I think I'll provide examples of amusing crackpots writing to the freedom of religion exercise. Here's a good one.
Do bear in mind that such naive submissions, even if not taken seriously, accumulate to give some impression of current community anxieties. So I encourage the sensible readers of this blog (yes, I mean the sensible ones!) to have their say. It shouldn't be too difficult now that you have until the end of February.
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Edit: I've now read almost all of the submissions that have been published so far, and I must observe that the standard really isn't high. But a few are worth reading, like this one.
About Me
- Russell Blackford
- Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).
2 comments:
I think I'll provide examples of amusing crackpots writing to the freedom of religion exercise. Here's a good one.
[reads]
Ouch. That hurt.
I would never do that--re-publish someone's submission written over their own name, and then say "here's an example of some crackpot writing." It may be the writing of someone who has never been trained in the rigors of philosophical thought, but your contempt is not pretty.
Are we not all educable? I would contend that it is the role of the public intellectual, and particularly the philosopher, to help people challenge their long-held beliefs and ways of thinking, and you surely don't get there by calling them crackpots.
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