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THE DESTRUCTION OF MADELINE JOYCE
I just discovered an aspect of Marvel history that is downright diabolical. It is not to do with their business practices, but with the mistreatment of a major character.
Madeline Joyce, Miss America, was one of Timely Comics' leading characters, supporting her own titles for several years in addition to taking part in the All-Winners Squad. ( ( Read more... ) -
An essay on capitalism as a word and capitalism as a fact
The term capitalism is used very loosely. The most commonplace - and the silliest - way of using is to oppose it to Communism (or to Socialism). This is intellectually disastrous; it accepts without question and consideration two chief claims of Communism - that Communism is the enemy of Capitalism (as if any principled opponent of Communism were ( Read more... ) -
Thoughts on terms and quotations
- "Doubling Down"
A very useful modern expression. I am told that "doubling down" comes from the language of poker, which has contributed to American slang since the days of Mark Twain; but it is my impression that this particular expression only became widespread in the last few decades. It means the curious and especially modern vice of moral ( Read more... ) -
IDENTITY AND ITS PERVERSION
From the Romantic age onwards, identity has been cultivated as a road to inwardness, individual experience and depth, and also peculiarity. Today it is the reverse, superficial, restrictive, and with nothing serious to say.
I mean that Romanticism involved the discovery of national and local identity: Germans recovered German history and folklore, ( Read more... ) -
The open secret of Judith Butler
Judith Butler has, of late, become a significant figure in the public consciousness; largely because of the influence she is believed to have on the ghastly fad of trans subjectivism. She has even had to try and defend it in a book (Who's afraid of gender?) that proves that, alas, the illustrious professor is not at home with arguing matters in a ( Read more... ) -
ABOUT SCHOENBERG, BERG AND WEBERN
David Hurwitz, my favourite online music expert, just published an enthusiastic video about Herbert von Karajan's boxed set of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern works. I listened to it carefully, because, although I have been familiar with the self-styled Second Viennese School since I was in my teens, I have never heard Karajan's version of their work, ( Read more... ) -
The Libertarian superstition
Libertarianism is a superstition. It rests on ignorance and illogic, and the very vague perception that there is a power at work, without any understanding of how and why it works. One formulation I heard was that "Social Democrats don't understand that the quality of life is incrased through growth of capital and not redistribution." Now, where do ( Read more... ) -
The real enemies of the Palestinians
The Palestinian people was invented some time in the sixties by people who were not willing to accept that Israel had proved their right to exist with weapons. Before then, there were just Arabs. But as the Arab nation stretches from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, it could be assumed that refugees from a lost war would be absorbed by the larger ( Read more... )