I answer questions about why I don’t fear the left as much as the right, what it takes to be an intellectual, and whether I’m prepared to be a radical about anything at all
It must be hard to be "temperamental conservative" nowadays, when change seems to been happening all around us, yet we naturally resist change. In general, I think we're all temperamental conservatives because even people like me who kinda-sorta embrace change can only take so much change before we just want to settle in and not have to learn a new gizmo or pronoun.
Everything has to operate within a certain context and within the context of GOP politics many traditional GOP stalwarts, who are also temperamental conservatives, can not seem to break away from their party because it would end potentially generations of family connections to the Party. My Governor Charlie Baker (MA) is that kind of example. Great Gov. (who I've voted for), but can't get himself from leaving the party that he and his dad (a sub cabinet Nixon appointee) proudly served and identified with forever.
So what does a temperamental conservative do when the environment around them has radically changed? As you can recognize, this is my ongoing theme and I look forward to next month reading your thoughts.
Great column and thanks for taking my question. So by your definition of intellectual, I am aware of several intellectual writers who aren’t expert in any area but do indeed send me hotfoot down rabbit holes on subjects and issues I’ve never studied before. So their writing and their illumination on subjects does help make sense of complexities.
Second, thank you for being brave on the subject of transgenderism and children. It has been the cause du jour on the progressive left and it makes me queasy. I think the activists are denying the level of (someone called it) social contagion involved. It’s cool now to be non-binary and transgender just as it was to be Goth or any other number of other fads children explore when they’re young. That’s what being young is for, exploration and play-acting. And youthful dramatic emotions are more the norm so I’m sure these kids are expressing themselves with passion on the subject.
But now, there is encouragement to hop to medical intervention, and to keep information from supposedly non-affirming parents. I’m not quibbling here about the choices of legal adults but we used to recognize that there are areas in which the young brain is not yet developed enough to make certain choices, such as smoking and drinking.
Progressives argue that we’re really talking about a handful of children and even then most do not go on a life of medicalization. They argue that gender-affirming care reduces self-harm and saves lives. Are we so sure.
I just have to commend you for the intellectual humility you consistently bring to the table. I've only recently started following your writing, but I find the way you tackle hard issues and wrestle with your own assumptions to be so refreshing. Keep up the good work!
Re: "How does the public relate to such people as Patrick Deneen, Adrian Vermeule, or Sohrab Ahmari"?
I think one of those things is not like the others. I disagree with Deneen and Vermuele on most issues, but I think they are serious, mean what they say, and have thought hard about what they say before saying it.
Sohrabi probably has quite a lot more name recognition, not from his role in Compact but from his post at the Post and from his pluperfectly Trumpy attacks on David French. Kind of a conservatism of irritable gestures for the Twitter age.
It must be hard to be "temperamental conservative" nowadays, when change seems to been happening all around us, yet we naturally resist change. In general, I think we're all temperamental conservatives because even people like me who kinda-sorta embrace change can only take so much change before we just want to settle in and not have to learn a new gizmo or pronoun.
Everything has to operate within a certain context and within the context of GOP politics many traditional GOP stalwarts, who are also temperamental conservatives, can not seem to break away from their party because it would end potentially generations of family connections to the Party. My Governor Charlie Baker (MA) is that kind of example. Great Gov. (who I've voted for), but can't get himself from leaving the party that he and his dad (a sub cabinet Nixon appointee) proudly served and identified with forever.
So what does a temperamental conservative do when the environment around them has radically changed? As you can recognize, this is my ongoing theme and I look forward to next month reading your thoughts.
Great column and thanks for taking my question. So by your definition of intellectual, I am aware of several intellectual writers who aren’t expert in any area but do indeed send me hotfoot down rabbit holes on subjects and issues I’ve never studied before. So their writing and their illumination on subjects does help make sense of complexities.
Second, thank you for being brave on the subject of transgenderism and children. It has been the cause du jour on the progressive left and it makes me queasy. I think the activists are denying the level of (someone called it) social contagion involved. It’s cool now to be non-binary and transgender just as it was to be Goth or any other number of other fads children explore when they’re young. That’s what being young is for, exploration and play-acting. And youthful dramatic emotions are more the norm so I’m sure these kids are expressing themselves with passion on the subject.
But now, there is encouragement to hop to medical intervention, and to keep information from supposedly non-affirming parents. I’m not quibbling here about the choices of legal adults but we used to recognize that there are areas in which the young brain is not yet developed enough to make certain choices, such as smoking and drinking.
Progressives argue that we’re really talking about a handful of children and even then most do not go on a life of medicalization. They argue that gender-affirming care reduces self-harm and saves lives. Are we so sure.
Sorry for the vent.
On your definition of an intellectual v an academic...c.f. Isaiah Berlin, "The Hedgehog and The Fox"
I just have to commend you for the intellectual humility you consistently bring to the table. I've only recently started following your writing, but I find the way you tackle hard issues and wrestle with your own assumptions to be so refreshing. Keep up the good work!
Re: "How does the public relate to such people as Patrick Deneen, Adrian Vermeule, or Sohrab Ahmari"?
I think one of those things is not like the others. I disagree with Deneen and Vermuele on most issues, but I think they are serious, mean what they say, and have thought hard about what they say before saying it.
Sohrabi probably has quite a lot more name recognition, not from his role in Compact but from his post at the Post and from his pluperfectly Trumpy attacks on David French. Kind of a conservatism of irritable gestures for the Twitter age.