Thanks for your run down of the last six months. I breathe a sigh of relief on putting 2024 behind... and looking forward with many hopeful expectations to 2025! Thank you for. your Critically Thinking column with its many interesting topics.. Wishing you only the best in the New Year!
First, thanks for the column/resource. It is a throwback to my college days when colleges were not narrative driven institutions. Second, I can’t remember how I got to this Substack, but as your graph on the increase readership demonstrates— if you build it they will come. Third, I appreciate the fact that your column is free. I don’t fault people, particularly career journalists who are unable to find employment that doesn’t require selling out their souls, for charging for their product/services. Still from a readers perspective, it gets to be overwhelming. I did want to comment though on your (& a reader’s follow up) on belief vs truth/knowing as the distinction here has been turned upside down in today’s environment. I first realized this when watching a Dennis Prager video. He received a comment from a listener wanting to know his thoughts on belief vs truth & used the example that as a Christian he wanted to believe that his fellow man will ‘do the right thing’ but just in case he knows he has a gun. Prager went on to concur that there are somethings he believes but does not know & referenced that he believes God gave the 10 Commandments to Moses, but he does not know it. Prager’s logic bothered me a great deal & unfortunately I am still not sure if it was because of him or me. It seems like the definition of oxymoronic for an Orthodox Jew to not know how Moses got the 10 commandments, equivalent to Einstein not knowing the principle of mathematics, but therein lies the problem. As the old saying goes, which comes first the chicken or the egg. The reason why this discussion interests me is because of the biblical line that has always haunted me, you shall know the truth & the truth shall set you free. So am I trying to get to the “truth” or am I trying to get to that which knows the “truth” or as Moses so succinctly put it - I am that I am. Anyway, thanks for the fodder.
Thanks for your run down of the last six months. I breathe a sigh of relief on putting 2024 behind... and looking forward with many hopeful expectations to 2025! Thank you for. your Critically Thinking column with its many interesting topics.. Wishing you only the best in the New Year!
Barbara: Likewise, good wishes for 2025 foer you and your family.
First, thanks for the column/resource. It is a throwback to my college days when colleges were not narrative driven institutions. Second, I can’t remember how I got to this Substack, but as your graph on the increase readership demonstrates— if you build it they will come. Third, I appreciate the fact that your column is free. I don’t fault people, particularly career journalists who are unable to find employment that doesn’t require selling out their souls, for charging for their product/services. Still from a readers perspective, it gets to be overwhelming. I did want to comment though on your (& a reader’s follow up) on belief vs truth/knowing as the distinction here has been turned upside down in today’s environment. I first realized this when watching a Dennis Prager video. He received a comment from a listener wanting to know his thoughts on belief vs truth & used the example that as a Christian he wanted to believe that his fellow man will ‘do the right thing’ but just in case he knows he has a gun. Prager went on to concur that there are somethings he believes but does not know & referenced that he believes God gave the 10 Commandments to Moses, but he does not know it. Prager’s logic bothered me a great deal & unfortunately I am still not sure if it was because of him or me. It seems like the definition of oxymoronic for an Orthodox Jew to not know how Moses got the 10 commandments, equivalent to Einstein not knowing the principle of mathematics, but therein lies the problem. As the old saying goes, which comes first the chicken or the egg. The reason why this discussion interests me is because of the biblical line that has always haunted me, you shall know the truth & the truth shall set you free. So am I trying to get to the “truth” or am I trying to get to that which knows the “truth” or as Moses so succinctly put it - I am that I am. Anyway, thanks for the fodder.
This is a fantastic resource. Thanks so very much for all of it! Best wishes to you and yours for the New Year.
Pappy: Thank you for your appreciation. I cover more societal issues — and in depth — than anywhere else that I'm aware of. And it's free...