[Say “what if?” is more dangerous than “why?”]

[Say “what if?” is more dangerous than “why?”] by MEH

The Technological Society Can’t Save Itself

By L.M. Sacasas. Drawing on the writings of Jacques Ellul, we can see that small adjustments to our practices will not be enough to alter our society’s relationship to technology.

The Spirit of ’43

A cocktail recipe for the end of the world.

Recovery of Roots

By Tessa Carman. Simone Weil recognized “the need for roots”; Czeslaw Milosz named our age as one of homelessness. Both remind us that our work is always rooted in who we are.

“Exist, You Bastards–For Now!”

Andrei Platonov’s experimental apocalyptic novel about the collectivization of the Soviet countryside should remind readers of today of what can happen when social reform, no matter how needed, takes precedence over people.

Introduction to Christianity

Unlike too many books that attempt to explicate Christianity, Joseph Ratzinger's allows for both the spiritual and the intellectual aspects of humankind by framing faith through mystery.

American Hustle

Though entertaining and even more-or-less believable, American Hustle’s host of con-men fail to work through their own tricks and traps to actual self-transformation.

The New Privacy

Constant surveillance by an impersonal power preserves a modern society more autonomous and secretive than any that came before.

The Dispensible Nation

Allowing politics to drive strategy confuses the nation’s passions with its interests. A return to principles is in order.

LACMA

The organization and subject matter of LACMA's exhibition on home points to the true heart of hospitality and of what it means not to have a place in the world.

Graduation

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s award-winning film examines life in a corrupt and amoral society—but not without a small example of the redeeming practice of virtue.

After Liberalism

A minute's reflection reveals a wild and diverse array of forces that influence our lives, none of which are reducible simply to parliamentary procedure.