Found via the very elegant Tea at Trianon, Ladies Against Feminism has so much of interest one hardly knows where to begin. Insightful reading for persons of both sexes. (NOT genders, if you please--a word that has only a linguistic meaning and subject of much abuse [if you think not, look into "gender studies" courses that give a minimum of seven mind-boggling genders--following the cultured example of the sites I have cited, I shall not assault your sensibilities.])
This, from TSO, seems right on target:
I'm often puzzled by those who are resentful of the rich and who are bothered by disparities of income. Disparity is minutiae, what counts is how much the poor have, whether their needs are met, and that the "floor" be as high as possible.
This is the roadmap for the end of envy (at least in matters material). The focus should not be on taking away from someone in order to even out the playing field, but rather on supplying those who are in want with the things they need in order to live a decent life. Now, some systems are better at this than others and the difficulty often seems to be how to make the desirable result come about without undesirable consequences for everyone else.
At Disputations:
And if we think that, apart from Him Who is the Truth and the Life, we aren't captives and prisoners, then no wonder the devil doesn't work any harder at oppressing us. Even today, "all those who are oppressed by the devil" means all of us.
Intrigued by some of the finds Erik has made at You Tube, I was provoked to go and find some things of my own. I was amazed at the variety and number of things I could find.
However, I hesitate to post them because I am uncertain of their copyright status and I certainly would not want to inadvertently bring down the wrath of the lawyers upon this little place.
But the internet is truly amazing. I can see the Peter Gabriel Genesis, including both Foxtrot and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I found several clips from Curved Air including the very lovely "Melinda, More or Less," and the haunting "Marie Antoinette" (both from the superb album Phantasmagoria. I was able to find some of the Annie Haslam Renaissance and performances of works by Gentle Giant, Christian Vander's Magma (a jazz rock fusion group that sings songs of alien societies in a completely made up language), the Robert Fripp incarnation of King Crimson, Aphrodite's Child (which gave us Vangelis), T. Rex with Elton John playing "Bang a Gong," John Foxx, Ultravox, Gary Numan, Lene Lovich, and too many others even to list. Suffice to say a cornucopia of the odd, the weird, the wonderful, the beautiful, and the absurd. What an archive of culture. Where else might you find performances by The Residents (including an excerpt from The Third Reich and Roll Album and Tuxedomoon (a mention of which at Erik's site sent me off on this search to start with.
Now my Amazon Wish-List is crammed full of what I used to listen to and had largely forgotten when my vinyl became more or less obsolete. Bill Nelson, Be-Bop Deluxe, Klaus Schulze, PFM, Nash the Slash, Joy Division, Nick Drake. . .
and so it continues. Amazing things. There were very few even very obscure artists who were not available--Peter Hammill, Jan Akkerman, Steve Hackett (not that these are necessarily terribly obscure--but try it and see.)
I don't know what to think about the economic theories of Schumacher etc., although I readily admit to being charmed by the notion of self-limitation, however, here is a blog, Small is Still Beautiful that features the writing of Joseph Pearce. Thanks due to Joshua, The Western Confucian
I don't know what to make of the "subsidiarist" movement. Were it to catch on, I strongly doubt my own abilities to participate in anything like a meaningful contributive way; but then, do I really participate in a capitalist system in any way that regulates the system or makes it a just economic system under which to live? Do any of us "buy responsibly" at all times, or even most of the time?
I must read more about this subject, but as my agenda is full to the brim, it may take a while to get around to it. As I tend to like the prose of Mr. Pearce, it may well be that his "follow-up" will be the first work I tackle.
