I was introduced to Ben Hecht, many years ago now, by my friend Paul Greenfield. Like most people of my generation I had never heard of him. He had been fairly famous some decades earlier, known first for his cynical and cutting criticisms, then as Hollywood’s premier script doctor.
Here’s a typical Hecht aside: Continue reading “The Wisdom of Ben Hecht”
(Originally published in 2015)
Not too many years back, warnings of Peak Oil circulated widely, and they made me consider something a good deal more dangerous: Peak Obedience.
If that concept strikes you as odd, there’s a reason: We’ve all been living inside an obedience cult. Continue reading “The Obedience Cult”
The pairing-up of young men and women has always been a difficult process. What has appeared recently, however, is a multi-media assault upon mating per se, and that’s new.
This is something we need to see clearly, and so I’ll jump right in by telling you that an Anti-Mating Industry has arisen in the realm of social media. We’ve all seen this, but we’ve seldom appreciated it. Continue reading “The War On Mating”
(Originally published in February, 2015)
We’re 14 years into a new century, which is typically how long it takes for a century’s unique characteristics to show up. The 20th century, for example, looked a lot like the 19th until 1914; from there on it looked a lot different. So I think this is a good time to take a look at our new century and see how it’s shaping up.
I see two particular things that are defining the mainline culture just now. Let’s go with the easy and obvious one first: Continue reading “The Way of the 21st Century: Going Nowhere While Very, Very Frightened”
