Friday Hodgepodge

Notable Commentary

"[T]he theocratic principle behind their proposal ... set back the use of anesthetics for decades; it justifies removing hands and heads in Saudi Arabia; it would force every pregnant woman to carry a fetus to term; it disallows the use of embryonic stem cells to save lives." -- Bob Stubblefield, in "Letter: Parody Marriage Bill Is Laughable" at The Aiken Standard.

"Tariffs are immoral because they use government force to prevent people from trading freely." -- Bob Stubblefield, in "Letter: Tarriffs Are Immoral" at The Aiken Standard.

Image via Pixabay.

"It's relatively easy to measure the number of lives lost due to criminal gun violence. It's harder to measure the number of lives saved by legal defensive gun use." -- Paul Hsieh, in "Any Study of 'Gun Violence' Should Include How Guns Save Lives" at Forbes.

"I propose we change the Second Amendment to read: For self-protection and hunting, the individual right to keep and bear self-protection and hunting arms shall not be infringed." -- Talbot Manvel, in "We Need to Change the Second Amendment to Clear Up Confusion About Rights" at Capital Gazette.

From the Blogs

Over at The Roots of Progress is a lengthy review of Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now by Jason Crawford:

In my opinion, Enlightenment Now is just what the world needs right now. It is a defense of the ideas and values that have created the modern world, and a defense of that world itself. I don't agree with every word of it, but I agree with its theme and essence.

The weakest aspect of the book, to me, is its morality. "Humanism" is a great start, because it sets the right standard: human life and everything that helps people thrive and prosper. But Pinker largely ignores issues of individualism vs. collectivism, and egoism vs. altruism, that I see as core to the ideological struggles of the modern world.

Energy advocate Alex Epstein also discusses the book at the blog of the Center for Industrial Progress. Epstein, who also generally holds the book in high regard, posted a twenty minute video about the book's analysis of climate and energy issues. (HT: Dollars and Crosses)

-- CAV