It is commonly said that although devotion to a wicked cause is bad, at least it is good that the devotee is giving himself to “something greater than himself."

One day in class, I commented to my students that scientists and other intellectuals fall into groupthink at least as readily as other people do, and I offered examples.

Justice is giving to each person what is due to him:  Whatever reward, punishment, or share in common benefits or burdens he deserves.  The only way to be just is to practice justice.  Proclaim all you like the justice of doing injustice in certain cases, but the most careful rules for justifying injustice can never make injustice just.

A Reader Asks:

Your website is called the Underground Thomist.  Are you really underground?

Reply:

Shhh!

Voter suppression.  Old definition:  Any attempt to prevent eligible persons from voting.  New definition:  Any attempt to prevent ineligible persons from voting.

Racism.  Old definition:  Treating people according to the color of their skin.  New definition:  Not treating people according to the color of their skin.

The central idea of critical race theory is “systemic racism”:  That the way things work is stacked against persons of color, even if no one actually has any ill will or bias against them.

Inspired by the Vice President’s approach to foreign and domestic policy, I offer these modest resolutions in her honor.

I will no longer keep my door locked.  Instead, I will focus on the root causes of breaking and entering.

I will no longer support better training for police officers.  Instead, I will focus on the root causes of violence.

Natural law supports the preservation and restoration of natural function, but not its alteration or destruction:  For example, it wouldn’t be good to “fix” soldiers so that they never had to sleep at all.  That wouldn’t be fixing them, but ruining them.  But it would be a fine thing if we could cure narcoleptics, who keep dropping off, so that they can stay awake.