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Matt Ridley warns us to beware of a possible coming endarkenment [2]. (HT Warren Smith) A slice:
This is not just about Islam, though it is curious how silent feminists are on Islamic sexism. The enforcement of dogma is happening everywhere. Members of a transgender campaign group have refused to condemn [3]an activist for punching a feminist. Anybody questioning the idea that climate change is an imminent catastrophe, however gently, is quickly labelled a “denier” (ie, blasphemer). How bad is this spasm of intolerance going to get? Perhaps it is a brief hiatus in rationalism, a dimming of the hard-won secular enlightenment, which will soon re-brighten after doing little harm. Or perhaps it is like China’s Cultural Revolution [4]: a short-lived but vicious phenomenon confined to one part of the world that will do terrible harm then cease.
Or maybe the entire world is heading into a great endarkenment, in which an atmosphere of illiberal orthodoxy threatens the achievement of recent centuries. “The world simply cannot afford an American descent into illiberal tyranny,” says Professor [Bret] Weinstein.
Arnold Kling writes wisely about health-care markets and the economics of those markets [5].
Kevin Williamson explains what’s really wrong with government officials’ private-jet-setting [6].
Sally Satel admires Anthony Weiner [7].
“The timber industry illustrates exactly what’s wrong with international trade restrictions.” [8]
Mark Perry reviews the economics of price ceilings [9].