Sunday, February 19, 2017

Michael Novak, RIP

I learned over at Maggie's that Michael Novak has died. Something to notice: he was a highly influential man, but you will not see his death mentioned in news feeds.

I had not known he had a new book come out in 2015, Social Justice Isn't What You Think It Is. I must not travel in the right circles. I hope to have a look at it soon.  If any of you have read it, tell me what you think.

1 comment:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

A quote from the obit: "Socialists have long attacked market-based economies for their inequalities and consumerist frenzies, but, as Novak argued, their arguments invariably compared luminous socialist ideals with the often prosaic realities of capitalist societies." I wonder if this is a common lie we all tell ourselves.

I have seen something similar among Christians claiming that "women have not been discriminated against because it says right in Scripture..." ignoring the realities on the ground. That is less true now - in fact, it is a very mixed picture in a feminised church. Today it depends what church you are talking about, and in what sphere.

Yet nothing like what one hears imams declare about the status of Muslim women: "No, no, everything is fine, because the Koran says they have important and equal status, therefore, what you accuse us of is not true."