informant38
.

-
...But of these sophisms and elenchs of merchandise I skill not...
Milton, Areopagitica

Except he had found the
standing sea-rock that even this last
Temptation breaks on; quieter than death but lovelier; peace
that quiets the desire even of praising it.

Jeffers, Meditation On Saviors


-

26.7.07

Stephen Pinker is dangerous:

By "dangerous ideas" I don't have in mind harmful technologies, like those behind weapons of mass destruction, or evil ideologies, like those of racist, fascist or other fanatical cults. I have in mind statements of fact or policy that are defended with evidence and argument by serious scientists and thinkers but which are felt to challenge the collective decency of an age.
- Pinker/SunTimes 15.Jul.07
-
Steve, I think the idea is "harmful technologies" is what's being debated in the first place. And "challenging the collective decency" can pretty much guarantee its champion a label of "evil" if it gets far enough away from that collective's assumption of its own decency.
The weird way you merge racism and fascism with fanatical cults is maybe an indicator of your own mental imbalance. And the prominence from which you deliver this garbage, in this culture, at this time, is kind of a further condemnation.
Anything that seriously challenges anything like what passes for collective decency now isn't going to make the op-ed page of the newspaper, not in the USofA it isn't.
So, ipso facto there, pal.

Blog Archive