Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 57

Today’s Iconoclastic Outbreak

Periodically in history, people get caught up in a cause that finds expression in destroying or getting rid of works of art.  It happened in the early church.  It happened in the Reformation.  It is happening today as the revulsion against white nationalism is manifesting itself in the impulse to vandalize or remove statues of Confederate […]

Back to the War in Afghanistan

President Trump in a prime-time national address re-committed the United States to war in Afghanistan.  Never mind that this directly violates his biggest campaign promise. In his speech, the president said that we would “fight to win.”  He said, “We are not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists.” The goal will be to reverse the gains made by […]

Does the eclipse mean anything?

We are having a good time in Australia, but I greatly regret having to miss the eclipse.  Where we live in Oklahoma, the eclipse of the sun will be 90% total, which should still be quite a show.  Historically, though, eclipses were occasions of existential dread. It wasn’t that the ancients didn’t understand what eclipses were, […]

What cities have the best quality of life?

The UK Economist has released its annual  “Global Livability Ranking” assessing the “quality of life” of the world’s major cities.  Terrorist attacks and civil unrest–including violent demonstrations in the U.S.–have brought down the rankings of many cities.  Overall, the world’s quality of life has declined from a score of 76.1% to 74.8% this year.  But there is […]

A modernist, a postmodernist, and a Lutheran walk into a bar. . .

We’re in Australia, where I’ve been doing quite a bit of speaking.  I just gave a public lecture at the Lutheran seminary in Adelaide entitled “The Modern, the Postmodern, and the Lutheran:  How Lutheran Christianity Can Address the 21st Century.”  (It draws on a book I’ve written with Trevor Sutton.  Much more on that when […]

Steve Bannon’s hara-kiri by phone call?

  UPDATE:  Steve Bannon has been fired. President Trump’s controversial advisor, Steve Bannon, emulated his departed enemy Anthony Scaramucci, for some inexplicable reason, by calling up a journalist to vent about his co-workers! But Bannon’s behavior is even more inexplicable than what Scaramucci did.  He called up the arch-liberal journalist Robert Kuttner, editor of the “progressive” […]

Virtue Signaling as Self-justification

We have a need to "justify" ourselves, to show that we are right, that we are good.

Virtue signaling as self-justification

“Virtue signaling” is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.”  It has become a staple of social media, whether by an expression of indignation when “catching” someone else’s […]

Abandoning Trump

President Trump is becoming increasingly isolated.  His own party is abandoning him.  Fox News said that they could not find a single Republican (presumably a Republican office-holder or party leader) to defend him for his Charlottesville statements.  Business leaders who comprised his various economic councils have been resigning, to the point that now President Trump has […]

Most Americans Admit They Are Sinners

Only one in ten Americans (10%) believe that sin doesn't exist. That is slightly more than the percentage who deny that they are sinners (8%).