in tandem with taboos against pursuing extreme and radical policies that transform the country in a way which most people don’t like, and a recognition that every people on earth have a right to resist such change. Taboos are only going to go so far, and can eventually become counter-productive if they end up breeding shame-resistant political actors (Trump the showcase example)."
Matthew Yglesias seems to believe something similar.
"Years ago, there was a take that what some disparage as “political correctness” is really nothing more than the basic habit of being polite.
I don’t think that holds up to much scrutiny.
What is true, though, is that politeness is a virtue, and that the habit of bending over backwards to try to be polite to people who are disadvantaged or groups that have historically been discriminated against makes sense.
And while not everything that right-wingers attack as “woke” or “PC” is just politeness, much of it is, and the impulse in some quarters of the right to say that we need to become a ruder, crueler society that no longer observes politeness norms is bad. The mistake of anti-racist excess was in going beyond trying to downplay ethnic differences to insist on measures that in fact reify them and increase their salience. But going in the other direction, and doing it in a mean-spirited way, isn’t going to solve anything and poses massive downside risks."
https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-troubling-rise-of-hitler-revisionism
'Britain’s leafy, Remain heavy, high income London boroughs might face more trouble than they realise'.
What a shame.
Young female extremism is probably the most under-discussed social problem of our age, despite being far more of an issue than ‘radicalisation’ among young men.
We don't make any demands of young women as a culture .. so
"Taboos about prejudice completely switch off that cynicism when it is most appropriate."
Sharp observation.
Charleston (South Carolina I presume) to Washington DC doesn't take you through the Appalachians, I'm sure you know that. Your best bet would be to head west from Charleston to Asheville, NC then take the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Shenandoah National Park. It will add several hours to the drive but it is a beautiful drive. You might still be able to get a room at Big Meadows Lodge near the NP, and of course there are lots of places to stay in Asheville.
Often with arguments it's hard to decide who won as opposed to who expresses my side of the argument. But after reading david Goodhart's piece, Sam Freedman's response and David Goodhart's response to that, I would say that David Goodhart won the argument, and I say that not because I'm on Goodhart's side but because I believe a neutral, impartial Marsian would also have said he won, though obviously I can't prove that.
The uncontroversial subjects while you are away seem a tad … controversial. I took it as a joke, or is my funny bone broken? 🙂
No, it's a joke!
😁