Here! I’ve been dealing with trivial stuff all day involving billing and the post office (the Black Hole of government agencies) and have had no time to write. Enjoy Stephen Fry’s hourlong talk on Triggernometry on why the American Left promoted the rise of the American Right. I’ve been saying that for a long time, but perhaps those who deny my claim will listen to Stephen Fry, who is a much Bigger Fish than I! And he’s way smarter and more eloquent. I recommend that you not neglect this video.
Stephen Fry on how the faults of the Left promoted the rise of the Right
January 30, 2025 • 1:20 pm
Stephen Fry can talk authoritatively on the topic of the woke left leading to a shift to support for the right, since he himself is an example of such a shift.
A couple of years ago he uncritically espoused the woke position, for example saying that some trans friends of his were “deeply upset” by JK Rowling (despite her comments having been exceptionally moderate).
A bit later he had revised his position to deploring “both sides” for the rancour of the trans debate (which was unfair, since all the aggression, rancour and indeed violence had come entirely from the trans-ideology side).
He has now arrived at a rejection of the “nonsensical” ideology of such as Stonewall. Good! I don’t want to criticise him too harshly for the time he took in coming round to the side of sense; better late than never, as the saying goes.
It’s very hard to repudiate a movement that seems grounded, nay embedded, in social justice and civil rights, and I suppose it should be.
Yes, Fry has been very disappointing on the sex v gender issue; only now that it’s safe can he finally bring himself to say what he truly thinks. Also, his creative endeavours have been somewhat alarming on occasions. Latin! (or Tobacco and Boys) is about the homosexual relationship between a Latin teacher and his 13-year-old pupil and I don’t think it is sufficiently in the same class as Nabokov’s Lolita to get a free pass.
Edited to add that I haven’t watched the Triggernometry episode yet, so I’ll see what he has to say shortly.
“… Stephen Fry, who is a much Bigger Fish than I!”
Measured by girth, yes. Otherwise,no, if I may disagree emphatically with our host.
Nicely said. Fry’s eloquence can give a misleading impression of his true understanding on occasions, I feel.
(Boris Johnson used his similar, but lesser, gift to achieve the highest office in the UK. People can be suckers for equating confident oratory with intelligence when it is expressed in the correct British accent.)
+1
Why I’m center wing.
OT, but thinking of your list of awful words and phrases, and I just heard Jonah Goldberg use the word “indicia” for a plural of signs or indications, a word I don’t think I’ve ever heard used before, and I love it. Maybe a list of excellent words?
Good word. I learned it in law school and you see it in legal writing sometimes.
A tad pretentious maybe. But fun and cool. 🙂
D.A.
NYC
Apologies for the off-topic comment, but I was curious if you had seen the article on the 1975 Asilomar conference in today’s issue of Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv3132.
There are certainly criticisms of the Asilomar approach to be made, but this article seems to be wholly negative, with what seems like an underlying strain of hostility to expertise as such. I see that the writer has his degree in Science and Technology Studies. Oh well…
Interested in whether you found the article as slanted as I did.