From the monthly archives:

February 2004

On the Ghetto

19 February 2004

I once taught a young woman who informed me that even though she was born and raised in “the ghetto”, she still came from a respectable family. Her parents were together, she said, and they were law-abiding and ambitious. She’d defended herself from criticism or ridicule before any such thing had come her [...]

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On Elitism

12 February 2004

Last week I wrote about populism, the thing that has made us believe as a nation that elitism (of certain sorts) is the worst sin that could ever be committed. This week, I’m going to talk about the awful sin itself.
Before I go on, let’s define that term. It can be the best [...]

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On Populism

5 February 2004

There’s a joke I once heard about the Bahamas government. If you ever find a good institution within it, don’t tell anybody. As long as it’s secret, it’ll be fine. But if it ever becomes public knowledge, run. Somebody with power will come along and redeploy the equipment and the personnel [...]

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