Language and Power
By Amanda Patchin | We wade through a torrent of words and images every day, and yet we mostly lack a clear understanding of what language is and can be for the human. The Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper’s slender little pamphlet Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power, first published in 1974, provides welcome clarity on this issue for we…
Understanding America’s Unique Beginning
By Mike Gonzalez | One of the best enunciations of the theme of the creed that we have is from 1921. Having embarked on his first visit to the United States, G.K. Chesterton, an English writer, wrote that “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed.” Other nations don’t have a need for a unifying…
Decadent Art and Perishing Societies
By John Stonestreet | Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan is known for trolling the art world. One his projects featured an 18-karat-gold toilet. The toilet, valued at $6 million, was stolen in September. His newest project sold for $120,000 but didn’t fare much better. It was a banana taped to the wall at an exhibition…
Christmas After Communism
By Annie Holmquist | During the holiday season I usually come across at least one social media picture of families seeking to give back. This can be through serving a meal at a homeless shelter, volunteering at Feed My Starving Children, or even packing a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. That last activity has become…
Do Facts or Feelings Reign on Campus?
By John Leo | The mainstream press has not shown much interest in the struggle of college journalists to report accurately on free-speech and free-press issues on campus. On November 13, The New York Times weighed in with a long news article on student…
Is Failure Necessary for Success?
By David Noonan | The recipe for succeeding in any given field is hardly a mystery: good ideas, hard work, discipline, imagination, perseverance and maybe a little luck. Oh, and let’s not forget failure, which Dashun Wang and his colleagues at Northwestern University call “the essential prerequisite for success” in a new…
Reproductive Technologies and Human Dignity
By Melissa Moschella | Given the risks of assisted reproductive technologies and gene-editing technologies for both individuals and society as a whole, a hands-off, libertarian approach to these issues is ethically irresponsible. Because these technologies imply a radical transformation in our understanding of the meaning of parenthood and…
The Mortal Peril of Scientific Vanity
By Roberto Rivera | Last week, more than 11 thousand scientists issued a report entitled “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency.” The message of the report was that the planet is on the brink of a “catastrophic ‘hothouse Earth,’ well beyond…
When Does the Government Own Our Speech?
By Barry Brownstein | When I viewed this video, I wondered if it was a hoax. I thought it must be a group of actors trying to make a point about how far restrictions on speech have gone. Unfortunately, the video captures reality in Scotland in 2019. The video picks up…