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The Long View

The Long View: Samuel Johnson and His Dictionary of Doom

Samuel Johnson may be one of the most influential figures in English orthography. Samuel Johnson and His Dictionary of Doom Perhaps the most common defense of the traditional orthography of English is that the spelling is supposed to reflect the etymologies of the words, and so gives useful clues to

The Long View: Why We Need a Philosophy of History

Francis Fukuyama's legacy will surely be his essay, "The End of History", or the book version thereof. In the narrow sense that liberal democracy does indeed seem to reflect a completion, or an exhaustion, of the Western political tradition, I think Fukuyama's thesis can

The Long View: Son of Rosemary

I like the late 90s idea that devotees of Ayn Rand might prove to be unusually resistant to the false religion of the Antichrist, because of how sweetly naive it is. Rand built up a formidable cult of personality around herself that is probably only limited by intentional eschewing of

The Long View 2004-10-28: The Last Scandal; Good Usage; Little People

It is a little unclear where the small hominins on Flores Island came from, but the speculation is fascinating. The Last Scandal; Good Usage; Little People There are four things to keep in mind about the Al Qaqaa Explosives Scandal: (2) As a defense of the Administration, point (1) is

The Long View: Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection

Ross Douthat pointed out today that atheism, as such, isn't particularly rational. For most of recorded history, gnosticism has been the preferred alternative for intellectuals to classical monotheism or paganism. The argument that God is evil is a far stronger one than that God doesn't exist.

The Long View: Cthuluism and the Cold War

Despite John's protests, I think this is pretty funny, and disturbingly topical. Cthuluism and the Cold War Preface: Some of the references in this parody are admittedly obscure. You have not only to know a bit about Lovecraft's fiction, you also have to be familiar with

The Long View: The Coming Age of Cathedrals

In 2014 I speculated that John Reilly probably knew Richard Landes, because of their common interests. I managed to miss this essay of John's where he talked about meeting with Landes in New York City. I'm not sure how, since I referenced the ideas here in