tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334456322024-03-07T06:02:33.532+01:00WindRose HotelAnd Brutus is an honourable manS.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.comBlogger1470125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-16620583350624911392024-01-19T21:24:00.002+01:002024-01-19T21:24:46.779+01:00America’s Descent into Madness and Back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div>My latest on <i>American Thinker.</i></div><div><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>Several indicators suggest that a shift in public sentiment is taking place</i></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4I0w4VTjSIBSJ8rCb6SYef1Hq6EiWuY4L7uIZ6NVnK6fCw0-3-QE8OWBaL57aYaIRH3D79V0R9mE2eLLbQzomXi2L68sTiE_b5sD-sOH8I0lu2FbkhPdSnGimrOoH1cuRE-BRB5HLJ9HdpXBWtFXZEJZ_Oe7WSZ2AbVN0Jk1biHLXTqqFGGszw/s640/america.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="506" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4I0w4VTjSIBSJ8rCb6SYef1Hq6EiWuY4L7uIZ6NVnK6fCw0-3-QE8OWBaL57aYaIRH3D79V0R9mE2eLLbQzomXi2L68sTiE_b5sD-sOH8I0lu2FbkhPdSnGimrOoH1cuRE-BRB5HLJ9HdpXBWtFXZEJZ_Oe7WSZ2AbVN0Jk1biHLXTqqFGGszw/w316-h400/america.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><i><br /></i></div><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p></div><blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-92b85f78-7fff-02f5-5eb3-0fbb053577c9" style="font-size: inherit;"></span></p><blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-92b85f78-7fff-02f5-5eb3-0fbb053577c9" style="font-size: inherit;">It’s become almost a cliché that the United States of America, once a shining beacon of freedom to the world, is increasingly becoming less of a model and more of a bad experiment of political culture, a country that is losing its moral compass and is becoming more and more dysfunctional with each passing year. Until some time ago such kinds of observations were typical of left-wing intellectuals and activists, but in the last few months/years they have become bipartisan, though of course for opposite reasons.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-92b85f78-7fff-02f5-5eb3-0fbb053577c9" style="font-size: inherit;">One of the </span><em style="font-size: inherit;">maîtres à penser</em>—probably the most prominent one—of this new approach to understanding the evolution—or, better, involution—of American political culture is Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow in military history at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a professor emeritus of classics at California State University, Fresno. A good summary of his views on how America has changed in these past few years is a recent American Greatness <a href="https://amgreatness.com/2024/01/08/a-culture-in-collapse/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit;">article</a> that explains how, by whom and for what purpose American civilization has been turned upside down, which is why “we have a rendezvous soon with the once unthinkable and unimaginable.” In the last six months, he says, we have borne witness to a series of iconic moments evidencing a self-induced collapse of American culture. “The signs are everywhere,” he explains, “and cover the gamut of politics, the economy, education, social life, popular culture, foreign policy, and the military.” Although he doesn’t explicitly say it, the implicit message is that America is descending into a sort of madness.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: inherit;">How else can we explain why the Biden administration fled from Afghanistan, leaving behind billions of dollars of advanced military weaponry and equipment in the hands of Taliban? Or why has the Pentagon revolutionized the entire system of recruitment, promotions, and tenure in the armed forces, “by predicating them in large part on race, gender, and sexual orientation rather than merit or battlefield efficacy?” </span>[...] </p></blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/01/americas_descent_into_madness_and_back.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">America’s Descent into Madness and Back</a></div></b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-86741909500797955312023-11-09T21:50:00.007+01:002023-11-19T11:03:36.172+01:00Why Elon Musk Is Right about George Soros<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bcqoN_3T0ZL3rhyUeMYvjKSuxcH6MIvGBjAi1JwoILqvXMp3zojWj2JZzySXOxoau7rL3mnn5DJUqa4z4p0Iygs2sVVhI52FaiNzrGyc7ZOBHKzZ89BV4QIQW1CMt316g0AYjeWIWQVhhcRzZwPCmkMytxBwgi_HN5gQ1HGJHq2EFMwoG-YAMA/s889/AT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="752" height="597" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bcqoN_3T0ZL3rhyUeMYvjKSuxcH6MIvGBjAi1JwoILqvXMp3zojWj2JZzySXOxoau7rL3mnn5DJUqa4z4p0Iygs2sVVhI52FaiNzrGyc7ZOBHKzZ89BV4QIQW1CMt316g0AYjeWIWQVhhcRzZwPCmkMytxBwgi_HN5gQ1HGJHq2EFMwoG-YAMA/w506-h597/AT.jpg" width="506" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>My latest on <i>American Thinker.</i><div><i><br /></i><i>Musk gets it: at the core of Soros’s project is the destruction of America and what she stands for.</i></div><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p></div><blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Something some observers of public life in the United States and elsewhere have been wondering for a long time is whether, if you wanted to destroy American civilization, its values, traditions, and institutions, you would act differently from how George Soros has acted so far. I’m pretty sure the answer is no. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and the world’s richest man, seems to agree.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">
“In my opinion, he fundamentally hates humanity,” Musk said during an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “He’s doing things that erode the fabric of civilization, getting D.A.s elected who refuse to prosecute crime. That’s part of the problem in San Francisco and L.A. and other cities.” As for why Soros uses his Open Society Foundations to focus on local races instead of national campaigns, “once you get to city and state district attorneys,” he explained, “the value for money is extremely good. Soros realized you don’t actually need to change the laws; you just need to change how they’re enforced; if nobody chooses to enforce the law — or the law’s differentially enforced — it’s like changing the laws.”</p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">
Not by chance, to make an example, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who a few months ago became the first prosecutor to bring a criminal case against a current or former American president when a grand jury indicted Donald J. Trump, according to reports, got support from a political action committee that took money from George Soros. Not to mention that Bragg’s controversial “Day One” memorandum reportedly said his office wouldn’t prosecute some “nonviolent” crimes, such as resisting arrest and fare-beating. Later, Bragg backtracked on that policy after strong public resistance.
</p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Cities in which Soros has successfully installed D.A.s have become ungovernable and increasingly unlivable because of the high rate of crime and violence.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">
Another recent example is that, according to the filings reviewed by Fox News Digital [...] </p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/11/why_elon_musk_is_right_about_george_soros.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Why Elon Musk Is Right about George Soros</a></div></b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-72075266597394278512023-06-08T10:07:00.000+02:002023-06-08T10:07:00.249+02:00Ron DeSantis’s War on Woke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5JTSBc76DaxbdJjZzz0nHZ1NrsInE6GFgbkN2z3wdFNj2K7H9kaMDIP4e2OYY2gkMOeXyR4GL5p6-8MkuOZgoWKR-gezUg18xRA66hwfBTIVm2harHyZuUqOkuFIcusJ3CkYzP-Ubh-0RCPFHwxPdt11pLaDB_sv9uY-nt0CGuLGfd6H1Rk/s680/ron.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="652" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5JTSBc76DaxbdJjZzz0nHZ1NrsInE6GFgbkN2z3wdFNj2K7H9kaMDIP4e2OYY2gkMOeXyR4GL5p6-8MkuOZgoWKR-gezUg18xRA66hwfBTIVm2harHyZuUqOkuFIcusJ3CkYzP-Ubh-0RCPFHwxPdt11pLaDB_sv9uY-nt0CGuLGfd6H1Rk/w384-h400/ron.jpg" width="384" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>My latest on <i>American Thinker.</i><div><i><br /></i><i>There is no politician who better understands that Woke is an existential threat to America
</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p></div><blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Ron DeSantis calls himself the governor of the state “where woke goes to die,” and his track record of accomplishments in the fight against wokeness as governor of Florida – which he believes will be a model for his presidency of the whole country – has caught the attention of many across the country. Take <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/266" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit !important;">Senate Bill 266</a>, which prohibits Florida’s public universities from spending money on programs or activities that “advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion or promote or engage in political or social activism” and weakens tenure protection for professors. Or <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1069" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit !important;">House Bill 1069</a>, dubbed by critics as “Don’t say gay,” which liberates teachers and students from having to use fashionable nonstandard pronouns. The law also expands existing parental authority over a child’s education by extending the existing prohibition on instruction relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through grade 3 to include prekindergarten through grade 8 and expressly stating that charter schools must comply with this requirement. The bill also requires that instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in grades 9 through 12 be age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students. A review process is also established that allows parents to object to inappropriate books in schools and requires school boards to discontinue the use of any material the board doesn’t allow a parent to read aloud in public meetings.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">As former diplomat and host of “DeSantisland” podcast Dave Seminara summarizes [...] </p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/06/ron_desantiss_war_on_woke.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Ron DeSantis’s War on Woke</a></div></b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-67905160420570080542023-04-23T22:14:00.000+02:002023-04-23T22:14:32.646+02:00School choice could destroy the Democrat party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtsfdTBn4ZDdLoZ1rQL_Z-6722EC3B9RAGSvjnFoYeaGMlbxVOJszat5xJIDrDCM8bkWNQL1UpWkUKDRT5d1IU0ueqzJQwlQ0J3-mHSC3RMu2ZT4VpbNBWToovbclfyV2qQSxn5E25-0naffftXVTBZFfPah5cNPtCfzGMRldzYT_PTFkj1Ao/s1000/Curriculum_poll_classroom_Trench.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="1000" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtsfdTBn4ZDdLoZ1rQL_Z-6722EC3B9RAGSvjnFoYeaGMlbxVOJszat5xJIDrDCM8bkWNQL1UpWkUKDRT5d1IU0ueqzJQwlQ0J3-mHSC3RMu2ZT4VpbNBWToovbclfyV2qQSxn5E25-0naffftXVTBZFfPah5cNPtCfzGMRldzYT_PTFkj1Ao/w507-h325/Curriculum_poll_classroom_Trench.jpg" width="507" /></a></div><br /></div>My latest on <i>American Thinker.</i><div><i><br /></i><i>School choice will drastically reduce the Democrat Party’s election workforce, squeeze its finances and even discredit its basic philosophy
</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p></div><blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"Surviving the next decades might be an uphill struggle for the Democrat Party. This not so much, or not only, because of the strength of its opponents, but because of education options that give students the choice to attend a school other than their neighborhood public school, commonly referred to as ‘school choice’ policies. So says The Spectator’s Lewis M. Andrews. His reasoning goes as follows: only occasionally in U.S. history does an issue surface that challenges not only the core values of a political party but the party’s working system, that is its ability to function. Now, “if any such issue has emerged in our own time, it’s clearly school choice.” Why? ‘Cause school choice “will severely reduce the Democratic Party’s election workforce, squeeze its finances and even discredit its basic philosophy”. Simple as that.
The subject of fierce debate in various state legislatures across the United States, school choice policies, especially the widespread subsidy of K-12 grade schooling in venues not run by teachers’ unions, “would deplete the enormous army of campaign workers that Democrats have come to depend upon during every election cycle.” Not a minor matter. The case of New Jersey is both emblematic and paradigmatic of these dynamics: [...] </p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/04/school_choice_could_destroy_the_democrat_party.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">School choice could destroy the Democrat party</a></div></b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-65154557222511135962023-02-27T21:59:00.001+01:002023-02-27T21:59:33.378+01:00People, Publishers Speaking Out Against 'Insane' Censorship of Roald Dahl<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvBGG5i4tOMfm8FR8rmIUNO69kfUvzBYdReN3qNNZgbw7B7kdwAcfn4QY6zhi2L5-UoJ-LhH2knpVjeVM4vR1pEqiEV97xUSdUAa4AaznaNNOK3M3e71QF1yk9GpF49HGklUdPPNHT9IeTitL5g4dmzxSdUd4suAYnDEFvlkknb-R_nEaWyg/s600/244149_5_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvBGG5i4tOMfm8FR8rmIUNO69kfUvzBYdReN3qNNZgbw7B7kdwAcfn4QY6zhi2L5-UoJ-LhH2knpVjeVM4vR1pEqiEV97xUSdUAa4AaznaNNOK3M3e71QF1yk9GpF49HGklUdPPNHT9IeTitL5g4dmzxSdUd4suAYnDEFvlkknb-R_nEaWyg/w400-h266/244149_5_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>My latest on <i>American Thinker.</i><div><i><br /></i><i>
This latest woke assault to common sense and freedom of expression might just be turning against those who launched it.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p></div><blockquote><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed," <a href="https://twitter.com/SalmanRushdie/status/1627075835525210113" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit;">tweeted</a> American-British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie in response to chief executive officer of free expression group PEN America Suzanne Nossel, who <a href="https://twitter.com/SuzanneNossel/status/1627066101309018112" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit;">said</a> the group is "alarmed" at hundred of changes to venerated works by Roald Dahl "in a purported effort to scrub the books of that which might offend someone."</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">As the Daily Telegraph first <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/17/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-offensive-matilda-witches-twits/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit;">reported</a>, "language related to weight, mental health, violence, gender and race has been cut and rewritten." For instance, the word "fat" has been cut from every new edition of relevant books, while the word "ugly" has also been culled. As a result, Augustus Gloop in <em style="font-size: inherit;">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</em> is now described as "enormous" (instead of "enormously fat"), while in <em style="font-size: inherit;">The Twits</em>, Mrs. Twit is no longer "ugly and beastly" but just "beastly." In addition to numerous changes made to the original text, some passages not written by Dahl have been added. In <em style="font-size: inherit;">The Witches</em>, a passage explaining that witches in the book are bald beneath their wigs now includes a line that reads: "There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that." [...] </p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/02/people_publishers_speaking_out_against_insane_censorship_of_roald_dahl.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">People, Publishers Speaking Out Against 'Insane' Censorship of Roald Dahl</a></div></b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-90974053587852197132022-12-21T17:04:00.002+01:002022-12-21T17:04:46.546+01:00Is America Falling Like Rome?<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9RiByxVNzdFNp-cuMKobt1EWxbRAHZHGZLy4xv8iaf_gMMPA1Huh2E0a4L5wkQ3QroU_5x2zYTsl_rCGgvN8ALpe3r4wHAcLaXx-Cj4lrddARexzVfq7Gj0i4v0aTm2_at2jx-zCOU_Boqt1BksudXvp3LsWUQFQGHJaSROJVdTYWcwyG24/s600/rome.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9RiByxVNzdFNp-cuMKobt1EWxbRAHZHGZLy4xv8iaf_gMMPA1Huh2E0a4L5wkQ3QroU_5x2zYTsl_rCGgvN8ALpe3r4wHAcLaXx-Cj4lrddARexzVfq7Gj0i4v0aTm2_at2jx-zCOU_Boqt1BksudXvp3LsWUQFQGHJaSROJVdTYWcwyG24/s16000/rome.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div>My latest on <i>American Thinker.</i><div><i><br /></i><i>
Is America running low on the resources it requires to avoid ruin? Victor Davis Hanson concern about the fate of America</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p></div><blockquote><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">When news of the Battle of Saratoga reached Britain, a young Scottish barrister told economist Adam Smith: “If we go on at this rate, the nation must be ruined.” Adam Smith responded, “Be assured young friend, that there is a great deal of ruin in a nation.” By that, he meant that nations can absorb a lot more blows than the pessimists tend to think. A few days ago, American Greatness had a <a href="https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/11/our-parasitic-generation/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit;">very concerned article</a> by Victor Davis Hanson on the future of America. After quoting Adam Smith’s answer at the beginning of the article, and after reviewing the ills that beset America, Hanson concluded his reflection with the following statement: “We have seen lots of cultural revolutions in this country, but never one that was so singularly focused on razing the foundations of America -- until now. Yes, there is a lot of ruin in great nations. But even America is by now running low on it.”</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">In all fairness it has to be said that such a terrible sentence perfectly reflects the reality of the country as it has become today. We are $31 trillion in collective debt, says Hanson, the military is politicized and short of recruits, and the American people are witnessing the breakdown of basic norms essential for civilized life: “Old Cairo seems safer than an after-hours subway ride or stroll at dusk in many major American cities. Medieval London’s roadways were likely cleaner than Market Street in San Francisco.” Not to mention the fact that “speech was freer in 1920s America than it is now.” Nor can the “abject, deliberate humiliation” suffered in Kabul be forgotten, when the worst U.S. administration ever decided to flee and abandon to the terrorist Taliban a huge, remodeled air base, tens of billions of dollars in military hardware, a $1 billion embassy, and thousands of friends. In addition, FBI is corrupt and discredited, collaborating with Silicon Valley’s Big Tech companies to suppress free speech and warp elections [...] </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/12/is_america_falling_like_rome.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Is America Falling Like Rome?</a></div></b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-23362083918179820292022-12-04T15:17:00.004+01:002022-12-04T15:20:15.479+01:00The Armageddon of Free Speech<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvLIhRSNuq_DiMmfIprptCjFjMXEvt3p0E4lLNkzuOCPJyg9yDIMtlwGCW30ICsTwsSSrESBhI3Z6Dd1Qgg4YCDACSAfyU-XDASWajDQH2NQhPy1l5NKDZ5b11T9MlcvvPAbXco_BkEWpIPcQDnxFbFbLpNrRfK4GDaIrae3EbtFVLc-4Exrk/s500/elon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvLIhRSNuq_DiMmfIprptCjFjMXEvt3p0E4lLNkzuOCPJyg9yDIMtlwGCW30ICsTwsSSrESBhI3Z6Dd1Qgg4YCDACSAfyU-XDASWajDQH2NQhPy1l5NKDZ5b11T9MlcvvPAbXco_BkEWpIPcQDnxFbFbLpNrRfK4GDaIrae3EbtFVLc-4Exrk/s16000/elon.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>My latest on <i>American Thinker.</i><div><i><br /></i><i>
Let's hope Elon Musk at Twitter is prepared for an onslaught from the world's biggest players against freedom of speech.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p></div><blockquote><div><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Just a few days ago, as many will remember, Elon Musk trolled CNN by <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597170780130852864" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit;">posting</a> on Twitter a meme with a fake headline attributed to the the cable news network. The image included a screenshot of anchor Don Lemon next to a stock photo of Musk. The headline read, "CNN: Elon Musk could threaten free speech on Twitter by literally allowing people to speak freely." Needless to say, CNN's public relations department quickly posted a screenshot of Musk's tweet, which included a disclaimer saying that the tweet was in violation of Twitter's rules. In response, Musk brushed off CNN's response, tweeting: "Lmaoooo." Those are the initials for "laughing my a-- off."</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">In addition to being funny, the episode was also in some ways incredibly meaningful and emblematic. In other words, the "fake headline" was not so fake. On the contrary, it was a brutal and effective synthesis of the way liberals, leftists, and progressives approach the issue of freedom of speech. They put things less crudely; they are so often sophisticated intellectuals who speak elegantly and like to dance around things instead of getting straight to the point. But the final result is always the same. Their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/28/elon-musk-twitter-free-speech-donald-trump-kanye-west" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: inherit;">reproach</a> for the supporters of freedom of speech — or what they call "free speech absolutists" — is that "free speech is not simply about saying whatever you want, unchecked, but about negotiating complicated compromises." According to the critics of Elon Musk, the "rhetoric of free speech absolutists" fails to understand that "for some speech to be free, other speech has to be limited."</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">It's curious that most of the time, their arguments are self-referential and self-assertive statements and propositions: "Like Trump, Musk has become the tribune of fascists and racists by way of adolescent contrarianism, an insatiable need to flaunt his control and a radicalising inability to cope with being told he's wrong on the internet. For him, 'free speech' seems merely a vehicle for his delusional plan to make Twitter into a fawning 'digital town square' that he presides over."</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Do you remember the medieval <em style="font-size: inherit;">ipse dixit</em> argument? "He (Aristotle) said it himself," serving as a phrase capable of ending arguments. Now it has become, "We (liberals, progressives, etc) say so." It's true because <em style="font-size: inherit;">we</em> say it's true, and if you don't agree with us, you are a fascist/racist/homophobe, etc., and we don't want your kind here. It's the contrary — <em style="font-size: inherit;">o tempora, o mores!</em> — of the answer Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis gave in 1927 to the question, "When someone says something we disagree with, should we shut them up?" "The remedy to be applied," he said, "is more speech, not enforced silence." [...] </p></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/12/the_armageddon_of_free_speech.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The Armageddon of Free Speech</a></div></b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-84221476073207615682022-09-28T17:59:00.001+02:002022-09-28T18:09:25.684+02:00Is the EU’s Establishment Trembling?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs793dFDo_BAWG4nNwn_Obvd7fvVEcnPETMFMf23bvYfh-swP6i2U5aORR60tdErYi0GfMedF8exHsvCzyVfPvITmCXLLBE6rHK8hFI5TlnLol2VbuBx9sgu6_dDvrEI4h_MMDgpkE3peqBktLbQvvt04PHkiKhcgZ2Kmybmvss-IDXVTj4xs/s500/meloni.jpg" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs793dFDo_BAWG4nNwn_Obvd7fvVEcnPETMFMf23bvYfh-swP6i2U5aORR60tdErYi0GfMedF8exHsvCzyVfPvITmCXLLBE6rHK8hFI5TlnLol2VbuBx9sgu6_dDvrEI4h_MMDgpkE3peqBktLbQvvt04PHkiKhcgZ2Kmybmvss-IDXVTj4xs/s16000/meloni.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p>My latest on <i>American Thinker.</i><div><i><br /></i><i>
Apart from the EU’s establishment and the international leftist community, no one should be worried about Italy’s next government.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><blockquote><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">The New York</span><em style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;"> Times’</em><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;"> Jason Horowitz on Monday </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/25/world/europe/italy-appears-poised-to-shift-to-the-far-right-as-voters-head-to-the-polls-today.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">correctly stated that</a><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;"> “Italy turned a page of European history on Sunday.” Unfortunately, he was wrong in adding that Italy elected “a hard-right coalition.” In fact, the winning coalition led by Giorgia Meloni is a center-right one. But this kind of misunderstanding perfectly reflects the way liberals -- and the mainstream media -- change the meaning of words to suit their own narrative and agenda. Meloni, for her part, describes herself and her Fratelli d’Italia party -- Brothers of Italy, a name that echoes the first line of the Italian national anthem -- as conservative. “There’s no doubt that our values are conservative ones,” she </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/13/giorgia-meloni-italy-interview/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">told the Washington <em style="font-size: inherit;">Post</em></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">. “The issue of individual freedom, private enterprise in economy, educational freedom, the centrality of family and its role in our society, the protection of borders from unchecked immigration, the defense of the Italian national identity -- these are the matters that we preoccupy ourselves with.” Of course, she’s very firm on her beliefs and principles. As </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHiOwBNWqHY" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">she said at CPAC 2022</a><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">: [...] <i></i></span></blockquote></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/09/is_the_eus_establishment_trembling.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Is The EU's Establishment Trembling?</a></div></b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-227983665687018002022-09-10T21:47:00.003+02:002022-09-10T21:47:58.239+02:00Is Europe on the Verge of a Political Breakdown?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2c9PsfBaANYFH0aTPaV4WuxRSSLjsYp5Uo5EGmkDsOZBfAh0TELemPLHGufngixth-vfQOlT3gj-DeuQCjVFxc0NygpW1Um537lrG6UudvS3AbP-Sh38YXjg6JNur_xQJe8cBLSHIrz68mHPhoV04GXb75-EYGRkGuEqpqnwC_i6DZj8rB50/s500/eu_flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="500" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2c9PsfBaANYFH0aTPaV4WuxRSSLjsYp5Uo5EGmkDsOZBfAh0TELemPLHGufngixth-vfQOlT3gj-DeuQCjVFxc0NygpW1Um537lrG6UudvS3AbP-Sh38YXjg6JNur_xQJe8cBLSHIrz68mHPhoV04GXb75-EYGRkGuEqpqnwC_i6DZj8rB50/w400-h209/eu_flag.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><p></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>My latest on <i>American Thinker:</i></b></span></p><br /><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"Among the many consequences of the war in Ukraine, power dynamics in the EU are changing -- or have changed -- in response to the profoundly altered circumstances. As a matter of fact, if on the one hand Viktor Orbán’s proximity to Vladimir Putin has de facto paralyzed the Visegrad group (Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic), on the other Poland and the Baltic states are gradually coming into a more structured relationship with Nordic countries such as Sweden and Finland, presenting the EU, starting with Germany and France, with a fait accompli.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">At the same time, last Saturday tens of thousands of Czechs <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-03/thousands-of-czechs-protest-in-central-prague-over-energy-crisis" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit !important;">protested in Prague</a> against the government to demand more state help with rising energy bills, with some carrying signs denouncing the country’s membership of the European Union and the NATO military alliance. It was the largest manifestation of public discontent over the worst cost-of-living crisis in three decades.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">In Germany on Monday, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germans-revive-cold-war-monday-demonstrations-amid-inflation/a-63025218" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit !important;">more than 70,000 protesters</a> took to the streets in Leipzig, the most populous city -- with population of 500,000 -- in the German state of Saxony to protest against the government’s inefficiency in supporting measures to overcome the rising cost of living amid soaring inflation in the European country after the sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU in response to the assault on Ukraine. In addition to the Left Party, several right-wing parties have also called for demonstrations, including <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-torchlit-rally-against-covid-measures-in-saxony-prompts-outcry/a-60020777" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit !important;">Free Saxons</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/alternative-for-germany-party-afd/t-17455253" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit !important;">Alternative for Germany (AfD)</a>.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">In addition to that, it’s almost election time in Italy, where the very <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-19/italy-right-wing-bloc-nears-50-support-in-poll-for-autumn-vote" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit !important;">likely victory</a> for the center-right coalition in the general election on September 25 could see Europe’s fluctuating power dynamics shift still further... [...]"</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Read more: </span></b></span><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/09/is_europe_on_the_verge_of_a_political_breakdown.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", trebuchet, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Is Europe on the Verge of a Political Breakdown?</a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-8371480057747256262022-06-11T15:00:00.002+02:002022-06-11T23:28:03.922+02:00A Roller-Coaster Ride in Leftist Academia Hell<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjJ9D4tT6rq2OZ2ykQAtyiFa9LiVt4YigSE4z7zVNmB7W5RdMTzoCiFxcLeLWTyK0uPrevFsB4jb_VdeMPeu2QH3Mrantnq8EwJhBRDcZ_Hsy4oTC5cr3NM1mrOHgFf0wYVONdi7PZOw872wGVO7BpjV-D0aJ_475EdBHKyoHtcb4Aws3e2Ug/s500/Gorgetown.jpg" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjJ9D4tT6rq2OZ2ykQAtyiFa9LiVt4YigSE4z7zVNmB7W5RdMTzoCiFxcLeLWTyK0uPrevFsB4jb_VdeMPeu2QH3Mrantnq8EwJhBRDcZ_Hsy4oTC5cr3NM1mrOHgFf0wYVONdi7PZOw872wGVO7BpjV-D0aJ_475EdBHKyoHtcb4Aws3e2Ug/s16000/Gorgetown.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><p></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>My latest on <i>American Thinker:</i></b></span></p><br /><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"It must have been a whirlwind last few days for Ilya Shapiro, from his reinstatement as head of the Georgetown University Law Center, on Thursday, June 2, after a more than four-month investigation launched by Georgetown Law School, to his resignation from the school, on Monday, June 6, to the news that he <a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/press/ilya-shapiro-joins-as-director-of-constitutional-studies" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit;">joined the Manhattan Institute</a> as senior fellow and director of constitutional studies.</p><p></p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkR5y1837u1n4uDPWe-7werfWy2E4LKtjublCI7UXh3BY49vnGbMeDkvphm5kembWnAcNMHXFYRptJ7LSSKoL6gZ-xeAKxME6Ogm_FxwXljDPOctsXSwpGFp3cnwGpklNuAqsXODFtfkE7FUBICiesidSlNxxiXsQ5yGOOAWhEOrT0gLwi2U8/s1851/06georgetown-shapiro-new-superJumbo.webp" referrerpolicy="origin" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1851" data-original-width="1595" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkR5y1837u1n4uDPWe-7werfWy2E4LKtjublCI7UXh3BY49vnGbMeDkvphm5kembWnAcNMHXFYRptJ7LSSKoL6gZ-xeAKxME6Ogm_FxwXljDPOctsXSwpGFp3cnwGpklNuAqsXODFtfkE7FUBICiesidSlNxxiXsQ5yGOOAWhEOrT0gLwi2U8/w275-h320/06georgetown-shapiro-new-superJumbo.webp" width="275" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ilya Shapiro</td></tr></tbody></table>Georgetown investigated Shapiro after he <a href="https://www.thefire.org/ilya-shapiro-tweets-about-biden-supreme-court-nominee/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit;" target="_blank">tweeted</a> on January 23, 2022 that Sri Srinivasan, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, would be President Biden's "best pick" for the Supreme Court. He continued: "[Srinivasan e]ven has identity politics benefit of being first Asian (Indian) American. But alas doesn't fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we'll get lesser black woman."</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Ilya Shapiro's "lesser black woman" tweet gained wide attention on Twitter and within the Georgetown community and led Georgetown Law dean William Treanor to send an email <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/georgetown-law-dean-calls-new-hires-comments-breyer-replacement-appalling-2022-01-27/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit;">denouncing</a> the tweet as "appalling" and "at odds with everything we stand for at Georgetown Law." Georgetown's Black Law Students Association also called for Shapiro to be fired, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/06/06/ilya-shapiro-georgetown-resigns/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit;" target="_blank">the Washington Post reported</a>.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Shapiro deleted the tweet within hours, calling it "poorly worded" and "inartful." But, as the report submitted by Georgetown to the dean's office on June 2 shows, contrition can empower the mob rather than placate it. In fact, that apology was framed as evidence of guilt: Shapiro's "plain words not only explicitly identified the race, sex, and gender of a group of individuals," the report said, "but also categorized Black women as 'lesser.' Though [Shapiro] did not himself describe his comments as offensive or acknowledge that his comments could reasonably be interpreted to denigrate individuals, he promptly removed the tweet and apologized after others expressed their criticism." Besides, the 10-page report suggests that the university faced tremendous pressure to ostracize Shapiro. A "lot of faculty" expressed "deep concern" and "outrage" about Shapiro's tweet, as did several administrators, who said they would "not participate in any program or activity" involving him. It would be "disruptive," they told the diversity office, if Shapiro were "physically present" on campus.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Yet Georgetown reinstated Shapiro, saying university policies did not apply to him when he tweeted on Jan. 26, as his employment was to begin Feb. 1. In other words, he was cleared in the 122-day investigation only on a technicality. A bit too much to take in.[...]"</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Read more: </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/06/a_rollercoaster_ride_in_leftist_academia_hell.html" target="_blank">A roller-coaster ride in leftist academia hell</a></span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-22531272502308395592022-04-06T19:36:00.005+02:002022-04-09T21:22:14.628+02:00Western Suicide<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVJ6G0F9IeKpKljbEfunilRrcpJsDGp1KXDR6VS6yqpaerGR-5xbgPx5Bdh8j5uqzkdxRmGEYSNBLO1l_zeoRXmgdv4aW9owuIDZiO84wBWI3uQmODp0kGP0Op0_CousXnUh_ybb5So1rcFeW0qPc4ZWmUO2dO__54duNqCe4AvS4634qUoTs/s656/western.jpg" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="656" height="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVJ6G0F9IeKpKljbEfunilRrcpJsDGp1KXDR6VS6yqpaerGR-5xbgPx5Bdh8j5uqzkdxRmGEYSNBLO1l_zeoRXmgdv4aW9owuIDZiO84wBWI3uQmODp0kGP0Op0_CousXnUh_ybb5So1rcFeW0qPc4ZWmUO2dO__54duNqCe4AvS4634qUoTs/w400-h300/western.jpg" width="550" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gerardo Dottori, "Incendio sulla città" (1926, olio su tela)<br />Perugia, Museo Civico di Palazzo della Penna</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>My latest on <i>American Thinker:</i></b></span></p><br /><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">"On September 19, 2019, accepting the Defender of Western Civilization award from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute at the fourteenth annual Gala for Western Civilization, Sir Roger Scruton gave a <a href="https://isi.org/intercollegiate-review/a-thing-called-civilization/" referrerpolicy="origin" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit;">splendid address</a>, his last one before he left this world after battling cancer. The core message of the speech was that if Western civilization is under attack, this is happening precisely because it's Western, and "the word <em style="font-size: inherit;">Western</em> has been taken to be a standard term of abuse by so many people in the world today." Yet, he explained, Western civilization is not even close to what its detractors think it is — namely, some narrow, small-minded thing called Western. It is instead "an inheritance, constantly expanding, constantly including new things. It is something which has given us the knowledge of the human heart, which has enabled us to produce not just wonderful economies and the wonderful ways of living in the world that are ours, but also the great works of art, the religions, the systems of law and government, all the other things which make it actually possible for us to recognize that we live in this world, insofar as possible, successfully." That's why "we shouldn't despair of Western civilization." We're talking about, he concluded, "an open, generous, and creative thing called civilization."</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Sir Roger's remarks came to my mind as soon as I read the first pages of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Suicidio-occidentale-sbagliato-processare-cancellare-ebook/dp/B09V1DWZG5/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit;"><em style="font-size: inherit;">Suicidio occidentale</em></a> (Western Suicide), the new book by Federico Rampini, a prominent Italian journalist who lives in the U.S. and holds Italian and American citizenship. If an attack in the heart of Europe caught us unprepared, he argues with reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is because we were engaged in our own cultural disarmament and self-destruction. The dominant ideology spread by elites in universities and in the media requires us to demolish self-esteem and blame ourselves for almost everything that goes wrong in the world. According to this ideological dictatorship, he says, we Western countries no longer have values to offer the world and the new generations; we only have sins to expiate and lessons to learn.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">This is the suicide of the West. In many U.S. universities, Rampini notes, it is impossible for non-extremists on issues of sex and gender to have freedom of speech. The New York Times in particular, says Rampini, bears heavy responsibility in this regard for playing a central role in the creation of Critical Race Theory. Putin's aggression on Ukraine, backed by Xi Jinping, he concludes, is a consequence of the fact that the two major autocracies know we are sabotaging ourselves.</p><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Well, that makes perfect sense, does it not? After all, isn't it true that Putin wouldn't have dared to attack Ukraine if the 45th president had gotten a second term? And this not only because of Trump's personal charisma, but also — if not mainly — because of his philosophy and anti–politically correct narrative. From this point of view, too, the change at the White House was a disaster: Joe Biden's "woke" presidency is a luxury the West couldn't and can't afford. [...]"</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Read more: </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/04/western_suicide_.html" target="_blank">Western Suicide</a></span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-61638715063533383612022-02-07T21:55:00.002+01:002022-02-07T21:55:40.279+01:00The Big Lie of Woke Capitalism<p> <b style="font-family: inherit;">My latest on <i>American Thinker:</i></b></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKbZNQL5OAAio221wOYbUue5bWs3Z3WOqqQOYTbTnSzWQCCNf823ReCpKbv9y61ZUhA5zZ907Ji1ZYbBBt1MxIATkz-g5oUFENcZMv81Kr1b5WaJKGdOSd4CyW1M5HHsFswUdiBa4Jd4BbZD64NTFrckkuM9QOhS_lcYkvin8CDVZqwwBdPno=s500" imageanchor="1" referrerpolicy="origin" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKbZNQL5OAAio221wOYbUue5bWs3Z3WOqqQOYTbTnSzWQCCNf823ReCpKbv9y61ZUhA5zZ907Ji1ZYbBBt1MxIATkz-g5oUFENcZMv81Kr1b5WaJKGdOSd4CyW1M5HHsFswUdiBa4Jd4BbZD64NTFrckkuM9QOhS_lcYkvin8CDVZqwwBdPno=s320" width="212" /></a></div>"<span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">There are at least three terms to describe the concept of stakeholder capitalism -- corporate wokeness, woke corporatism and woke capitalism. The last of the three was coined in 2015 by Ross Douthat when writing a piece for the New York</span><em style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: inherit !important;"> Times. </em><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">He defined it as how companies signal their support for progressive causes in order to maintain their influence in society. Since then the concept has become very popular in the U.S. and worldwide, corporations have gone political and seek, or at least profess to seek, change in the world.</span><div><span style="font-family: times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.64px;"><br /></span></span><p style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">On January 24, for one thing, former Unilever CEO Paul Polman wrote in a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/34cf61c7-345d-4277-bf18-c1dbdd8a91fc" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit !important;">piece for the <em style="font-size: inherit !important;">Financial Times</em></a> that “Today, staff and customers believe you should... speak out on big, touchstone issues, from race to fake news and climate change.” In a historic moment of multiple and converging global challenges, he thinks, we have no other option but to embrace so-called stakeholder capitalism. After all, evidence is stacking up to show the “financial benefits to companies that consistently apply their principles and actively work to solve societal problems,” he argues. “Not everyone agrees, however,” he sadly but honestly acknowledges. In fact, if there is a big support for stakeholder capitalism among corporations, there’s also been a backlash from conservative voices, as we will see below. But let us dwell a little more on the supporters of stakeholder capitalism.</p><span style="font-size: 18.64px;"><span style="font-family: times;">In his</span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> <a href="https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2022/01/19/letter-to-ceos-2/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer;">annual letter to BlackRock shareholders</a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;">a few days ago, CEO Larry Fink argued that expectations of business leaders have changed dramatically in the last few years. Increased profits, happy shareholders, and more jobs are no longer what a chief executive is expected to deliver. For instance, most stakeholders -- from shareholders, to employees, to customers, to communities, and regulators -- “now expect companies to play a role in decarbonizing the global economy.” And “few things will impact capital allocation decisions -- and thereby the long-term value of your company -- more than how effectively you navigate the global energy transition in the years ahead.” This illustrates perfectly what stakeholder capitalism -- the new mantra of the </span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2019/08/19/why-maximizing-shareholder-value-is-finally-dying/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer; font-family: "times new roman", times, serif;" target="_self" title="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2019/08/19/why-maximizing-shareholder-value-is-finally-dying/"><span style="font-size: medium;">Business Round Table</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;"> as announced in August 2019 and endorsed by almost 200 CEOs of the largest corporations -- is all about</span>..."<br /><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Read more: </span></b></span><b><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/02/the_big_lie_of_woke_capitalism_.html" target="_blank">The Big Lie of Woke Capitalism</a></b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-8240318317511853702022-01-18T08:35:00.009+01:002022-04-12T01:31:10.262+02:00The American Medical Association Falls to CRT<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4ZG15QzWs4U6vOCN01XYEytc6_Csz-zT8XhADBJsNMmm7uTfKxxxczMYi4cnFPIKtUlGq9qM6ENFQkhrvreNmVUTlAe_u7oPv1Q1WQC1msJAmVHgkP4R7s7upjQ5vUd6QFN6djFy0sBzkl3-td2yVB_VC98Mm_qnFeUKq6JL9pWL0b4VjgY/s1200/AMA.jpg" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4ZG15QzWs4U6vOCN01XYEytc6_Csz-zT8XhADBJsNMmm7uTfKxxxczMYi4cnFPIKtUlGq9qM6ENFQkhrvreNmVUTlAe_u7oPv1Q1WQC1msJAmVHgkP4R7s7upjQ5vUd6QFN6djFy0sBzkl3-td2yVB_VC98Mm_qnFeUKq6JL9pWL0b4VjgY/w400-h266/AMA.jpg" width="550" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>My latest on <i>American Thinker:</i></b></span></p><br />"The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.” This well-known quote is a liberal translation of Antonio Gramsci popularized by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, which renders “In this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear” as “Now is the time of monsters.” Antonio Gramsci, the Italian Communist leader and theoretician who is considered the forefather of Critical Race Theory, had probably no idea that, a century later, such an accurate insight into his time would prove to be incredibly prophetic of our own here and now. Today the monsters -- or morbid symptoms -- are among us as neighbors, colleagues, and friends accept and embrace the Critical Race Theory and its ramifications in the many fields of human life and scientific research.<br /><br />One of these fields -- perhaps the most unthinkable -- is that of medical science and practice. Things have meaningfully changed since on June 25, 2021, White Coats for Black Lives (WC4BL), a national organization led by medical students, published <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">its statement of “vision and values.”</a> The organization, which boasts <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">75 chapters</a> at medical schools across the country and was called to action by the Black Lives Matter movement, “aims to dismantle racism in medicine and fight for the health of Black people and other people of color […]. Our job is two-fold: 1) dismantling dominant, exploitative systems in the United States, which are largely reliant on anti-Black racism, colonialism, cisheteropatriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism; and 2) rebuilding a future that supports the health and well-being of marginalized communities.” WC4BL also focuses on “dismantling fatphobia,” embracing “Black queer feminist praxis (theory and practice),” “unlearning toxic medical knowledge and relearning medical care that centers the needs of Black people and communities.” [...]<br /><br />On top of that, the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) recent guide to anti-racism planning suggests that universities develop a scorecard “similar to the White Coats for Black Lives’ Racial Justice Report Card.” A very important endorsement! Similarly, the October 30, 2021 “<a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Guide to Language, Narrative, and Concepts</a>,” a collaboration between the American Medical Association (AMA) and the AAMC Center for Health Justice, offers “a guidance on language for promoting health equity, contrasting traditional/outdated terms with equity-focused alternatives,” explores “how narratives (the power behind words) matter,” and provides “a glossary of key terms, defining key concepts, and whenever possible acknowledging debates over definitions and usage.” Terms such as “Caucasian,” for instance, should be avoided. Conventional phrases such as “Low-income people have the highest level of coronary artery disease in the United States” and “Native Americans have the highest mortality rates in the United States” should be changed respectively into..."<br /><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Read more: </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/01/the_american_medical_association_falls_to_crt.html" target="_blank">The American Medical Association Falls to CRT</a></span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY=s222" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75Q-CnEY9zEpd9c6-EralscO0YOpfncEuAoktykTg4IF1sMmXhBW-mYIfW09mAnU2u9kIGQbaN_mKz_GJh-ddDWxFSobVYXShi_RjNzJZanytJKSf-qb1UVTc-wTrSBG9AXqJyksyh_uWLuVZBz9NtvqPbwxEhyPKA2Enc6YWlqejKimYwBY" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-66710000201053863832021-12-26T22:03:00.004+01:002022-01-18T08:39:07.386+01:00The Covid fear factory is trembling<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKsTqhCek-CkiG1If3USXT4PUVabZIjTRD-_lMRFWcqGUZNWPu_uFop8ofn075VQyExnQGiEgkhPJetzZwV1XQz9kobp3nr2tuyE-xX-ZsLjRZRdnRIRx3GlGQrsJV3Nny2KzmIbYw2Bx0f3zIWkYepzeFKDbEc2PMK2CNDSskp6e1aN7gcdg=s600" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKsTqhCek-CkiG1If3USXT4PUVabZIjTRD-_lMRFWcqGUZNWPu_uFop8ofn075VQyExnQGiEgkhPJetzZwV1XQz9kobp3nr2tuyE-xX-ZsLjRZRdnRIRx3GlGQrsJV3Nny2KzmIbYw2Bx0f3zIWkYepzeFKDbEc2PMK2CNDSskp6e1aN7gcdg=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">My latest on <i>American Thinker</i>: </span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span>Hard times are coming for vaccine fanatics and fear-mongering lockdown enthusiasts, or at least that’s what we can reasonably expect after reading the news coming out of South Africa and the U.K. about the Omicron variant. As a matter of fact, the data out of South Africa after five weeks of Omicron spread and out of the U.K. in the first full week after Omicron hit the country suggest that the new Covid-19 variant should be a cause for celebration and relief, not fear and alarm—yet that’s not the direction in which the American media and many politicians are heading..." <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/12/the_covid_fear_factory_is_trembling.html" target="_blank">READ THE REST</a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiw3ut6gynE-8L_tONTpjoP_d7PPwZvYCdFsVwr3PkU49Rxr6sXYul_UUwR1dkeu9V33u6-_v3otCssQDTimA6FwLC9dKuw7aq4HgGYn9vTByBMeHiVqYUM40j0MsDGQBZ-KduQ_KbelkduN88K4oY0ogWOCizPlrxzsdOqPS6xUYIKfYntzVc=s222" imageanchor="1" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="175" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiw3ut6gynE-8L_tONTpjoP_d7PPwZvYCdFsVwr3PkU49Rxr6sXYul_UUwR1dkeu9V33u6-_v3otCssQDTimA6FwLC9dKuw7aq4HgGYn9vTByBMeHiVqYUM40j0MsDGQBZ-KduQ_KbelkduN88K4oY0ogWOCizPlrxzsdOqPS6xUYIKfYntzVc" width="175" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-56145649335722870142021-11-08T12:36:00.003+01:002021-11-08T12:36:32.453+01:00Will American Wokeness Destroy the Rest of the West?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9PCMDBnxeenXQMJR6Za1kHdf5SoW5qNpwyOX-qwZD3bzWWL8N4-Tl7jBypBInBgN_O9YttPAmsE4LArEWBRpL9RYGpb3f694J2sl01h4p1_-uia2nqiiYeInZRo8wEKbBs_w4A/s600/WOKE.jpg" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9PCMDBnxeenXQMJR6Za1kHdf5SoW5qNpwyOX-qwZD3bzWWL8N4-Tl7jBypBInBgN_O9YttPAmsE4LArEWBRpL9RYGpb3f694J2sl01h4p1_-uia2nqiiYeInZRo8wEKbBs_w4A/w400-h266/WOKE.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>It definitely seems that there's a sickness emanating from the United States that seeks to contaminate all of Western civilization. France in particular, believe it or not, is alarmed... <div><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/11/will_american_wokeness_destroy_the_rest_of_the_west.html" target="_blank">My latest on American Thinker</a>. </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-46955998261415483022021-10-03T10:42:00.002+02:002021-10-03T10:42:33.289+02:00The Left and the Control of Meaning<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiP99GW75celoqg3Y17vGSYNSSs2sjn-Hu4SOvvIkWfuVbb96b6W_7WG4udxc2wGBNSURXCSHr9ftfdLB35MRJwGBtIrwiFR0HJQbIuKMOAF61yv5wIq5x8NnTWqQ5NnNWmNCk-A/s2048/speechless.jpg" imageanchor="1" referrerpolicy="origin" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1357" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiP99GW75celoqg3Y17vGSYNSSs2sjn-Hu4SOvvIkWfuVbb96b6W_7WG4udxc2wGBNSURXCSHr9ftfdLB35MRJwGBtIrwiFR0HJQbIuKMOAF61yv5wIq5x8NnTWqQ5NnNWmNCk-A/w265-h400/speechless.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;"><p><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;"><br /></span></p>"If this isn’t a fight to the death, I don’t know what it is." </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18.64px;"><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/10/the_left_and_the_control_of_meaning.html" target="_blank">My latest on American Thinker</a>.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-50097956632025230222021-07-19T12:25:00.002+02:002021-07-19T12:25:29.888+02:00The Woke Are Coming to Britain<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWbXu6lYqR9jqLa4CGt5baMzjByr-I_lmwkCZwnhrNuIYsvGvE6LwHPnJ2QLxq6LizCNPtplCl-EX-XpEl2K5I7ikvfT9zThCNpgOq6PCpzv9eaeLKvTdKJIqLeI4ZnoPO51xaA/s600/231016_5_.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWbXu6lYqR9jqLa4CGt5baMzjByr-I_lmwkCZwnhrNuIYsvGvE6LwHPnJ2QLxq6LizCNPtplCl-EX-XpEl2K5I7ikvfT9zThCNpgOq6PCpzv9eaeLKvTdKJIqLeI4ZnoPO51xaA/w400-h265/231016_5_.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>As a result of the rise of wokism, faith in the principles of economic freedom and meritocracy is at an all-time low in the UK... My latest on <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/07/the_woke_are_coming_to_britain.html" target="_blank">American Thinker</a>. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-90143459782525090432021-06-30T14:59:00.001+02:002021-07-01T00:59:36.964+02:00Critical Race Theory and Its Offspring, BLM, Have Struck Again.<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF-J2jOCttr46n7luA-vBfofnCuFE8shTpxz1ycdOTRc6hV3yBPG_mWZB4RdfpMS1YoK7-DiGjLl6CX7tDDKICmZkVzPl5m3WR52fV4sZ7xEkB-ipX3V4c5HhuD9RpI_D6HXijeg/s861/american-thinker-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="861" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF-J2jOCttr46n7luA-vBfofnCuFE8shTpxz1ycdOTRc6hV3yBPG_mWZB4RdfpMS1YoK7-DiGjLl6CX7tDDKICmZkVzPl5m3WR52fV4sZ7xEkB-ipX3V4c5HhuD9RpI_D6HXijeg/w480-h159/american-thinker-1.jpg" width="480" /></a></i></div><i><br />American Thinker</i> – one of my favorite online magazines! – just <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/06/crt_strikes_again_.html" target="_blank">published</a> a piece I wrote about how Critical Race Theory seems to have become the EU’s equivalent of China’s Cultural Revolution, and BLM’s agenda is the most crucial social problem facing the old continent.<p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-58461333449416297052021-03-20T15:04:00.003+01:002021-03-20T15:04:26.954+01:00Blessed Are the Free in Spirit: a Review by Walter Bernardone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpW-scXdRpNqnEyzraLgNMo8dfBIn3YCmxak8utRbycxZqfwOTdm5a3IvxSQyal4zORA2EniVd6aBqijOw1TJuoyLHOm6EDNbQviiJgoLBi_LKxeN4ur9Lzx-soaCX7ezzhMQXg/s490/spirit_big_shadow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpW-scXdRpNqnEyzraLgNMo8dfBIn3YCmxak8utRbycxZqfwOTdm5a3IvxSQyal4zORA2EniVd6aBqijOw1TJuoyLHOm6EDNbQviiJgoLBi_LKxeN4ur9Lzx-soaCX7ezzhMQXg/s320/spirit_big_shadow.png" /></a></div>Once upon a time, I was a blogger. Now I’m someone who has a blog somewhere but has no time to update it anymore. But once a blogger, always a blogger… yeah, as Samuel Robert Piccoli has brilliantly (albeit indirectly) shown throughout his new book, blogging is much more than simply writing, it’s a way of life. Most people think blogging is a Web site on which people publish periodic entries in reverse chronological order and allow readers to leave comments.<p>
This is only partially true, however. As a matter of fact, blogging is defined more by a personal and opinionated writing style. The over-40’s know that blogs went largely unchallenged until Facebook reshaped consumer behavior with its all-purpose hub for posting everything social. Twitter also contributed to the upheaval. No longer did Internet users need a blog to connect with the rest of the world. They could instead post quick updates to link to articles that infuriated them, comment on news events, share photos or promote some cause, all the things a blog was intended to do. Yet the change is real, but not essential.</p><p>
What I loved most about <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W2DP9RC/" target="_blank">Blessed Are the Free in Spirit</a></i> is that it is the quintessence of blogging, an example of blogging at its best.</p><p>
Rob – as the author is best known in the blogosphere and social media – is also a philosopher and a man of letters, and this makes his writing even more fascinating. He can write about almost everything, as his book shows, without boring the reader. In short, he’s a great writer. </p><p style="text-align: right;"><b>
Walter Bernardone (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3889062306" target="_blank">GoodReads, March 16, 2021</a>)</b></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-89639130053628495382021-03-20T14:53:00.001+01:002021-03-20T15:10:35.129+01:00Blessed Are the Free in Spirit: a Review by Helen Butler
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpW-scXdRpNqnEyzraLgNMo8dfBIn3YCmxak8utRbycxZqfwOTdm5a3IvxSQyal4zORA2EniVd6aBqijOw1TJuoyLHOm6EDNbQviiJgoLBi_LKxeN4ur9Lzx-soaCX7ezzhMQXg/s490/spirit_big_shadow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpW-scXdRpNqnEyzraLgNMo8dfBIn3YCmxak8utRbycxZqfwOTdm5a3IvxSQyal4zORA2EniVd6aBqijOw1TJuoyLHOm6EDNbQviiJgoLBi_LKxeN4ur9Lzx-soaCX7ezzhMQXg/s320/spirit_big_shadow.png" /></a></div>Rarely have I come across such an inspirational and enlightening book. Though simply and pleasantly written, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W2DP9RC/" target="_blank">Blessed Are the Free in Spirit: A Journal in Complicated times</a></i> displays a critical spirit that is rare for our time of politically correct madness. This book challenges the reader without appearing to and without ever trying to preach to them, letting them make their own minds up about the many issues and topics the author touches upon, ranging from philosophy to literature, from politics to social media, from songs to seasons and places…<p>
At the same time the book shows the importance to have a strong inner compass, and in so doing the author takes the reader’s consciousness to the highest level.</p><p>
With that being said, if there is a flaw with this book, it is that it is not for everyone: it is not for small-minded people. It is not for people who cannot bear the freedom to be themselves and to take risks rather than just follow convention.</p><p>
Politically speaking I’d say that this is a book for open-minded Conservatives and common-sense Liberals, or vice versa. Religiously speaking, in turn, this is a book for open-minded Christians and open-hearted secularists. And so on. Not by chance, as the author himself suggests in the Introduction, <i>Blessed Are the Free in Spirit</i> was conceived under the sign of Michel de Montaigne, who excelled in the art of looking at the things of this world without blinkers, prejudices, and preconceived notions. As S.R. Piccoli puts it, “the Lord of Montaigne was a skeptic, but of a very different sort from the one we are familiar with. He was not the kind of skeptic who basically believes in nothing, who refuses to take anything on faith, who takes issue with organized religion, and things like these. Yes, he was a man who doubted almost everything, but at the same time, he was a good Catholic, one who believed without reservation all that the church taught and prescribed. Strange enough, isn’t it? But strange as it might seem, to be honest that’s what I have always liked the most about him.”</p><p>
To say that I like this book is an understatement, I love <i>Blessed Are the Free in Spirit</i> and strongly recommend it!</p><p style="text-align: right;"><b>
Helen Butler</b> <b>(GoodReads, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3888417810" target="_blank">March 13, 2021</a>)</b></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-72169868305906014412021-02-19T12:49:00.002+01:002021-02-19T12:55:35.396+01:00My New Book Is out and Available on Amazon!<p>Dear Readers,</p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDVXOPn2X1Kw0kh8s0m3vz-8GfbQGu8IGXrJPHJCFmMXStvmod5AhKNfqhlUNUCZ3HoVapkCMd63rCi0PjmBOfy3FyvEvk7nq6QRMJ7L7JyHHxf1EcRd_I91HbKOnAK19iEkZfw/s490/spirit_big_shadow.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDVXOPn2X1Kw0kh8s0m3vz-8GfbQGu8IGXrJPHJCFmMXStvmod5AhKNfqhlUNUCZ3HoVapkCMd63rCi0PjmBOfy3FyvEvk7nq6QRMJ7L7JyHHxf1EcRd_I91HbKOnAK19iEkZfw/s16000/spirit_big_shadow.png" /></a>
</div>
Here we go again, a new book is born. A few weeks ago, when all the chapters
were already written, I just had to write the Introduction to outline the
purpose, goals, and contents of the book. Which, at least as regards the
contents, was not an easy task at all, since this is a book that ranges across a
vast array of topics and subjects. Yet I was well aware that the contents are
not what matters most, to some extent they are just a chance and an opportunity.
What matters most is what certain events, facts, issues, thoughts, and feelings
can teach us about ourselves, life, and the world around us. I’d say that this
book is a dialogue with myself about my understanding of and relationship with
life itself. Existential, political, and philosophical issues—which are
frequently recurrent in the book—are functional to wider self-knowledge and
self-understanding. But this is not a philosophical book, despite the many
philosophical issues that crowd its pages. Nor is it a political one, despite
the seven subchapters devoted to the Trump era and its implications in the
political, social, cultural, and economic life in the U.S. and elsewhere.
<p>
Let’s put it this way: to me, it is always like this in people’s lives, the
idea is to always go forward, to progress toward an ever better condition. And
it is right that it should be so. But reality rarely matches the initial
vision exactly, and often it marches in the opposite direction. Contrary to
popular belief, in our times many never stop unlearning, nor do they give up
rising in the hierarchy of what is contrary to the Good, the Beautiful, the
Just, or simply the Reasonable. Ours are times of intellectual chaos and moral
relativism, if not nihilism, and everything seems on the verge of falling
apart, as the events of the recent past in the U.S. and elsewhere, in case it
was needed, have abundantly shown—by the way, while I was writing the
Introduction, thousands of President Donald Trump’s ardent supporters
violently were storming the U.S. Capitol building, prompting evacuations,
injuries, and arrests...
</p>
<p>
The whole story of Covid-19 fits perfectly into this context, to the point of
becoming, at least in my mind, an effective metaphor of the Zeitgeist, which
is interwoven with individual and collective pursuits, aspirations, and
ambitions that are so very often ill-conceived, short-sighted, and based on
false premises. Yet, such an upside-down world is nevertheless our one and
only world—and it is well worth fighting for, in spite of everything. In a
small way and to some extent,
<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W2DP9RC/" target="_blank">Blessed Are the Free in Spirit. A Journal in Complicated Times</a></i>
is my contribution to the fight.
</p>
<p>
Like my previous book,
<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NXRVVHG/" target="_blank">Blessed Are the Contrarians. Diary of a Journey Through Interesting
Times</a></i>, this one is a kind of diary of a journey through our time—politics,
culture, lifestyles, worldviews, etc.—and back home again, where “home” stands
for a deep sentiment of belonging to our own free and indomitable spirit,
which is much stronger than the spirit of our times, however powerful and
attractive it may be. Moreover, in this book, as in
<i>Blessed Are the Contrarians</i>, I have selected some of the articles
posted on my blog over the last few years, those most suitable for this
traditional mode of communication. In other words,
<i>Blessed Are the Free in Spirit</i> is somehow none other than Part Two of
Blessed Are the Contrarians. But with a couple of differences. The first being
that in this book, the “journal” entries are arranged in chronological order
(from most recent to oldest), as well as by subject matter. The second is that
the author is no longer exactly the same person he was when the first book
came out in 2012. This for the simple reason that time never passes in vain.
As Heraclitus said, “You cannot step into the same river twice.” The water in
the river is never the same, it is constantly moving, so the river is never
the same river twice…
</p>
<p>
<b>One word on the title of the book</b>. A free-spirited person can be many
different things—even (at least apparently) opposed to one another rather than
harmonious or compatible—because their heart is their compass, and heart has
no boundaries or rules imposed from outside. When they are religious, they
tend to focus on the innermost teachings and truths of their religious faith
rather than the “letter” of the Scriptures—and therefore they’re often, if not
always, on the verge of heresy... They do not dwell on the past but resist a
progress built on the destruction of traditions that go back many centuries
and of the systematic denial of our history and civilization. They are
fiercely independent, but can still develop a close emotional bond with those
who provide for them and look to others for protection. They deeply care about
their beliefs and what they feel strongly about but seem to not worry at
all—except the bare minimum—about normal stuff like money, career, success,
etc.
</p>
<p>
Free-spirited people are the salt of the earth, they are not restful persons.
You never relax with these people. They are inspiring and thought-provoking,
challenging and uplifting, men and women at their best. They are “contrarians”
in the best sense of the word. And so they are somehow a step ahead of those
to whom I dedicated my previous book. Some time ago, I stumbled upon an
excellent definition of that blessed kind of person: “A free spirit is not
bound by this, that, matter, materialism or opinion. They sing, dance, and
flow on the wind—for they are at one with it. They are nothing and
everything—void and expanse. Even space and time do not confine or define
them. For they are pure energy itself” (Rasheed Ogunlaru).
</p>
<p>
With that being said, please note that free-spirited does not mean
self-referential, solipsistic, or selfish. Quite the contrary. It’s because
they are deeply in love with Life, Humanity, Poetry, Music, Dance, Theater,
Writing and so many other things that Free-spirited people are what they
are—if they flow on the wind it’s because they are at one with it! If they are
self-confident it’s because they have faith in life! As the French say,
<i>tout se tient</i> (everything fits). Freedom itself is not an absolute, not
an either-or proposition, but a set of relations, possibilities mixed with
actualities. Likewise, freedom of spirit, which is the quintessence of human
nature, is basically the fruit of a compromise, a miracle of balance and
elegance. Ultimately, free-spirited people cannot but be the result of a
<i>coincidentia oppositorum</i> (the coincidence of opposites). As the most
elegant of essayists and a living miracle of balance and intellectual like
Michel de Montaigne once said, “One may be humble out of pride.” Which is
certainly not a good thing, but what if we apply the same scheme in positive
rather than in negative terms? Well, let’s say, for instance, that one may be
cheerful/ironic out of seriousness, easy-going out of severity, naive out of
sophistication, and so on. Hence Montaigne’s writing
<i>en chair et en os</i> (“in the flesh”), as well as the imperceptibly
subversive turns of his sentences and the slyly ironic tone that often creeps
into his <i>Essays</i>. That’s what free-spirited people are made up of, and
why they are the salt of the earth.
</p>
<p>
By invoking blessings on the Free in spirit, I’m trying to express the feeling
I feel for them, my deep admiration and gratitude for their very special
contribution to mankind and society. They are my North Star, my source of
inspiration, and the reason why I am what I am. I would like to think that in
whatever I write there is something the free-spirited writers and thinkers of
the past centuries would approve of. Likewise, I hope what I write does not
displease the free spirits of our day too much.
</p>
<p>
Now, for me, there’s nothing left to do but wish you happy
reading and look forward to hearing from you with any questions or comments
that you may have.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-eYEUfRFQy7yOLhyphenhypheneD4XUWP3wVMYJi2aR22I43-CSPLN9Z7VLZGgLmRS9-BZTz51rHlOtZlxNKYd5fSmE67ixg81pZLWUlMbv0z5tMe4smQ3uK0wlLVws39rJT0dX6GUYzBu5Vg/s1600/separatore2.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-eYEUfRFQy7yOLhyphenhypheneD4XUWP3wVMYJi2aR22I43-CSPLN9Z7VLZGgLmRS9-BZTz51rHlOtZlxNKYd5fSmE67ixg81pZLWUlMbv0z5tMe4smQ3uK0wlLVws39rJT0dX6GUYzBu5Vg/s1600/separatore2.gif" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<i><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Blessed Are the Free in Spirit. A Journal in Complicated Times</b></i> </div></i><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WJTQ95K/" target="_blank">Paperback Ed.</a> - ISBN-13 : 979-8702016979 - Publication date : February 5, 2021</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W2DP9RC/" target="_blank">Kindle Ed.</a> - ASIN : B08W2DP9RC - Publication date : February 4, 2021 <p></p>
<p></p>
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-2134849174628783232020-12-26T17:15:00.004+01:002020-12-29T11:12:53.993+01:00I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIYNXTFHYIV4jrmQ2c3P1PbVeYEwRU_rSL3Y8mlH9j6eTwNgsEgD_sPIwYHfkuGTFsXz-n64Ouo_8J5czWZ3U1Vmpn1yLFSKQrKmjxOUZkzcTG0gsf2O7sdRMhRnP3tFThrB9Rg/s600/sunny-daffodil-bill-wakeley.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIYNXTFHYIV4jrmQ2c3P1PbVeYEwRU_rSL3Y8mlH9j6eTwNgsEgD_sPIwYHfkuGTFsXz-n64Ouo_8J5czWZ3U1Vmpn1yLFSKQrKmjxOUZkzcTG0gsf2O7sdRMhRnP3tFThrB9Rg/w400-h267/sunny-daffodil-bill-wakeley.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>I wandered lonely as a cloud,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>That floats on high o’er vales and hills,</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>When all at once I saw a crowd,</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>A host, of golden daffodils;</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Beside the lake, beneath the trees,</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.</i></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Continuous as the stars that shine</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>And twinkle on the milky way,</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>They stretched in never-ending line</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Along the margin of a bay:</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Ten thousand saw I at a glance,</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The waves beside them danced; but they</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>A poet could not but be gay,</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>In such a jocund company:</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>I gazed--and gazed--but little thought</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>What wealth the show to me had brought:</i></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>For oft, when on my couch I lie</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>In vacant or in pensive mood,</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>They flash upon that inward eye</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Which is the bliss of solitude;</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>And then my heart with pleasure fills,</i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>And dances with the daffodils.</i></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
~ William Wordsworth</div>
<br />
<br />
This famous and amazing poem speaks about one of William Wordsworth’s walks in the countryside of England’s Lake District. During this walk, he encountered a long strip of daffodils... Besides being a quintessentially Romantic poem, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” explores the close and fundamental relationship between nature and humanity. Introducing the idea of loneliness in the first line, but suggesting at the same time that the Poet is not really alone at all, Wordsworth intimates that the natural world—and a strong bond with it—is essential to human happiness and serenity.
<br /><br />
The stars of the show in this poem are the daffodils. In the Northern Hemisphere, these beautiful flowers are one of the most welcoming signs of spring. Following the wintry months of grey skies and rain, daffodils bring bright swathes of color to our gardens and parks. That’s why they symbolize rebirth and new beginnings. These strong, resilient flowers are a positive, life-affirming symbol, with a bright and joyful yellow color. As it was not enough, the Poet describes the daffodils as having imaginatively human characteristics. Take their “dancing,” for instance, which is referenced in every stanza and which is an inherently joyful activity, despite being just the effect of the wind… In addition, Wordsworth projects human emotion onto the daffodils: “A poet could not but be gay/In such a jocund company”—even though, obviously, the daffodils don’t experience the world in this way.
<br /><br />
As a result of all this, and other subliminal messages of the poem, the reader is led to feel the overwhelming happiness that the Poet enjoyed at the sight of what he describes as a “crowd” and a “host” of daffodils—b.t.w., “host” also has the subtle connotation of relating to angels—that are “fluttering and dancing in the breeze…“
<br /><div><br /></div><div><i>P.S. This post wants to be a sign of hope and optimism for the New Year ahead, and is especially dedicated to my friends who are struggling. </i></div><div><i>In this <a href="https://next-media-api.ft.com/renditions/15962942936920/1280x720.mp4" target="_blank">video</a>, British actor Simon Russell Beale performs William Wordsworth's most famous poem, which takes on new meaning amid the coronavirus crisis (August 15 2020, directed and produced by Juliet Riddell and Joe Sinclair; curated by Allie Esiri and edited by Joe Sinclair). </i></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-5850451995060114702020-12-13T09:40:00.003+01:002020-12-13T09:50:39.342+01:00Time Flies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkb8l6WbaEegfgLgN8cLlkbSeCO5DeU1Pnw6YKA1yxxvlA7dyOwAa6oFSOmVnBUj0lASbJztJkux3QAVepxCj8zTkVy6BN-xXm7lCjnX02BuUIGXQ3oujg_21bBkXrkChQOLPCwQ/s1000/time.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="1000" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkb8l6WbaEegfgLgN8cLlkbSeCO5DeU1Pnw6YKA1yxxvlA7dyOwAa6oFSOmVnBUj0lASbJztJkux3QAVepxCj8zTkVy6BN-xXm7lCjnX02BuUIGXQ3oujg_21bBkXrkChQOLPCwQ/w400-h178/time.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>We should cherish the moments we have with the ones we love. Our time upon this earth is not infinite, neither is it actually that long, and we know we are almost always blind to how fast time goes by. In this regard, it is true that speech is silver and silence is golden, but I think that the right words at the right moment matter, and always will. <div>Therefore my philosophy on this matter can be summarized as follows: <div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Never pass up the occasion to tell someone how much they mean to you. </li><li>Never miss an opportunity to say something kind to someone you love. </li><li>Never waste a chance to say “I love you” to someone you really love, because in the blink of an eye, everything can change, and you may never know when you may not have that chance again.</li></ol></div></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-eYEUfRFQy7yOLhyphenhypheneD4XUWP3wVMYJi2aR22I43-CSPLN9Z7VLZGgLmRS9-BZTz51rHlOtZlxNKYd5fSmE67ixg81pZLWUlMbv0z5tMe4smQ3uK0wlLVws39rJT0dX6GUYzBu5Vg/s1600/separatore2.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-eYEUfRFQy7yOLhyphenhypheneD4XUWP3wVMYJi2aR22I43-CSPLN9Z7VLZGgLmRS9-BZTz51rHlOtZlxNKYd5fSmE67ixg81pZLWUlMbv0z5tMe4smQ3uK0wlLVws39rJT0dX6GUYzBu5Vg/s1600/separatore2.gif" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Originally published on December 13, 2018 in my Facebook profile.</i><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-47835864605430640692020-11-19T22:35:00.002+01:002020-11-19T22:39:59.738+01:00Through the Labyrinth to the Self: the Esoteric Way<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XnDhk_6G7hiZuh2ktHlyLtDoEgreIeXFHF3nBFy1lpEJnd-xlp1ITokMt-RVqJG3qY4AZJFI4NFBKxYhXgY1MnbDH3m-Sul_Q3f9LoF3Yz3yWDALEOgRM6GoMYls1nusaA_pew/s580/chartres.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="580" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XnDhk_6G7hiZuh2ktHlyLtDoEgreIeXFHF3nBFy1lpEJnd-xlp1ITokMt-RVqJG3qY4AZJFI4NFBKxYhXgY1MnbDH3m-Sul_Q3f9LoF3Yz3yWDALEOgRM6GoMYls1nusaA_pew/s16000/chartres.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote><i><div style="text-align: right;"><i>There are more things in heaven and earth, </i><i>Horatio, </i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.</i></div></i><div style="text-align: right;">~ William Shakespeare,<i> Hamlet</i>, Act 1, Scene 5</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Qzo5NNeLIAjGtuVvSK76pUOK0kHiF_pKqx14wA7k9OSVBTwqWAB8CFvgKuXeW_z24xQ3-mFbHXwkiKvhCIkDzGRXhsiew091Hf74vjzpq3Equqta0nn9IM5nFTZmqM-fqEk1WA/s600/olivier.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="445" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Qzo5NNeLIAjGtuVvSK76pUOK0kHiF_pKqx14wA7k9OSVBTwqWAB8CFvgKuXeW_z24xQ3-mFbHXwkiKvhCIkDzGRXhsiew091Hf74vjzpq3Equqta0nn9IM5nFTZmqM-fqEk1WA/s320/olivier.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Publicity still of Laurence Olivier <br />in Hamlet (1948)</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US">The above
is the phrase Hamlet uses in the homonymous William Shakespeare’s
play. To be precise and to minimally contextualize the phrase, let’s recall
that Hamlet has just talked with his father’s ghost and learned of his uncle’s
perfidy, and when Horatio calls this confrontation “wondrous strange,” Hamlet
says: “And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things...”
Given that, as always with Shakespeare, there are layers of meaning, which have
made scholars happy and frustrated in various measures over the centuries, I’d
say that Hamlet seems to suggest that human knowledge is limited and that,
no matter how broad our education, even the most learned of men cannot explain
everything. Not by chance the above was one of Sigmund Freud’s favorite
quotations from any source, a true tribute to the complexity of existence. As
for Horatio, who is a model of rationality, ghosts are not the sort of beings
his “philosophy” easily takes into account. Please note that both Horatio and
Hamlet are students at the University of Wittenberg, a recently founded
university (1502) that represented the institutional change from scholastic
theology to Protestant humanism, and that the rational philosophy they’ve
learned there is not adequate to deal with what the two friends have just seen.
Of the two though, Hamlet is more open to mystery and the ineffable. He doesn’t
overestimate philosophy, science, and rationality at large. And this, in my
view, makes him a model of what every human being should be: rational but
open-minded and willing to consider alternate perspectives if and when reason…
isn’t able to do the job. And that’s where different scenarios open up, of
which the history of religions on one side, and the esoteric sciences and
traditions on the other, are full. The latter are exactly those I want to talk
about here. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First and
foremost, what is esotericism? Arthur
Versluis, a professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies in the
College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University, gives the following
definition (<i>Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esotericism</i>,
2007, Rowman Littlefield): <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The word “esoteric”
derives from the Greek<i> esoterikos,</i> from <i>esotero</i> (inner),
comparative of <i>eso</i>, meaning “within.”
Although its first known mention in Greek is in Lucian’s ascription to Aristotle
of having “esoteric” (inner) and “exoteric” (outer) teachings, the word later
came to designate the secret doctrines said to have been taught by Pythagoras
to a select group of disciples. In this context, the word was brought into
English in 1655 by Stanley in his <i>History
of Philosophy</i>. Esotericism, as a
field of academic study, refers to the study of alternative, marginalized, or
dissident religious movements or philosophies whose proponents in general
distinguish their beliefs, practices, and experiences from public,
institutionalized religious traditions. Among areas of investigation included
in the field of esotericism are alchemy, astrology, Gnosticism, Hermeticism,
Kabbalah, magic, mysticism, Neoplatonism, new religious movements connected
with these currents, nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first-century occult
movements, Rosicrucianism, secret societies, and Christian theosophy.</span></p></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaY9t1cSmTaHmrSzgHUm9oR-W91rg-ocaoci4ClhthjaxtkflCx4YDKuFruTPaiZv5ewGQXxubvbfQrXGS-_14tnmpNej3hLBXpM3V6G7bgNWA3R_1tfrI61Ays9JnNBuIEggYQ/s600/suso.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="600" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaY9t1cSmTaHmrSzgHUm9oR-W91rg-ocaoci4ClhthjaxtkflCx4YDKuFruTPaiZv5ewGQXxubvbfQrXGS-_14tnmpNej3hLBXpM3V6G7bgNWA3R_1tfrI61Ays9JnNBuIEggYQ/w400-h279/suso.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horloge de Sapience - Henri Suso<br />Biblioteque Royale de Belgique, Bruxelles</td></tr></tbody></table>As for
Christianity, it’s interesting to note that, according to the great French thinker,
scholar of world religions, Eastern cultures, and esoteric teachings René Guénon,
the almost impenetrable obscurity that surrounds everything relating to its
origins and early stages—“an obscurity so profound that, upon reflection, it
seems impossible that it should simply have been accidental, but more likely
was expressly intended”—seems to suggest that Christianity originally had both
in its rites and doctrine an essentially esoteric and ‘initiatic’ character. “We
find confirmation of this,” he says, “in the fact that the Islamic tradition
considers primitive Christianity to have been a <i>tariqah</i>, that is, essentially an initiatic ‘way’, and not a <i>shariyah</i> or social legislation addressed
to all; and this was so true that subsequently this latter had to be supplied
by instituting a ‘canon’ law that was really only an adaptation of ancient
Roman law, thus something coming entirely from the outside, and not at all a
development of something originally contained in Christianity itself.” Moreover, he continues, “it is evident that no
prescription can be found in the Gospels that might be regarded as having a
truly legal character in the proper sense of the word. The well-known saying
‘Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s’, seems to us particularly
significant in this respect because, regarding everything of an exterior order,
it formally implies the acceptance of a legislation wholly foreign to
Christianity.” In fact, the Canon Law was simply modeled after the Roman Law. “This
would surely have been a most serious lacuna,” says Guénon, “if Christianity
had been then what it later became, for the very existence of such a lacuna
would have been not just inexplicable but truly inconceivable for a regular and
orthodox tradition if Christianity had really included an exoterism as well as
an esoterism…” , and if it was even to have applied—above all, only might say—to
the exoteric domain. If, on the contrary, Christianity had originally an
esoteric character, such lacuna is easily explained. (<i>Insights into Christian Esoterism</i>, chapter 2 “Christianity and Initiation”)<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEJy1pYPiMHAWC3RGtlncF13WRDuM_is7NUpnp9YVy9zidGqyZCeJmNtp73K27nCLZCAOlw6frPyZvNKetMofDvP13xw8jkJt16X8376y2b8t16GDdlxxtWwbTCM0dcWzfk4Unw/s1360/perspectives.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="946" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEJy1pYPiMHAWC3RGtlncF13WRDuM_is7NUpnp9YVy9zidGqyZCeJmNtp73K27nCLZCAOlw6frPyZvNKetMofDvP13xw8jkJt16X8376y2b8t16GDdlxxtWwbTCM0dcWzfk4Unw/s320/perspectives.jpg" /></a></div>Moreover, according to the same thinker, the esoteric or initiatic domain is absolutely not to be confused with the
mystical domain. For instance, Guénon argued that “it is currently the fashion […]
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>among those with limited horizons to
construe all Eastern doctrines as ‘mystical’, including those that lack even a
semblance of the outward aspects that could justify such an attribution.” In
reality, “in everything pertaining to initiation there is really nothing vague
or nebulous, for on the contrary it is as precise and ‘positive’ as can be, so
that initiation by its very nature is in fact incompatible with mysticism” (<i>Perspectives
on Initiation</i>, chapter 1). The same applies, of course, to the so-called
“occultism,” a term introduced by the 19th-century French ceremonial magician <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Eliphas Lévi. Lévi was also who popularized
the term <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ésotérisme</i> in the French
language in the 1850s—which is perhaps also why “esotericism” and “occultism”
were often employed as synonyms until later scholars, such as René Guénon, distinguished
the concepts. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Esotericism, however, remains in itself a controversial term. An
acceptable definition seems to be the one according to which “the term stands
for ‘inner’ traditions concerned with a universal spiritual dimension of
reality, as opposed to the merely external (‘exoteric’) religious institutions
and dogmatic systems of established religions.” This use of the term “stays closest
to the original meaning of the adjective ’esoteric’ in late antiquity, when it
referred to secret teachings reserved for a spiritual elite such as the
Pythagorean brotherwoods or some mystery cults.” In other words, exoteric
teachings are meant for the uneducated masses that can be kept satisfied with
mere ritual observance and dogmatic belief systems. Yet, underneath the surface
of conventional religion, “there are deeper truths that are known only to
initiates into the true mysteries of religion and philosophy.” (Wouter
Hanegraaff, <i>Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed</i>, 2013,
London: Bloomsbury)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is
interesting to note that this way of looking at the whole matter entails as a
corollary that the true esoteric spirituality must ultimately be one,
independent of social, historical or cultural circumstances: Regardless of the
tradition in which each of us has been raised, those who want to go beyond
outward appearances and conventional religions will always find access to the
universal truth about life and death, human nature, the universe and our place
in it, compassion and empathy towards others. This means that ‘Western’
esotericism is only one part of a larger whole: the esoteric teachings of all
non-Western religions and cultures, such as Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism,
Sufism, Shamanism, and so on, must ultimately point towards the same esoteric
underneath surface appearances.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Another way to approach the concept of esotericism is to see it as an
“enchanted” alternative to established religion and rationalistic science, a
worldview opposed to the disenchanted, secularized <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Weltanschauung</i> of modern West. (See: Ibidem) In any case, it’s
clear that everything rests upon the conviction (faith) that a universal,
hidden, esoteric dimension of reality really does exist. In this perspective, the
problem is that scholarly methods are by definition “exoteric,” and scholars
can only take into consideration what is empirically available to them and to
whomsoever it may concern… To put it another way, academically speaking, the
main problem is the unverifiability of the kind of “reality” claimed by
the esotericists of all faiths and schools of thought. As a matter of fact, whether
you like it or not, the academy has no methodologies for either falsifying and
or verifying what the esotericists talk/narrate about. This, of course, applies
to religion as well, though perhaps in varying degrees.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">However, with that being said, we’re right back where we started
from—William Shakespeare’s Hamlet’s willingness to be open-minded in the face
of the unknown and the unknowable, at least <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stricto
sensu</i>. Of course, the risk of getting lost in the desert of the unreal
and/or in the prairies of non-sense is extraordinarily high. “But,” as German
poet and philosopher Friedrich Hölderlin put it, “where the
danger is, also grows the saving power.” Let’s say that, in the case of
esotericism, salvation comes from the power of symbols. The wisdom of
esotericism, like “the ruler whose prophesy occurs at Delphi,” “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">neither gathers nor hides<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">[<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">oute
legei oute kryptei]</span></i>, but gives hints<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> [alia semainei].</i>” (Heraclitus, Fragment 93) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPPOmf10SAZJ3YlOFJO785gxO3nWyNCTItqLQkTMTFWMAzblfw5q1Z42HHMmEXZoKUrKhClhBL-ldRq-tFtmo7R-i_mCbMriIUI47rWoPHhW6uo0WfsENTuupu9Y15yV8cRFgmag/s1008/Hugostv.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hugh of Saint-Victor" border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="608" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPPOmf10SAZJ3YlOFJO785gxO3nWyNCTItqLQkTMTFWMAzblfw5q1Z42HHMmEXZoKUrKhClhBL-ldRq-tFtmo7R-i_mCbMriIUI47rWoPHhW6uo0WfsENTuupu9Y15yV8cRFgmag/w241-h400/Hugostv.jpg" title="Hugh of Saint-Victor" width="241" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Works of Hugh of St-Victor <br /> illumination on parchment <br />(Bodleian Library, Oxford)</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To put it
in a nutshell, we must take into consideration that a symbolic form in the
transmission of doctrinal teachings of a traditional order is precisely what is
needed. This because, as the great 12th-century philosopher and theologian Hugh
of Saint-Victor opined, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">symbolum est collatio
formarum visibilium ad invisibilium demonstrationem” </i>(symbols resemble
visible forms in order to ‘demonstrate’ the invisible). “The truth of the invisible,”
he explains, “is ‘demonstrated’ by the visible. Our mind can ascend to the
truth of the invisible only when taught by the consideration of the visible.” (<i><span style="color: black;">Expositio in Hierarchiam coelestem</span></i><span style="color: black;"> <i>Dionysii Areopagitae</i> II)</span><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">René Guénon’s
explanation echoes Hugh of Saint-Victor’s: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“First of all,” he writes, “symbolism appears
to be quite specially adapted to the needs of human nature, which is not a
purely intellectual nature, but which requires a sensory base from which to
rise to higher levels. One must take the human compound as it is, at once one
and multiple in its real complexity; this is what tends to be forgotten, ever
since Descartes claimed to establish a radical and absolute separation between
soul and body.” This means that, in order to guarantee a complete understanding
of reality and our place within it, “there can be no opposition between the
employment of words and that of figurative symbols; these two modes of
expression should rather be complementary to each other.” Therefore nothing is
more wrong than thinking/saying that symbolism is suited to the under-standing
of the common man only. It is rather the contrary that is true, writes Guénon.
“Or better still,” he continues, “symbolism is suited equally to all, because
it helps each one to understand the truth which it represents, more or less
completely, more or less profoundly, according to the nature of each person’s
own intellectual possibilities.” It is thus that even the highest truths can be
communicated “up to a certain point” when they are “incorporated in symbols.” (“Word
and Symbol” in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Symbols of Sacred Science</i>,
trans. Henry D. Fohr, ed. Samuel D. Fohr. Hillsdale, NY: Sophia Perennis, 2004)
Those very truths would not be otherwise communicable or transmissible and
would remain hidden for many. Which, of course, would be an unforgivable loss
for a large part of humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPugmWF39cqqaGLMzn2RHTupEhRgBx_4ORucNX3s2lm-t6WASN5Ol2TZp1VJzgUtwFkCroW7QjSuqUJytr704Isj_Fxt_wx14IP7g5kiZN1QuWWHFRIH6MPMrrTs6ilDAgyVOieA/s1070/Edward_Burne-Jones_-_Tile_Design_-_Theseus_and_the_Minotaur_in_the_Labyrinth_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1070" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPugmWF39cqqaGLMzn2RHTupEhRgBx_4ORucNX3s2lm-t6WASN5Ol2TZp1VJzgUtwFkCroW7QjSuqUJytr704Isj_Fxt_wx14IP7g5kiZN1QuWWHFRIH6MPMrrTs6ilDAgyVOieA/w306-h320/Edward_Burne-Jones_-_Tile_Design_-_Theseus_and_the_Minotaur_in_the_Labyrinth_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="306" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edward Burne-Jones - Tile Design - <br />Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet, as
previously outlined, such an approach requires the acceptance of a
non-calculated risk, a leap into the unknown. One of the most appropriate metaphors
to illustrate and clarify the proposed approach is that of the labyrinth, such
as the one in Chartres Cathedral in France, or the one that, according to <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Greek mythology, was built by the
legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos, and whose function
was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the hero Theseus. In
both cases, the symbolism refers to concepts such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quest</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spiritual pilgrimage</i>, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">odyssey through hell</i>, etc<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>All of which include the ultimate risk
of sacrificing—metaphorically or not—one’s life. The bet is that, as Hermann
Kern states in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Through the
Labyrinth: Designs and Meanings Over 5,000 Years </i>(2000, Prestel Publishing)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i></span></span><span face=""Helvetica","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: #181818; font-size: 5.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“In the labyrinth you will not get
lost, in the labyrinth you will find yourself. In the labyrinth you will not
meet the Minotaurus. In the labyrinth you will meet yourself.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #181818; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><br /><p></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-64372004376905182892020-10-31T17:50:00.007+01:002020-11-12T13:22:01.704+01:00R.I.P. Sir Sean Connery<p> </p><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YR9zWyiEFcUmLsYINYy9owmFwc8PMyyWvQwJW_hPrpxKGo2xAa_1bLBkfeov-9sLWX_qtbCe5xJSspqmGI1tqgFNhtptwIgxZFJ_h-dARkjFJEVNN7wjwHvntwJTkv0-toMR2Q/s792/connery.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YR9zWyiEFcUmLsYINYy9owmFwc8PMyyWvQwJW_hPrpxKGo2xAa_1bLBkfeov-9sLWX_qtbCe5xJSspqmGI1tqgFNhtptwIgxZFJ_h-dARkjFJEVNN7wjwHvntwJTkv0-toMR2Q/w213-h320/connery.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Sean Connery was born into a working-class Edinburgh family. And this, perhaps paradoxically, is the key reason why, at least in my view, he was perfect in the roles of kings (e.g. King Arthur in <i>First Knight</i> and Richard the Lionheart in <i>Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves</i>), intellectuals (e.g. Brother William of Baskerville in <i>The Name of the Rose</i> and Professor Henry Jones in <i>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</i>), “masters & commanders” (e.g. Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez in <i>Highlander</i> and Captain Marko Ramius in <i>The Hunt for Red October</i>). <div><br /></div><div>In other words, he was the living proof that true aristocracy, in all of its variants, is exclusively a matter of personality. </div><div><br /></div><div>Rest in Peace, Sir Sean.
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All original content of this blog [<a href="http://windrosehotel.blogspot.com/">Wind Rose Hotel</a>] is subject to
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa)</a></div>S.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.com0