Tag Archives: Scott Johnson

“It is never wrong to do the right thing”

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This is picked up at Powerline which is from a newly published book of Commencement Addresses by Conservatives. The one that Scott Johnson has reprinted is one given in 2008 by Justice Clarence Thomas. It really is worth your time, but I have selected this passage because it has its own meaning to me:

Take a few minutes today to say thank you to anyone who helped you get here. Then try to live your lives as if you really appreciate their help and the good it has done in your lives. Earn the right to have been helped by the way you live your lives.

Next, remember that life is not easy for any of us. It will probably not be fair, and it certainly is not all about you. The gray hair and wrinkles you see on older people have been earned the hard way, by living and dealing with the challenges of life. When I was a young adult and labored under the delusion of my own omniscience, I thought I knew more than I actually did. That is a function of youth.

With the wisdom that only comes with the passage of years, the older folks warned me presciently and ominously, “Son, you just live long enough and you’ll see.” They were right; oh, so right. Life is humbling and can be hard, very hard. It is a series of decisions, some harder than others, some good and, unfortunately, too many of them bad. It will be up to each of you to make as many good decisions as possible and to limit the bad ones, then to learn from all of them. But I will urge you to resist when those around you insist on making the bad decisions. Being accepted or popular with those doing wrong is an awful Faustian bargain and, as with all Faustian bargains, not worth it. It is never wrong to do the right thing. It may be hard, but never wrong.

Not horrible but rather unpleasant and threatening

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This is Scott Johnson’s description of the experience of a Swede who went into the Muslim area of Malmö “disguised” as a Jew:

John Howard Griffin famously enlisted the assistance of a dermatologist to have his skin darkened so he could pass as a black man traveling in the deep South for six weeks in late 1959. He reported his experiences in Black Like Me. Based on the journal he kept, the book has sold more than 10 million copies and remained continuously in print since its publication in 1961.

Swedish journalist Petter Ljunggren had a similar idea, though he didn’t have to go to Griffin’s lengths to conduct the experiment. Replicating the experiment conducted by journalist Patrick Reilly in October 2013, Ljunggren donned a kippah and a Star of David to walk the streets of Malmö, Sweden, with its large Muslim population. Captured with a hidden camera, the experience depicted is not horrible, but rather unpleasant and threatening (at 17:50 and 29:30 or so in the video below).

The Algemeiner reports on the results of the experiment here. Elder of Ziyon follows up here. . . .

The comments at YouTube indicate that accurate English subtitles are forthcoming; the current English subtitles were generated automatically via Google. They have the quality of Ezra Pound’s translation of Anglo-Saxon poetry into modern English without the imposing rhythms or alliterative lilt. You sort of get the drift.

Whether Christian or secular, this is your fate as well unless dealt with as a matter of some urgency.

Me at Powerline

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For me it was a moment to treasure to find myself quoted by Scott Johnson at Powerline. I, of course, told everyone I know and only later realised that no one else but me amongst the people I know have even heard of Powerline never mind read it (this is Australia, after all). But for me, the four contributors are the four bloggers closest to my own way of thinking about things (although to them you’d have to add Mark Steyn, Glenn Reynolds (the Instapundit) and although she’s not a blogger, Ann Coulter). So a special moment for me was one that could not really be shared. Such is life. But a special moment it most certainly was.

The title was, “HITLER GETS TRAPPED IN SEA ICE”. This was the introductory text:

At Catallaxy Files Professor Steven Kates et al. have been following the Ship of Climate Fools with a gimlet eye as a local (Australian) story — in “The rest of Chris Turney’s life mapped out,” for example. Most recently, in “The spirit of Turney,” Professor Kates draws attention to Andrew Bolt’s Herald Sun Post “Something’s cracking, and it’s not the ice around the warmists’ ship” and to the video below

And this was the text of the story:

At Catallaxy Files Professor Steven Kates et al. have been following the Ship of Climate Fools with a gimlet eye as a local (Australian) story — in “The rest of Chris Turney’s life mapped out,” for example. Most recently, in “The spirit of Turney,” Professor Kates draws attention to Andrew Bolt’s Herald Sun Post “Something’s cracking, and it’s not the ice around the warmists’ ship” and to the video below contributing to the Hitler Discovers genre (rated R for language).

And then there was the video, the best version of these satires I have seen. I have watched a lot of these over the years but this was the best ever. Not only did it get the politics right but the words are perfectly coordinated to the visuals. No other has made me laugh out loud and this one continually does. I only wish I knew who did do it since it is attributed to Tony Ice. My suspicion is that whoever did it is an Australian since he gets the nuances right, although I must say he spells not just “hocky” wrong but also “Abbot” which may mean he’s not an Australian. But citizenship he should be immediately granted if not here already. So once more into the breach dear friends: