Is “diversity” the panacea it is claimed to be for improving company performance and avoiding the dangers of group-think?
The Myth of Progress?
It is a common element of the myths we human beings like to spin around our lives that our circumstances are progressing in a favourable direction, or at least are about to. Even when things are going badly we look for a silver lining in the cloud to encourage ourselves for the future. And we… Continue reading The Myth of Progress?
Is “Woke” the New McCarthyism?
In his 1964 essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Richard Hofstadter describes the phenomenon of McCarthyism as an example of what he terms the paranoid style and finds it far from being a novel phenomenon but rather a recurrent theme in the history of the United States. He quotes Senator McCarthy from 1951 as… Continue reading Is “Woke” the New McCarthyism?
Winterval Greetings
By Humbuggery I hear that Boris has cancelled Christmas. Well, good. Finally, the oppressors are oppressing themselves, which is the good news. As my contribution to dancing on the grave of Western culture, I would like to offer my personal thoughts on a common dirge often sung at this time of year, God Rest Ye… Continue reading Winterval Greetings
Working from Home: Opportunity or Threat?
One of the long-term consequences foreseen from the Covid-19 pandemic is that the trend for more people to work from home may continue on the basis that this has certain attractions both for employees (less time and money spent on commuting) and for employers (less expensive office space required). But not all the consequences of… Continue reading Working from Home: Opportunity or Threat?
Lexicon for the Lockdown
Advisor – 1. Someone to give you advice from behind a plexiglass screen; 2. also, the type of facial covering that make you look like a bottled head. Antibacterial – a treatment for the complaint known as skin. Bugle smudger (see Mask) – The facial equivalent of the budgie smuggler; a device to render the… Continue reading Lexicon for the Lockdown
The spectre haunting the West: Marxism and the contagion of resentment
The spirit of resentment forms the dark heart of Marxism, its viral load, to pursue the analogy, and the dialectic its protective mechanism of transport. For Marxism to affect and infect its host, though, it must exploit its weaknesses. One vulnerability is clearly the existence of actual injustices in society, of which there is an endless supply. The other is the susceptibility of a proportion of the population with above average narcissistic tendencies. Though most people are narcissists to some degree, people with several traits associated with narcissistic personality disorder5 are highly susceptible to radical ideologies, not only leftist, but also far-right, Islamist, and animal rights and environmentalist extremism, for example.
Compassion and politics: a dangerous mix
Once, driving in a foreign land many years ago, I passed a person walking alone on a dark, unlit country road. As random, irrational violent thoughts cross all our minds from time to time, I had an unbidden image of attacking them. Instead of just dismissing the impulse through fear, anger or humour, as those… Continue reading Compassion and politics: a dangerous mix
Wherein Lies Salvation?
One day the great moral counsellor Zarathustra was out for a drive in his Maserati with his friend Ziggy, the rift between them having healed following the recent difference of opinion about Cultural Appropriation. Ziggy, as was his wont when they went for such drives, was musing out loud to see if he could provoke… Continue reading Wherein Lies Salvation?
Precepts for Observing Lockdown
It was now the 100th day of the ordinance of lockdown and Zarathustra, that renowned prophet of postmodernism, was engaged, as was his wont, in deep consideration of the resolution of a troublesome dilemma: whether the demands of the day merited rising from his bed and changing out of his pyjamas. Unable to summon the… Continue reading Precepts for Observing Lockdown