The Virtuous Authoritarians

This was first published at LinkedIn on 2nd July 2016. It's a long read, but I think it's worth the effort.

The left/right, progressive/conservative dichotomy is dead. The new political dichotomy is between authoritarians and libertarians and it’s the authoritarians that have the upper hand.

The authoritarians have established their position beginning at universities and spreading throughout much of the media by use of virtue signalling, conspicuous moralism and selective outrage. They believe themselves to be better equipped intellectually and morally to grapple with the issues of the day and by virtue of their intellectual and moral superiority, they have no compunction in forcing their decisions on lesser folk when those lesser folk won’t take them voluntarily.

Global Terrorism Index Report for 2016

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) Report for 2016 has been released. It shows that 74% of all terror related deaths are attributable to Boko Haram, ISIL, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

All of the top ten worst attacks were committed by these groups along with Al-shabaab, Sinai Province of the Islamic State and the Ansar Al-din Front.

It got me wondering whether there is a common thread that links all of these groups? Some common belief or understanding. Couldn't find anything though. Anyone able to help?

http://economicsandpeace.org/…/Global-Terrorism-Index-2016.…

(Note: the word "Islam" appears only 6 times in the 100 page report, so it can't be that.)

This was originally published on my facebook timeline on 17 November 2016 so if you think you've seen it before, maybe you're right!

Hitchens, US Elections and Word Play

Christopher Hitchens in 2008 looking pensive and slightly aggressive at the same time.

Christopher Hitchens died in 2011 which annoyed me terribly although it probably annoyed him more. One of the annoying things for me was that I enjoyed his opinion on the various goings on in the world; even when I disagreed with him, he expressed his thoughts so clearly and with such humour that I couldn’t help but enjoy reading them. He was also my go-to source for commentary on US politics and middle east tensions; on both of these subjects the depth of his knowledge was formidable, giving him an understanding that was available to few others.