Monthly Archives: May 2018

Our Society of Dead Poets

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

We pass on how to live in our genes. Our bodies telling us when we are hungry in order to eat, when we are tired to sleep. The myriad urges of animal life – when to purge our accumulated waste, … Continue reading →

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The Untold Stories of Maria Corina

Posted on May 27, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

“Who will deliver us from them—?” Them, of course, are the hostage takers in all their forms: dictators, socialists, totalitarians, criminal gangs who seize the apparatus of the state to have easier access to the weapons they need to ply … Continue reading →

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The Deep Magic and My Little Boy

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

I’m teaching my son about the deep magic. The powerful forces that exist outside time and place, those things that we inherit product of our special status as humans and which are unchanging; rock islands standing strong amidst the raging … Continue reading →

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America’s New Aristocracy

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

Every morning, here in West Africa, as I prepare my little boy for his school – the gym and the recess and the library, PE and science class and field trips – I look through the window of my kitchen … Continue reading →

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Venezuela’s Zombie Election

Posted on May 19, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

Two years ago I wrote about a suicide. A sad, bitter, rueful blog that went viral, capturing the desperation of a prescient people who saw clearly what was coming just over the horizon. The timeless tides creating currents that follow … Continue reading →

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Ibn Tufayl’s “Hayy Ibn Yaqzan” – A Book Review

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

I have a friend who was an erstwhile archeologist. Not Zahi Hawass, digging piles of gold from the sands of ancient Egypt but a local archaeologist who worked for a municipality in England. Clearing lands and approving building permits, excavating … Continue reading →

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Camus’ Joyful Nihilism

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

Camus’ existential nihilism is beautiful, and joyful. I think that is what surprised me the most.  “In the light, the earth remains our first and our last love. Our brothers are breathing under the same sky as we; justice is … Continue reading →

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On Faith and Marxism

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

Why do we revere mass murders, psychopaths? David Koresh burning to death his submissive charges; Jim Jones in Jonestown drinking poisoned cool aid with his flock, the most bizarre Eucharist of all? Karl Marx starving out his own children and … Continue reading →

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“I, Charles, From the Camps” – A New Novel by, well by me…

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

I can’t think of more eloquent words to introduce my newest novel than those of my friend Chairman Norbert Mao. Mao was the chairman of Gulu District in northern Uganda, the “Capital of the North” when I worked there during … Continue reading →

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Deneen and the Defense of Culture: on “Why Liberalism Failed”

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Joel D. Hirst

I recently returned home from a business trip. West Africa, Istanbul, Bangkok, Paris and back to West Africa. It’s appropriate that my journey started in West Africa, from whence Robert Kaplan twenty-five years ago warned us of the ‘coming anarchy’, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Liberty, philosophy, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 23 Comments