Ludger Viefhues-Bailey
Recent Posts by Ludger
Boston, between Columbine and 9/11
President Obama declared that the “hateful agenda” of the Boston bombers will not succeed. But he also warns us not to jump to conclusions. Thus we may ask, what if there was no agenda? What if the Tsarnaev brothers are not ideologically motivated Islamic terrorists but deluded young men, just like the killers of Columbine,…
SCOTUS: Where Pessimism Could Kill Marriage Equality
In a previous post I discussed the doctrine of pessimism recently extolled by the philosopher Roger Scruton in the New York Times. Scruton claims that we should resist endorsing social change because the hope we hold for positive outcomes of our actions can be deceiving. We should be very, very careful; something that seems like…
When Pessimism Tramples Truth
Roger Scruton’s New York Times column “When Hope Tramples Truth” extols the virtues of pessimism by decrying the mindlessness of those endorsing marriage equality. But it turns out that being a pessimist does not preclude one from being a bigot; Scruton’s column shows how to be both at once. Scruton sets out to convince us…
A (Neoliberal) Church of the Few
New York Times columnist Bill Keller recently created something of a controversy by following the president of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, in claiming that liberal Catholics who find themselves out of sync with the magisterium should leave the church. While for Keller this would be a move to liberation, for Donohue doing so would leave the church…