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Deep Resentment and the Appeal of Islam
When any high-profile murder takes place in the West, someone in high authority is bound nowadays to say something like All our thoughts are with the victims (or the relatives of the victims). This, of course, is a lie, and by no means a noble one: all the high authority’s thoughts ought not to be with the victims or with the relatives of the victims. The authority ought rather to be thinking of whether there are means to prevent similar attacks in the future. It is perfectly possible to express decent condolences without resort to obvious and insincere exaggeration.
The French government minister with responsibility for the police resorted to the hackneyed all-our-thoughts formula when speaking to the National Assembly immediately after the murder of four people, and the attempted murder of a fifth, in the police headquarters of Paris recently. But at least there were no teddy bears or candles placed on the pavement outside the site of the murders, which is what would…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins