The Good
This is the best news I’ve heard during this annus horribilis. Just when you thought the USA was on the verge of another Whiskey Rebellion (the original was in 1794) along comes this very good news.
Speaking of whiskey, taxes, and rebellions, here’s a fine essay on America’s original Whiskey Rebellion by my friend, Professor Richard Samuelson.
And here’s some important myth busting from another good friend, Larry Reid. Larry writes on what schooling in America looked like before it was taken over by government.
The Bad
I’m moving to Venezuela. Fifty-three cents makes you a millionaire in Venezuela.
On second thought, why move to Venezuela when I can save money on the airfare given that America is apparently doing its best to follow Venezuela down the road to serfdom.
Maybe this teacher is on to something. Once the USA goes full Venezuela, the economics of selling crack just might be the road to survival.
Men without chests. For a portrait in cowardice, see here:
Ominous signs. The skies over America are getting darker.
The Ugly
If you read nothing else this week, read this disturbing and depressing but extraordinarily important essay by Bari Weiss. She deserves but of course won’t win a Pulitzer Prize for her guided tour through the ideological indoctrination taking place at America’s most expensive and elite private schools:
Here are a few snippets to whet the appetite:
This Harvard-Westlake parents’ group is one of many organizing quietly around the country to fight what it describes as an ideological movement that has taken over their schools. This story is based on interviews with more than two dozen of these dissenters—teachers, parents, and children—at elite prep schools in two of the bluest states in the country: New York and California. . . .
These are America’s elites—the families who can afford to pay some $50,000 a year for their children to be groomed for the eating clubs of Princeton and the secret societies of Yale, the glide path to becoming masters—sorry, masterx—of the universe. The ideas and values instilled in them influence the rest of us. . . .
Power in America now comes from speaking woke, a highly complex and ever-evolving language. . . Fluency in woke is an effective class marker and key for these princelings to retain status in university and beyond. The parents know this, and so woke is now the lingua franca of the nation’s best prep schools.
Full article here.
In case you haven’t noticed, America’s K-12 school system is imploding. Some K-12 teachers show rap videos for class, while some engage in other activities whilst teaching online classes.
This is a family blog. The next link is disturbing. You should not open it if you’re sensitive in any way to vile and disgusting behavior.
Last warning! Viewer discretion advised. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.
. . . and The Beautiful
If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to forget the bad and the ugly. Let’s turn now to beauty as our salvation.
This week I’d like to share a film trailer with you as your weekly aesthetic experience here at The Redneck Intellectual. Terrence Malick is one America’s most important film directors. I will confess to you, though, that I am not exactly a fan of his movies, but I do think that some of the trailers for his films are masterpieces of cinematographic beauty.
I’ve watched this trailer to Malick’s The Tree of Life scores of times and it still moves me to the core. If you watch, it deserves your full attention. Indeed, I think it deserves to be studied. (I advise putting it on full screen.)
I’d like to thank all those people who sent me emails with some of their favorite music, paintings, and poetry. Your recommendations were all beautiful, and I hope to share some of them going forward. Keep them coming.
You can submit your aesthetic recommendations to: redneckaesthetic@gmail.com. Please always use as your subject line: “The Beautiful.”
Have great weekend!