The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (No. 58)
July 12, 2023
GREETINGS FROM TELLURIDE, COLORADO, WHERE I’M TAKING A TWO-WEEK VACATION. Telluride is my favorite place in America. It’s stunningly beautiful, and I would recommend that you visit sometime.
**I’m sorry—I really am—but today’s version of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” is mostly just ugly. The sad truth, however, is that this is what’s in the news these days. It is my view, however, that honorable men and women cannot and should not evade what’s happening in American culture today. Most Americans follow big ticket, DC-based political news, but they’re largely unaware of what’s happening below the radar, or, to change the metaphor, between the seams of American life and culture.
Let us therefore recall that well-known quotation often attributed to Edmund Burke (falsely): “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” John Stuart Mill uttered a similar sentiment during his 1867 inaugural address at the University of St. Andrews: “Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”
We must face the ugliness and defeat it. That is the moral imperative of our time.
I will work hard to find happier news going forward.
The Good
MORE (AND FASTER), PLEASE: Toddler with cerebral palsy may walk again thanks to her baby brother's blood
THE PROTECTION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS IS THE DIFFERENCE: Why Do Some People Prosper While Others Fail?
· Related: Iowa vs. Minnesota: Neighboring States Show Different Futures for America
I THINK WE’RE GOING TO SEE A LOT MORE OF THIS KIND OF THING GOING FORWARD. Recruiting companies should start with hanging out at the National Spelling Bee: Musk Hires ‘Profoundly Gifted’ 14-Year-Old Engineer To Work On SpaceX
OUTSTANDINGLY GOOD NEWS: 4 kids lost in jungle for 40 days after plane crash found alive in Colombia
Related: How miracle 'children of the jungle' lost for 40 days stayed alive after deadly plane crash
IT’S THE 21ST-CENTURY AFTER ALL: Now a GAY bar dumps all Anheuser-Busch beers.
FOR DECADES THE TRENDY LEFT TOLD US TO FOLLOW THE SCANDINAVIANS IN ALL THINGS. Pretty sure that’s now come to an end. The Scandinavians support science. Three cheers for the Swedes: Top Swedish doctors blow whistle on trans puberty-suppressing drugs affecting children's bones: 'Experimental'
THE WORD “CIVILIZED” IS BEING REDEFINED AND RECATEGORIZED. Civilized nations don’t drug and mutilate their children. Save the children! Britain Bans Puberty Blockers for ‘Gender Dysphoric’ Kids.
THE RETURN OF MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY. This is good at least to the extent that scientists have discovered the cause of a real psycho-sociological condition that can now be treated: Scientists respond to 1991 study on Borderline Personality Disorder in moms of trans boys
EXCELLENT ESSAY. Recommended reading: Sky Fall: Gender Ideology Comes to the Schoolhouse
THE NEW MULTICULTURALISM! Diversity is our strength. The breakup of the intersectional alliance: A sense of betrayal’: liberal dismay as Muslim-led US city bans Pride flags: Many liberals celebrated when Hamtramck, Michigan, elected a Muslim-majority council in 2015 but a vote to exclude LGBTQ+ flags from city property has soured relations.
TWO OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE TWEETS (first seen on Instapundit). These two tweets just about sum it up perfectly:
PRESUMABLY THIS IS ON DAY #1 OF A DESANTIS PRESIDENCY, BUT WHAT ABOUT DAYS 2-10? Ron DeSantis says he would eliminate four federal agencies if elected president.
RICHARD DAWKINS STANDING UP TO THE ANTI-SCIENCE, ANTI-CIVILIZATIONAL ATTITUDE OF THE NEW LEFT. The Redneck Intellectual supports this statement by Richard Dawkins. Support science:
FROM THE ALWAYS GREAT ROGER KIMBALL: The Continuing Relevance of ‘Li’l Abner’