Author: geoff

Defining "liberal tolerance"

Russell Blackford takes on Terry Eagleton’s bullshit, and in doing so gives us a particularly good definition of liberal tolerance:

A liberal is not someone who takes the contorted view that her own viewpoint is no better than others on offer (that would be a vulgar and implausible sort of relativism). She is someone who takes the principled political stance that, although she considers her comprehensive worldview (perhaps a rationalist one, but perhaps even a religious one of some sort) to be superior, she will not attempt to impose it by means of fire and sword, as long as others do not attempt to use fire and sword to impose their views on her.

Generally speaking, liberals are even prepared to tolerate (at least up to a point) those who do not reciprocate. That’s a practical necessity in modern societies because it may well be that the majority of religious and similar groups are not totally prepared to reciprocate. They do so only with reservations.

There are, of course, difficult issues about how far liberals should tolerate the intolerant, such as Catholic cardinals with theocratic tendencies. However, the general assumption is that individuals and groups which advocate intolerant laws and social arrangements will themselves be given a broad measure of tolerance. That doesn’t mean that they should receive credence or be immune from criticism or beyond satire.

David Macaulay at the Tacoma Art Museum

Even though I’ve been in Seattle for nearly three years, I’ve never visited the city with which it shares an airport: Tacoma. I’ve driven though Tacoma on the way to California, but that hardly counts. I’ve always thought of Tacoma as relating to Seattle in the same way that Providence, RI relates to Boston: either could have become the prime location in the region, but the loser was doomed to play second fiddle. Both Tacoma and Providence are interesting, but neither really compares to its northern neighbour.
The idea to visit Tacoma was spurred by coming across an ad for an exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum on the work of David Macaulay. I’ve been a huge fan of his, ever since his first book “Cathedral“. The exhibit is absolutely first-class, and includes many working drawings, outlines, paper models, and drafts for reworked projects. A large number of the pieces were simply thumb-tacked to the wall, just as if they were in the artist’s studio. The exhibit also included the video of Macaulay’s talk at TED about his Rome project, which helped to put many of the working drawings into perspective. Hmm – “perspective”. Bad choice of word. If you watch the TED talk, you’ll understand why.
The Tacoma Art Museum is small, but the exhibits were first class. I loved the series of Salvador Dali etchings in an exhibition on the evolution of surrealism; some seemed close to early Picasso, which surprised me. A collection called Speaking Parts included a quite outstanding piece by Dennis Evans called “Writing Lessons”. If there’s a downside, it’s the over-exposure of Dale Chihuly glass, which is frankly not to my taste. (There’s a dedicated museum of glass just down the road; why couldn’t all of his overwrought neon whorls and orgasmic sea anemones be kept down there?)
We didn’t stay long; after a quick lunch, we had to head back up to Seattle. But I suspect that we’ll be returning soon.

In the tradition of the Inquistion…

Andrew Sullivan identifies one of the architects of the Bush/Cheney torture policy: Edward Whelan, who – incredibly – heads up the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

The presence of devout Catholics authorizing the waterboarding of a human being 183 times in a row really does help put theoconservatism into a new perspective, doesn’t it? Speaking of which, where are the Catholic bishops? They can manage to get into the news opposing a commencement speech by the president, but when incontrovertible evidence that the Bush administration tortured prisoners emerges, the silence from the top is deafening.

But the Catholic Church today has become fixated on two beliefs – the evils of modernity, and the primacy of obedience – and two issues – abortion, and homosexuality. Nothing else matters to the hierarchy. Nothing.
UPDATE: Whelan claims that the reports are erroneous, and Andrew has withdrawn his accusation. But the broad conclusion – that the christianists are deeply hypocritical and only care about issues that have cultural leverage – is still true.

Internet-Age Writing

Internet-Age Writing Syllabus and Course Overview

As print takes its place alongside smoke signals, cuneiform, and hollering, there has emerged a new literary age, one in which writers no longer need to feel encumbered by the paper cuts, reading, and excessive use of words traditionally associated with the writing trade. Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era focuses on the creation of short-form prose that is not intended to be reproduced on pulp fibers.

(Via Ozan)

The end of an era

Here’s Jonathan’s allsun@ email announcing the Oracle acquisition of Sun.

“To me, this proposed acquisition totally redefines the industry,” wrote Jonathan Schwartz this morning to Sun’s employees in a company-wide email announcing the acquisition of Sun by Oracle. Among other remarks, Schwartz adds: “Let me assure you [Oracle is] single minded in [its] focus on the one asset that doesn’t appear in our financial statements: our people.”

Snoqualmie Falls, railroad museum, and Archie McPhee's

And the thing linking these three topics is a collection of photos. Two collections, actually, here and here. I uploaded them to Facebook because (a) iPhoto supports that, and (b) I ran into some certificate issues with grommit. However Facebook limits the number of pictures per album to 60…

Snoqualmie Falls
Snoqualmie Falls

Twin Peaks' Double R Diner (Twede's Cafe) in North Bend, WA
Twin Peaks' Double R Diner (Twede's Cafe) in North Bend, WA

From the observation car: the railroad museum at Snoqualmie, WA
From the observation car: the railroad museum at Snoqualmie, WA

The legendary Archie McPhee's store is moving.
The legendary Archie McPhee's store is moving.

"There is no way to be a good interrogator and not look into torture. "

You need to read Terry Karney’s reactions on reading the torture memos.

I was beginning to wonder at myself. It wasn’t until I was deep into the third memo (which is a detailing of the various “techniques” being used, and the rationalisations for them being legal, that I really started to be disgusted. It was the detailing of how sleep deprivation was to be enforced which got me. I can’t imagine doing that to someone. I just can’t.

Part of that is years of being intimate with torture. There is no way to be a good interrogator and not look into torture. To be a good interrogator one has to be curious, and torture is the uncle we don’t like to talk about, because he’s a little off.

It’s not that I’ve not walked right up to that line. In some example exercises I came right up to it. And I stopped the event. The subject was willing, and I wasn’t going to do anything which caused permanent physical, or mental, harm, but if I’d done it, I’d have been on the other side of the lines I’d drawn. It was tempting, seductively so. If I’d done it, he’d have talked. He was getting ready to cry. I hadn’t touched him. I hadn’t even fixed him to the chair (which probably made it worse, he could move, but he couldn’t get away). I had absolute power over him (insofar as the LT would have let me go, which; it turns out, was further than I was willing to let me go).

And in a follow-up, Terry points out the obscene illogic of the standards established in the memos:

The only way to avoid being tortured is to give up information. If one doesn’t have the information, than one is doomed to be abused. The most willing “detainee” will not be believed, unless he has information about high value targets. This is defined as a “very high” standard.

What it actually is, is no standard. Everyone is presumed to be knowledgeable, and the only way to avoid being tortured to get at that knowledge is to have it to give up.

Honest ignorance will get you tortured. Devotion to the truth of one’s ignorance will only “prove” that one is a die-hard fanatic. And “die-hard fanatics” need to be abused, so they will “give up” the information we knew they had. Catch-22.