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Friday, Feb 25, 2005
founding fodder
"We were discussing notions of individual and group rights, and how defending the rights of the former can involving infringing upon the reigning conceptions of the latter. But where does that leave the group out from which the rights-bearing individual emerged in the first place? (The specific context of the discussion was Iraq, and whether one can coherently speak of fighting against some portion of the population of a state in the name of providing "rights" to another, in some ways indistinguishable portion of the population.) With a little bit of guidance from Rousseau, we gradually came to talking about the political problem of beginnings. Figuring out how to legitimately initiate a political project is a central, perhaps the central, preoccupation of political theorists, and takes us far beyond Iraq; it haunts Locke's theory of property rights, is echoed in the fears of ancient Roman republican thinkers, and animates the argument in Plato's Republic, the touchstone of all philosophical literature in the West. The crux is always the same: as Juvenal (and then Alan Moore) put it, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches the watchmen? Or, more relevantly, who makes the rules for the rule-makers?"
astral projection
"Inept and hypocritical they are indeed, but what this scandal tells us is way more profound. As I've argued both in Cruel and Unusual and "A Patriot Act," there's a big difference between hypocrisy and projectivity. Hypocrisy means "dissimulation" pure and simple. A hypocrite does one thing privately while playing a very different role in public. Insofar as he's capable of happiness, he's happy just to live such a divided life. What he does not need is to have some demon-figure(s) onto whom he can relentlessly project those aspects of himself that he unconsciously detests. This is the animus that drives the Bushevik movement--more than greed, more than oil, more than imperialism. The movement is, ultimately, pathological. Which explains its compulsive hatefulness. Every time the Bushevik vents his spleen against "the liberals," he's actually referring to himself. "The liberals," he insists, are lying, bitter diehards, who would do anything to stay in power; they steal elections; they are "a coalition of the wild-eyed"; and on it goes forever. If the movement weren't relentlessly projective, it would just disappear. They have to stay on the attack against the demon, which they can never finally kill, because that demon is inside them."
diamond sophistries
"So, given that philosophy, I have ranked the top 20 Major League Sophomores below -- not by how their 2005 season will be, but instead their career. Think of this as a prospect ranking one year removed, now that we all know a little more."
Thursday, Feb 24, 2005
we put the sin in wisconsin
i know this should be posted at FinkFactorsFreakOutFridayThursday but i wouldnt want you to miss this classic performance art linkdada spacecake nixon.
hand jive
rude pundit is a five tool blogger.
i wanna party with that dude chick
i just ordered my "i voted for majikthise but all i got was this lousy suburban guerrilla" t-shirt.
simple machines
not so much an interesting post but i liked the idea of a five-tools blogger similar to that of a five tools baseball player.
"2) What's interesting? Your opinion on stuff by itself isn't really interesting to anyone except your friends. If you're funny, or you write well , or you actually know something , or can make a good argument , or are good at unearthing interesting and relevant tidbits, that's interesting."
art of the link ladder
for all you hardened finkers out there, i appreciate the kind words in light of my poor performance in the koufax awards this year. i thought id finally get the recognition i deserve for being the Bluest Blog in the Blogosphere but that category has been terminated. i dont want stir up the tinfoil hat crowd but this cant be a coincidence. it was my time, dammit!
and speaking of time, its about time that i mentioned the link at the top right hand corner of this page. "ffac" opens on a generally moribund blog that i threw up to display the excellence of my coding abilities. the links on the right are my rss feeds to my bloglines account. the links arent static (except for the msm links) so the most recently updated blogs (one hour ping lag) will appear at the top of each subheading. not every link on my page is represented but most are, and there are a number that are new as well. i know y'all cant get enough of the alphabet soup-style links on my page but if you like real words instead of gibberish then this just might be for you.
Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005
can you hear me now?
"And frankly, somebody had this story. They asked their friends out in California, "Who should I call?" And they said, "You know, you ought to call Aravosis. We trust him."
Monday, Feb 21, 2005
home shtick blues
luc sante on dylan.