First Things last (more words for snow)

[Victor Steinbok]

The powers of clerical pseudo-intellectualism (from First Things):

http://goo.gl/kYQkB
> To learn that Muslims have many wives, that Hindus have many gods, and
> that Eskimos have many words for snow yields no insight other than the
> recognition of diversity. The effect is not to shift our loyalty from
> appearance to reality, as Plato portrayed the effect of the dialectic
> of Socrates. Nor does cultural study follow the pattern of modern
> science, where, for example, we move from the illusion of a moving sun
> that circles the earth to the accurate knowledge that the earth
> rotates on its axis. Quite the contrary. The now widespread effect of
> the modern critical project is to undermine our confidence that any
> moral or cultural system should properly command our full loyalty.

Yes--too many words for snow may not be a sign of the apocalypse, but it
/is/ a sign of rampant relativist multiculturalism (is there another
kind?). Mr. Reno may only have one god and one word for snow, but he's
clearly had a few too many.

     VS-)

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