Word: validators
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While the assumptions underlying Gay's 1728 ballad-opera--that human nature is universally corrupt, that greed, vice and pettiness are not limited to any one social class--are as valid as ever, much of the play's humor derives from specific references to 18th century mores that are necessarily dated. To be sure, high class ladies still affect airs and politicians are still crooks, but we no longer comprehend Gay's jabs at Walpole and his ministers, nor do we have as much patience with the constant appellation of every woman as "hussy" or "slut". Not, for that matter...
...former Nixon associate willing to be quoted makes a probably valid general complaint. J. Fred Buzhardt, Nixon's embattled former counsel and clearly a key source for the book, protests against "psychojournalism." He says: "They write about my thought processes. I don't know how anybody can derive that, for honestly I can't myself." Eisenhower agrees: "Distortion creeps in when they are attributing chains of thought to participants. Didn't Mr. Nixon look horrible that night of Aug. 2? That was not what was running through my mind. He didn't look good...
There are valid scientific objections to Martin's portrayal of possession. Skeptics note that in the past, both physical and mental diseases have been mis-diagnosed as demonic possession; these range from psychiatric disorders like paranoia and schizophrenia to diseases which affect the nervous system. Parapsychologists working with ESP, telekinesis and other psychic phenomena can also raise questions about the demonic origins of the possessed individual's reputed ability to mentally hurl objects around and read minds. Martin tries to deal with this criticism; one of the exorcists challenges a group of parapsychologists dabbling in astral travel and reincarnation...
...genetically-and environmentally-programmed existence, of an a-responsible, un-free person rebounding from punishment to reward, has stuck in the craw of humanists from George Bernard Shaw to William F. Buckley, Jr. Metaphysics aside, they have argued, the sheer complexity of our experiences would preclude a valid forecast of future action...
...either God or much of anything. In metaphysics as in religion, he is fundamentally an agnostic. Though he decries the lack of morality in Nazi Germany, Speer can offer no alternative. He writes in 1952, "Much too late I am beginning to grasp that there is only one valid kind of loyalty: toward morality," but the remark has an empty ring because Speer has no moral system, still less an allegiance to one. If he ever tried to confront the problems of moral philosophy or religious faith, it is not apparent in these diaries. He contents himself with lip service...