I’ve had to read the Boy Crisis much slower than almost any book. There’s just a lot to take in. It’s not just academic. I’m a man, and a dad. And there’s so much to think about. And so much that makes me so terribly sad. I’m not great at empathy, but I can connectContinue reading “The Boy Crisis”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Comedians and courage
The way that formerly brave and controversial comedians and artists are caving in to the moral majority of the new left just goes to show that they weren’t really that brave after all, someone just needed to invent a type of social censure they were afraid of. It’s easy to be provacative when you don’tContinue reading “Comedians and courage”
Hesitation and caution in fighting back
I recently watched a video of Peter Bogosian, Douglas Murray, and Dave Rubin talking about the ongoing fight against postmodernism, wokeism, and critical theory. The overall tone was hopeful, ebullient. The fight is going well, they said. Lies were being exposed, dangers were being recognized, prejudices were being revealed, sense was being restored. And thisContinue reading “Hesitation and caution in fighting back”
Are women better than men?
Are women better than men? That is certainly a question that seems to have some teeth. Men can be and are blamed for a lot of the pain in the world. And it’s not unusual to see the world and history characterized as innocent women and children trying to live their lives and wicked menContinue reading “Are women better than men?”
On Jingle Jangle
The song “The Square Root of Impossible” is pretty much the prime example of what I find cheap and shallow about modern children’s movies. It’s overproduced, sounds way too perfect, and is completely lacking in depth of character or struggle. It’s the shallowest idea of heroism. It’s heroic, but the broadest, most trite version ofContinue reading “On Jingle Jangle”
Cries of the men’s rights movement
On listening to the lament of a rapper on the state of men and their place in the family. I’m not one hundred percent sure what to say about all this. There’s surely a lot to learn about men from this, just as sociological data. I’m not sure that this is the most eloquent articulationContinue reading “Cries of the men’s rights movement”
On Borders
I think the real question about borders is permeability. You want borders because you want to select what crosses them. The state is like a living organism. Living organisms have cell membranes and cell walls. That’s one of their defining, necessary features. And there’s a selectivity that allows certain things in and certain things out,Continue reading “On Borders”
Could anarchy work?
The answer is no. Boom, done! Fun talk. The thing about most political questions is that you don’t need a huge social experiment or tons of theory to answer most basic questions. All you need is a single complete unit to study. Enter, one human family. All government is just a scaled up version ofContinue reading “Could anarchy work?”
Third time is the charm
This is a series of stabs I made at responding to criticism of “on expectations and minority experience”. The objection raised was essentially this: “Imagine a situation where you are good at things but no one ever gives you a chance and you get rejected entirely because of prejudice. And everyone is racist, and that’sContinue reading “Third time is the charm”
On Camille Paglia and Christina Hoff Summers
https://youtu.be/zxWOsUOsDyU I love these women. I grew up surrounded by smart, confident women. You can’t help but love and respect them, even when you do disagree. They’re both a delight, but Camille consistently makes me laugh out loud. She is one of rhe most entertaining people you could possible watch. I think if there’s anyContinue reading “On Camille Paglia and Christina Hoff Summers”
On expectations and minority experience
When I walk into a gym, no one assumes I’m a professional basketball player. And they’re right. There aren’t a lot of short, Dutch basketball players. When my wife and girls show up somewhere wearing lovely and stylish outfits, people don’t assume that I bought them and put them together. And it’s very likely thatContinue reading “On expectations and minority experience”
Why politics is a male epiphenomenon
Males and female territories differ, and the way they police those territories differs. Men maintain wider territories but police them at a lower level of detail, but do so more confrontationally. Women maintain a smaller territory but at a very high level of detail, and do so with “soft power”, leveraging influence at many complexContinue reading “Why politics is a male epiphenomenon”
How slippery are slippery slopes
Both left and right are slippery slopes because they’re based in personality and instinct. That instinct is persistent; it’s not confined to a specific concern that arises gets resolved. So it keeps working on whatever the conditions are and never really knows when to stop. Absent the balancing pull of the opposition party, it inevitablyContinue reading “How slippery are slippery slopes”
Sympathy across the sexes
I was heavily bullied and kicked around by the other boys (and girls) during my childhood. And I once was having a conversation with some women, who were complaining about men, and I mentioned that I knew what it felt like to be physically at someone else’s mercy and be thoughtlessly used for amusement andContinue reading “Sympathy across the sexes”
Comments on the talk between Jordan Peterson and Michael Schermer
I think what Jordan is basically arguing about religion is that it is at least symbolically or psychologically or archetypally true. And that that’s an important, maybe the most important, way something can be true (in an almost Platonic sense, as an abstraction or a aggregate, a bit like math is true in relation toContinue reading “Comments on the talk between Jordan Peterson and Michael Schermer”
A dream of hell, or life, or death
I dreamt I was falling through an infinite red void. Darkness, directionless, expanding forever in all dimensions. Silent and gusty. Twisting, in one forever moment. Falling, pulled forever backward into an infinite regress into myself. It was a place of infinite space, where all the world was mine and I was the only thing inContinue reading “A dream of hell, or life, or death”
What women want
What women want, or at least what my wife wants, is to feel special and valuable and precious. To be a princess. For her, it’s a guilty pleasure, but it’s also obviously a deep motivation. To be seen or discovered to be or appreciated as or treated as if or to simply be a princess.Continue reading “What women want”
In defense of my criticism of WAP
I was wondering recently what would happen if I ever ran for political office, and what might come up when people inevitably connected me to my writings. I can imagine people criticizing me for my stance as a pro-family, pro-decency politician and pointing out my own tendency to talk about sex, and particularly quoting someContinue reading “In defense of my criticism of WAP”
Control vs license
Since authoritarianism tracks with disgust sensitivity, anything that is viewed as a disease will essentially predict authoritarianism. The degree to which something is viewed as a contagion (not only the degree to which it literally is a contagion) will determine the balance between authoritarianism and libertarianism. It all comes down to a matrix of controlContinue reading “Control vs license”
On making other happy and meaning
I find that trying to make yourself happy is often far more difficult and less effective than trying to make someone else happy. Somehow, when you focus on yourself, it just doesn’t have the same effect. It’s very hard to do things for yourself and have them be very meaningful. For one thing, there isContinue reading “On making other happy and meaning”
Making Nobody Happy 