The Natural Linguist

I think this binary view that a government is either socialist or capitalist is unhelpful. Because those two words are just labels that mean different things to different people, they tend to obscure rather than clarify. They have become nothing more to most people than an ideological rallying cry used cynically by politicians and blindly by partisans. But the worst thing is that they form a barrier to rational discourse by turning what should be an informed debate about the costs and benefits of specific policy proposals into a holy war of good vs. evil fueled by ignorance and invective. We all are the beneficiaries of both "capitalism" and "socialism". We all enjoy the products of others' ingenuity and invention that improve and enrich our lives. But consider the fact that all of that is possible only because our businesses are built upon a vast infrastructure that we have established with great effort and maintain at great cost. Public schools, libraries and ...

The phrase "you are what you eat" has never been more true. Our consumption of information junk food is at an all-time high and many are suffering simultaneously from information obesity and knowledge malnutrition. It is ironic that we live in an age when the knowledge and wisdom of the ages is freely available, spread out before us in a rich profusion that was unimaginable even a few decades ago. And yet so many people are literally starving their minds and wasting their lives by consuming a steady diet of vapid entertainments and one-sided news that is nothing more than bombastic hot air. So why, in the midst of riches, do so many choose the lesser part? What has become of our character? How is it possible that we have the GPS, but are still lost? Many good people I know talk of the need to return to Christian values. But what does that mean? The phrase "Christian values" means different things to different people. Those who are attracted to their own gender can a...