A Forgotten Man and a Forgotten History “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” — Hegel I AM NOT A BIG SOCIAL MEDIA GUY (too old), but last week I ran across a Twitter thread that is the most succinct description of Arnold Toynbee’s great “A Study of History.” The thread was posted by Thinking West, a group that promotes the study of the western canon, classical approaches to education and commentary on history, philosophy, culture,…

Political Advertising Costs but Doesn’t Pay RUMINATING OVER THE RESULTS of the gubernatorial primary, it is encouraging that the electorate rejected the lavishly funded campaigns of the three economic-development wizards, Brad Chambers, Eric Doden and Susan Crouch. Not, of course, that they dwelled on “economic development” per se, its reputation having been tarnished by a series of scams and failed projects. Rather, they campaigned on the vague promise that government, specifically in the form of an…

by Mark Franke I had been brooding about this for some time now and, in a particularly dark moment, determined to never vote again. It may have been the better side of my nature that eventually overcame my psychological sturm und drang or it simply may have been intellect over emotion that resolved me. I am not normally a negative or pessimistic person but my attitude could not withstand a barrage of negative advertising, the total lack…

Crime: What Goes Around, Comes Around OMISSION, THE DOG THAT DOESN’T BARK, is a powerful indicator in public policy. And so it was for a recent shooting in the food court of my city’s premier mall, once the largest and most popular in the state. Officialdom uttered not so much as a whimper. The shooting was not statistically significant. Still, it was the third at the mall in recent months, including a murder. There was more than one…

Eric Holcomb to the IU Ramparts “Universities spent years saying that activism is not just welcome but encouraged on their campuses. Students took them at their word.” — Tyler Austin Harper in the this month’s Atlantic WAS THERE A BETTER WAY to handle the pro-Palestinian protests at Indiana University? Yes, but not for the reason you might think. Carrying images of beheaded babies and slaughtered families, the Palestinian “cause” was historically dubious from the start and now is the…

by Mark Franke In the movie “Hoosiers” one of the students, Ollie, is giving a report in class that is a listing of things thought to be progress. He doesn’t seem convinced of the value of progress, although I venture that he thought more highly of indoor plumbing than of school consolidation. Fortunately for Ollie and his classmates, the fictional Hickory High School would escape consolidation long enough to win the state basketball championship. What…

Why Not Just Kiss IU Goodbye? “Our university must create a space for meaningful dialogue, while ensuring that our campus is safe and welcoming to all, and that peaceful protest, as many experienced today, symbolizes our steadfastness to the free expression of ideas,” Whitten wrote ineffectually days before this week’s campus melee. FOR THOSE OF YOU who still care whether Indiana University remains in Indiana, here is a boilerplate press release for IU President Pam Whitten: …

Let’s Hear it for Aristocracy I’M GOING TO TRY to make a case for aristocracy. Wish me luck. I will back into it by applying Thomas Sowell’s famous test, “Compared with what?” American democracy has taken a nasty turn toward identity-driven politics. At the same time, it is increasingly captured by grasping private interests, mainly corporate ones, but also by bureaucratic powers and public-sector unions.  The French philosopher Ernest Renan was surely right that elections can be…

by Mark Franke One of my less than admirable traits is to attempt to categorize and organize everything into its simplest terms. All too often, simple devolves to simplistic as I keep trying to pound an unwilling square peg into an unreceptive round hole. Philosophy is one such recipient of my zealousness for reduction. During the semester or two when I considered myself a philosophy major, the left side of my brain resolved to assign all…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. The Indiana Legislature got it right. The governor did not. The issue of trans-girls and trans-women competing against natural, i.e., biological, girls and women remains unsettled. For some people and organizations, such as the ACLU, which brought suit in Indiana recently, the prefix “trans” before the words “girls” means little or nothing. On the other hand, the FDA treats trans-fat as different in kind from polyunsaturated fat, the former is unhealthy and the latter is not. Following the…