Rupert Lowe, MP, is a real leader and statesman. I’ve developed a liking for Rupert Lowe at a distance, being the colonial that I am. I was therefore glad to see this interview in Islander #5. I’ve no great quarrels with
Carl Benjamin’s article is a good start So, let’s start with a disclosure: I’m only part of the way through Islander #5. It’s not a quick read, requiring both analysis as you go and some time to digest. Thus far, the
Optics matter, in reality. When we deal with politics, we have an understandable tendency to focus on whether or not we believe the current goings-on are good in themselves. We ask, ‘Was that police shooting justified?’ or ‘Is this proffered
Don’t help your enemy kill you (and your children) Accelerationism is a really, really bad idea. The appeal is clear, of course. We see the world building up its Jenga block tower of bad ideas and bad decisions and outright
Necessity is the word of tyrants. Expediency is foundational to our current administrative state, wherein one body writes the laws, executes the laws, alters the laws case-by-case, and judges the laws, with minimal interference by representative government or the judiciary.
Martin, Warhammer, Tolkien: The Relationship of Morality With Power Morality’s relationship to power is a classic problem (one I brush up against in my novel). Is righteousness doomed? Does might make right? Is morality a silly pretense in a world of
The description given by an Anglo-Saxon poem holds true today. My second favorite poem in all the world is The Wanderer, an Old English work narrating the contemplations of a man deprived of his place in the world, sent forth an
I have no great respect for Kant. In his most benevolent role, this famous philosopher features as the pun-pair with ‘can’t’ in highbrow dad jokes that aren’t funny out of context. In his more famous position, Immanuel Kant stands among
Does determinism eliminate the possibility of rational thought? On a short and fanciful foray into the world of quantum physics, I encountered the (rather philosophical) assertion that determinism makes rational thought impossible. This assertion I, as proximate to a determinist
The modern day is cold and swift and made of mechanism, number turning number…. To Eomer, nephew of Theoden, Aragorn declared a reminder apt to us in the modern day (as Tolkien is wont to be): “The green earth, say