Arts & Letters Daily: Classic or Dud?

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OK, it's doesn't exactly represent the political perspective that's dominant on ILX. He does make a conscious effort to reflect different views, but that's not going to fool anyone. Still, there's a lot of good stuff. And boy, doesn't it make you look smart if you "accidentally" leave it on your screen when people are around?

If I have company at my house, that's what stays on top. Better it than porno, right?

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Shit, this is on the wrong board. Sorry about that.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 01:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to read it regularly and initially thought it was great, but it seems surprisingly narrow to me now. Yes, part of that could be do to the fact that I don't like the particular political slant I find there, but even on subjects which aren't particularly politically related, I find that the choice of subject matter tends not to throw any surprises at me. Also, it seems overly concerned with stories with heavy-handed angles: this or that illusion punctured. Too much concerned with debunking? I haven't read it lately though, so these comments are based on what I thought of it when I did read it.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 May 2003 01:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Accidentally talking about everything on ILM: C or D?

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 May 2003 01:54 (twenty-two years ago)

the editor of A&LD was interviewed on the radio here in the new year break -- political "neo-conservatism" was creeping into what he said then, when he was "concerned" about what he called "Islamo-fascism"

he used to coordinate "The Skeptics Society" here in nz, whos' main activity was "debunking" -- they'd have conferences where everyone would be taught how to telepathically bend spoons or read minds -- one year they all fire-walked on national tv to demonstrate that mental confidence was all that was needed

― george gosset (gegoss), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

george, that's perfect. I had no idea.

I'm not against debunking, but after a while it gets tiresome to see that being the main angle from which things are being addressed.

Is it fair to automatically stick the label of neo-con on someone who uses the term "Islamo-Fascism" though? I think maybe I'm concerned with it as well, though I am also concerned with Neo-Conservative Fascism.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 May 2003 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

haha, "Hitler was a good thing for the jews, etc etc etc SOMEONE tells us why"

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 02:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Dennis Dutton is like Instapundit but way better. Though Instapundit has improved dramatically since the war's ended.

Neo cons aren't the monsters that they're made out to be. Really they're great, just too easily seduced by the power that comes with accepting the republican party line. Two to three years ago they were a breath of fresh air.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 03:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the site, esp. during those times when I long for academia. (Joseph Epstein on how today's college students are different from yesterday's! Richard Rorty and Juergen Habermas fight over the future of philosophy! etc.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 03:34 (twenty-two years ago)

On a related note: The New Criterion, classic or dud?

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 04:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I say Ultra Classic, of course.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 04:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Mostly a conduit for conservatisms, neo- and palaeo- (poltically the first, culturally the second). Even when linking to stories that don't reflect either of those positions, the captions are consistently snide, uninformed, directed at whatever useless caricature the editors seem transfixed by this week. The whole thing reads as if mumbled by some drunken aging professorial bore, raging against Frogs, Queers, Derrideans. I find it substantially *more* depressing than the neo-con journals it links to, and sad sad sad that anyone should take it as a marker of intellectual acumen or curiosity.

Sorry if the above reads as glib as an aldaily article precis...

― Brian Dillon (Brian Dillon), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 10:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Neo-conservatives are indeed monsters out to devour the world, as far as I'm concerned.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 May 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Neo-conservatism is such an over- and inaccurately used term that at this point it probably means nothing. It's only used when talking about the "the neo-conservative likud bush-cheney junta," or whatever.

In the sense that I used to understand it, Bill Clinton was far more of a neo-con (rhetorically, at least) than George Bush.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmm. I feel silly that I never picked up on any neo-con bias. I guess I can see it now -- all those articles by John McWhorter and David Brooks -- but I actually find a lot of neo-cons fairly interesting, so it didn't strike me as reflective of any political angle. I've always thought it's more like an online version of Lingua Franca: a compendium of amusing articles on intellectual life.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Lingua Franca used to get pretty boring too, at least some of the time. Same overly silly attempts at a slant that usually took the form of UNMASKING something/someone or other.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 May 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Okay, I agree that both are all about "unmasking" and "debunking." But is this inherently neo-conservative?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

jaymc, no, but I did detect a neo-conservative slant (in Arts & Letters Daily, not necessarily Lingua Franca).

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 May 2003 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

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