Apr 89 minOn stupidity and the excesses of wokenessOne of the first laws of human existence, or at least of existence in class societies (determined by anti-human institutions that mold...
Oct 10, 20219 minResisting fascism (a book review)[This review was published at H-Socialisms.] The elevation of Donald Trump onto the national political stage in 2016 provoked a heated...
Jul 10, 202115 minAgainst liberal "pluralism"In the time of Trumpism, Michael Paul Rogin’s great book The Intellectuals and McCarthy: The Radical Specter (1967) shouldn’t be as...
Apr 5, 202130 minThe rise of right-wing libertarianism since the 1950sSometimes as I read books I like to simultaneously summarize them, to facilitate the intellectual digestion. And also to post my notes...
Sep 5, 20205 minThe commodification of educationDavid Noble's essay "Digital Diploma Mills," written in the 1990s, is a brilliant and still timely critique of the automation and...
Aug 30, 202037 minCritical remarks on academia and philosophyI was recently skimming old notes of mine and came across the following thoughts from a two-volume book on "humanism" I wanted to write...
Aug 27, 202021 minThe remarkable perversity of idealismMany years ago, when I was a simple boy who thought he ought to know a lot about Hegel, I took masses of notes on his philosophy. Below...
Aug 25, 20209 minThou shalt not worship intellectualsWhen I read old books or articles that are totally forgotten despite being brilliant, it saddens me. Siblings of Donald Trump publish...
Aug 21, 20209 minI wish stupidity were less commonThis is going to be a whiny, self-pitying post. Just to warn you. The question is sometimes asked, "Why are stupid people frequently so...
Jul 30, 202016 minThe heartbreak of staggering self-consciousnessToday I came across a copy of Dave Eggers' Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and was reminded of myself in my twenties, when I was...
Jun 8, 20207 minAppreciative and not-so-appreciative thoughts on cultural theory[These notes, for what they're worth, are from, respectively, 2010 and 2018.] Reading Raymond Williams’ classic Marxism and Literature...
Jun 6, 202017 minRambling reflections on Camille PagliaI've been reading Camille Paglia's collection of essays Sex, Art, and American Culture (1992). I disagree with a lot of Paglia's...
Jul 27, 20195 minOn the fight against misogynyAs a leftist, "I wish we could all just get along." Wouldn't that be nice? Maybe it would get boring pretty quickly. But a little less...
Jul 24, 201919 minA little misanthropy can be a healthy thingThis is from a letter Sigmund Freud wrote to his pastor friend Oskar Pfister: I do not break my head very much about good and evil, but I...
Jul 19, 20197 minA plea for honesty in discussions of sex and genderA recent article of mine, called "Political Correctness Is Getting Out of Hand," elicited some angry emails. Not from people who...
Dec 12, 20184 minAgainst "the postmodern novel"[Here's an excerpt from a book on 'humanism' I wanted to write back in 2006. It's from a passage in which I was arguing against...
Jul 13, 20184 minCritical thoughts on "The Alchemist"[Notes from 2006.] Reading The Alchemist, the novel that has sold tens of millions of copies. “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s...
May 29, 20188 minThe importance of John Brown[Grad-school notes...] I'm reading about John Brown--David Reynolds' John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the...
Mar 23, 20181 minThe Destruction of ReasonJust a quick note: I recently posted a long summary of and commentary on Georg Lukacs' masterpiece The Destruction of Reason, which has...
Mar 11, 20189 minCollectivism[Excerpts from this book.] Collectivism comes in both noble and evil forms. In the former, the principle of the individual is paramount;...