What constitutes a fulfilling life? "While the US and Europe share a broad commitment to classical Liberalism, and Democracy, we have very different definitions of the Public Good, which means different views of what we want out of life, and what we consider fulfilling. In broad and simplistic terms, the US emphasizes material wealth, opportunity, and individual liberty while Europe values community health, a shared common good, and a sense of place. From the European perspective the US has a cult of the individual, and that's why it has too many guns, obscenely large cars, can't build a public transportation system, and has dysfunctional public spaces. From the US perspective Europeans are unmotivated unproductive slackers who would rather sip coffee all day than work, and their idea of a shared common good means stealing from the successful to give to the losers."
When "your truth" is a lie. "You cannot have identity politics on the Left, valorizing non-white people and granting them special, race-based privileges, without calling up demons on the right. They either didn’t see it – perhaps thinking that all white people were like the milquetoast liberals they knew from campuses and newsrooms – or they were so drunk on the thrill of transgression that they didn’t care. Well, now that demon is here, and it is not the fault of conservatives who warned them."
The rigged glass bead game. "It’s an open secret that the pressure to produce a constant flood of papers that are publishable and, better yet, interesting enough to spark headlines leads to corner-cutting, 'data torture' and overclaiming — or, sometimes, outright fraud. The result is an expensive self-licking ice cream cone of grant applications and publications, but the actual contribution to human knowledge is often lacking."
The weekly round-up of mostly pithy elaborations on traditional Cold Spring Shops themes follows.
3. No. Next question? "Is it any wonder liberals are having a mental health crisis?" Unhappiness is a core part of their identity.
8. Also should not require repeating. "If we abandon truth—even when truth inconveniently runs counter to our interests and identities—we lose our grip on reality."
9. Compare and contrast. "You could say that Trump’s a bit crazy, but I don’t think you see evidence of cognitive decline."
11. You say you want some devolution? "Either one or both traditional parties must become bigger tents that bring in more voters with more diverse views held together by a common but limited agenda that delivers for people, or the parties will start to dwindle in membership numbers and retreat into ideological purity among a steadily decreasing cadre of diehards as other Americans search for alternatives."
12. Yes, dear reader, there is a coastal bubble. "The towns offered a doleful refrain of billboards: Gun Shop, Bail Bond, Waffle House, Pawn Shop, Dollar General and Fried Chicken. I’d gone beyond my usual American contexts — New England, New York City, college towns." If you're descended from one of Lafitte's pirates, it's worth the trip anyway.
13. Why you get more Trump. "Those who oppose his immigration policies ought to take pains not to appear more upset that the violence helps Trump gain support than they are by the violence itself."
15. Her inner monologue is "duh." "I kept laughing and walked out, impressed in the way only unaware incompetence can." Yes, he had to pay the incompetence tax.
16. Tammany meets Derrida. "Democrats have a fraud problem, and on top of that a reality problem. They can't expect to compete until they deal decisively to resolve both of those problems."
17. That's Minnesota softball. "You're looking at a whole team of future Republicans."
18. Lady wrestlers? "If Reese can deal with the noise, her best play is to remain the WNBA’s heel."
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