‘A New York University professor is one of the masterminds behind the anarchist group that organized the rampage through the subways last month, destroying turnstiles, stranding thousands of commuters and spray-painting “F–k Cops” on station walls.’
Spring 2020 tuition at the NYU Gallatin School of Individual Study seems a little high. Can’t I just show up at the next rampage for free? With a mask and a bat?
On that note, Peter Thiel reviews Ross Douthat’s new book.
Sexual, moral and political liberation movements (the ’68ers) have a lot of downside costs. There’s been lots of talk of freedom, the (S)elf, and intentions, but little talk of responsibilities, other-directed loyalty, and results.
I don’t expect folks caught up in liberation movements to accept that they may, in fact, be responsible for their own behavior as well as the political economy they’re helping to create:
Are we making progress? Not so much, Douthat answers. Baby boomers will wince at his title, since “decadence” sounds to them like the complaint of an old curmudgeon. They cannot stand to think of themselves as old, nor can they bear to think of the society they dominate as dysfunctional. But this is a young man’s book. Douthat can see our sclerotic institutions clearly because his vision is not distorted by out-of-date memories from a more functional era.’
Are you convinced? Kirkus review here.
Hmmmm…
Mike Shellenberger leaves the environmental reservation.
Would you like more people staying warm, being able to read at night, and eating food without parasites? Hopefully, yes. You can still care about the natural world, genuinely sensitive ecosystems, remarkable creatures and, you know, other people.
But wherever you go, there you are. This probably means living in a place, (alas, a Nation), stuck with yourself, your family, your friends, your responsibilities, your duties and your own boredom.
What does scale?
Globally, nuclear energy produces nearly twice as much electricity at half the cost. And nuclear-heavy France pays little more than half as much for electricity that produces one-tenth of the carbon emissions as renewables-heavy, anti-nuclear Germany.
Whatever you may think about conservation and your relationship with the natural world, the environmental movement has become big business, big politics, and big money.
I have never really been a member of what I see as rather Romantically Primitive, collectivist utopian groups, overlapping with Left causes and producing much economy-regulating techno-bureacracy in practice.
It’s good to see some reasonable discussion.