Word: righteousness
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Your series of articles on the recent demonstrations against Harvard's shareholdings in US corporations in South Africa was sensationalized. Ostensible news-stories rang with self-righteous indignation, and whatever your editorial stance, sensational journalism is inappropriate...
...baffling, at least his style is endearing. The sense of mythic wonder that fills his books Grendel and Jason and Medea is present here in the form of vignettes and metaphors; and even when he rattles on about the good and the true, Gardner never pontificates, never becomes self-righteous. Even when what he says sounds like it would suit a preacher among the unbaptized, his manner remains that of the elderly raconteur, sitting by the fire with a mug of ale and a pipe...
...show. Ed Redlich shines as the brash American detective, William Blore. Redlich exploits beautifully the gluttony, thickheadedness and grating bluntness of Blore--a hilarious character. Equally good is Louisa Jerauld as the religion-obsessed, sexually repressed spinster Miss Brent. Jerauld's quivering voice and slow, shuffling walk suggest the righteous, moralizing old maid. David Rieffel, as the gentle, retired General John MacKenzie, also portrays his character sensitively, especially in his frightening monologue to Vera...
...line between what is tasteful and offensive, humorous and insulting in advertising seems, like the line between treason and righteous rebellion, to be largely a matter of timing. Witness a current ad campaign by the California Milk Advisory Board and an aborted one by Finnair, the Finnish airline. The milk ads, which a few years ago might have seemed merely innocuous, are under fire for alleged sexism and racism; the Finnair ad has been withdrawn because of protests that it made light of a subject of growing concern to feminists, judges and others: wife beating...
...nihilist is an enthusiast. For, while it has become fashionable to precede many intellectual discussions with a credo of disbelief (in the name of scientific abstraction), the old saw against those who wish to "destroy without first building an alternative system" is a great weapon for the entrenched self-righteous. It is much harder, though, to fight positive enthusiasm. One can do little more than snarl, "naive and simplistic pseudo-philosophy" when confronted with, say, a new religious sect...