July 2023 Links
July 2023 Links
Endless choice, what if The Force Awakens was good, the death of Cormac McCarthy, and more. 9 links.
I normally send this monthly round-up only to paid subscribers, but this month everyone gets it for free, so you know exactly what you’re missing.
The damnation of endless choice. And how women have even more to revolt against than men because their roles are obvious.
Women are built to be mothers, and they have biological reminders of this at every turn. They have wombs, they have periods, they have breasts, they are created to be maternal. When they refuse these attributes that were assigned to them, they are refusing much more of their obvious assigned identity. Their sexual suicide proceeds much more quickly than that of the men, although the men are doing whatever they can to keep pace.
For those afraid of getting married. A bit harsh and utilitarian, but a good shot in the arm for those living in fear. Just look at the raw math.
Other than its generally unpleasant nature, the waste of time and money it entails, and the inevitably deleterious effect on the children, divorce really isn’t anything for the average man to fear. So, if you’re a young man who is afraid of marriage due to the perceived dangers of divorce, be aware that you risk missing out on one of the greatest and most important experiences of your life because you’re jumping at shadows.
What if The Force Awakens was awesome? This alternate version has some interesting ideas. The bones of it are great and work much better than the film we actually got. I’d only quibble with a few details.
Are the tactics and strategy of Mordor valid against Gondor? This in-depth analysis says yes.
The goals here (operational objectives) of Sauron’s plan here absolutely check out. Minas Tirith contains most of Gondor’s military, and functionally all of its leadership and administration – its destruction could very well be war-ending. At the very least, control of Minas Tirith would open the rest of Gondor to raiding as well as enable Sauron to control the resource-rich Pelennor Fields. Delivering a powerful and effective siege (the operational objective) is very likely to lead to victory over Gondor and territorial control of it (the strategic objective). Now the question is Sauron’s plan to achieve that operational objective (we will talk about Gondor’s planning too – a little later in the series).
What is the best body type for fighting? It might not be what you think. Video from Twitter.
Yes, you should care about what others do in the privacy of their bedroom. It affects us all. This is a great Twitter thread.
We know this to be true. In a marriage, if the husband is in the privacy of his own room looking at porn, this is not his own choice that has no effect on his wife or his children. It’s a betrayal. Not only that, it corrupts his relationship with his wife.
Has the sexual revolution backfired? Yes. Yes, it has.
Louise Perry, the author of The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century, questions the once unambiguously positive view of the sexual revolution.
Perry argues that sex-positive feminism justifies abusive and power-imbalanced sexual practices and pressures women to imitate masculine roles.
A moving tribute to Cormac McCarthy. The final scene from The Road will stay with me forever.
After passing through a ghostly Southern underworld, where Faulkner was his Virgil, McCarthy settles into his own voice. Everything after his first four novels is clean and crisp, like a canyon wind that sears your throat.
Victor Davis Hanson on the absurdities of our age. When you throw a skipping stone across the pond of our culture, you can’t help but hit several absurdities.
Ideology now has made a mockery of the cherished traditions of blind justice and equality under the laws. Whether you are arrested, indicted, and convicted increasingly hinges on your politics.