René Magritte, Golconda, 1953.

2,173 words

The twofold crises of the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic are perfect opportunities for modern nihilists and culture-destroyers of every stripe to let off all the brakes. It is not often that world events align so cleanly with the rhetoric and goals of our enemies, which presents some troubling developments (more…)

Mars, ca. 2nd century AD.

2,096 words

You are here because you are convinced of the rightness of your ideas. This is not meant in a specific, epistemological sense; as in, your ideas have been verified by some kind of universal truth or that they are backed by data drawn from rigor, though these things could be applied to many of the ideas we hold on the Right. I mean that you are convinced enough of what you hold to be true that you are taking a risk in upholding it, even in the face of great adversaries. (more…)

3,123 words

“Why . . . so . . . serious?” — The Joker[1]

“It’s all a joke.” — The Comedian[2]

“All humane people should admit that they are jokers; that they are playing games and playing tricks. That I am doing it on you—I am most ready to admit this. I hoaxed you all into coming here to tell you . . . what?” [laughs loudly, crowd laughs] — Alan Watts[3]  (more…)