In First Things, Matthew B. Crawford explores four interrelated modes for the rise of what he terms “antihumanism,” simplified as: people are stupid, we are obsolete, we are fragile and we are hateful. The resulting lack of popular self-respect and elite contempt facilitates totalitarianism. Crawford suggests society – people – must reclaim their self-respect as humans with inherent worth.
Inhuman for Criminals, the Luck of the Draw for You and Me
The EU may have banished the “‘inhuman,’ ‘degrading,’ and ‘irreversible’” death penalty for criminals, writes Frank Haviland in The European Conservative – but its member states’ soft-on-crime, easy-on-illegal-immigrants policies are making violent death an increasingly common fate for innocent Europeans. In a world gripped by barbarian forces, writes Haviland, it’s time for Great Britain to hold a national referendum on restoring an older form of justice.
