Links gone wild!
It’s always fun to yank the rug out from under various pieties, but liberal pieties are the most fun because they fall with such a wonderful crash. This bit of rug-yanking is particularly satisfying. It turns out that the diversity movement, one of the unassailable social precepts of our time, actually has undermined civic life. And that assertion isn’t just a podium-pounding opinion. It’s backed up by rigorous research by a fellow who apparently didn’t much like what he found. But give him credit for going where the research took him. That’s what a good social scientist does. Personally, I always had doubts about the diversity movement, mostly because I never quite understood how a relentless attention to our differences brings us together. But that’s just podium-pounding. Feel free to ignore me. (As if you need my permission.)
Aw, heck, as long as we’re on the trail of liberal pieties, let’s address a second one. Another recent progressive movement — the push to eat local, avoiding food that has traveled long distances and spewed carbon exhaust the whole way — is a lot more slippery than you might think. As this piece explains, it’s possible to do more damage to the environment by eating something local than to have it flown in from the other side of the globe. As is the case with so many other things in life, the local-food movement can’t be boiled down to a simple slogan.
Garry Kasparov, the Russian-born former world chess champion, explains the workings of the current Russian political system in a novel way: If you want to know how it operates, read Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather.” Kasparov writes, “A Puzo fan sees the Putin government more accurately [than do historians]: the strict hierarchy, the extortion, the intimidation, the code of secrecy and, above all, the mandate to keep the revenue flowing. In other words, a mafia.” Winston Churchill once described Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Kasparov’s analysis of his native land has the benefit of simplicity, and as William of Ockham pointed out, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
No edition of LGW! would be complete without something from Youtube. Ever heard of Evrim Tuzun? Neither had I, until I came across this video. As best I can make out, he’s a Turkish pop musician who seems to be pretty good as turning out a dance beat. Don’t be alarmed by the video’s title, “Sexy Shake Dance.” This is strictly PG-13 stuff. I’m more captivated by the dancing than by the song, frankly. This girl can bust a move. But the part I like best comes in the final few seconds, when the music fades and she smiles self-consciously, waving to the camera.