Luke the Boy Book Critic: Behind the Mist

I recently saw this great video of a young book critic discussing Behind the Mist, a book I reviewed a couple of months ago. You can read my review of this wonderful young adult fantasy novel here, and I've embedded the video below of Luke the Boy Book Critic.

Arguments Summed Up: We are Doomed

Title & Author: We are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism by John Derbyshire

Genre: Nonfiction--Politics

My Rating: 6.0

Summed Up:

Derbyshire states the following about his book: “It’s argument is that things are bad and getting worse for our movement, for our nation, and for our civilization. A large part of the reason they have gotten so bad is that too many of us have fallen into foolishly utopian ways of thinking. Those ways of thinking are false because they are too optimistic about human nature and human affairs. The proper outlook of conservatives, I shall argue, is a pessimistic one, at least so far as the things of this world are concerned. We have been misled, and the conservative movement has been derailed, by legions of fools and poseurs wearing smiley-face masks.”

Overly optimistic and utopian ideas are not only pointless but can actually be harmful. Therefore, Derbyshire advocates a politics of despair! Earthly affairs cannot be much improved by the hand of man—most certainly not by the hand of government. Thus, the optimism that is foolish is the one that believes that man, or the government in particular, is able to greatly improve the world.

So, what should we be pessimistic about? First on the list is diversity. Derbyshire refers to a cult of Diversity that believes if we just increase and celebrate a diversity of races, religions, sexual orientations, and on and on, the world will be a better place. Eventually a utopia of peace and friendship among the rainbow coalition will reign on the earth. Unfortunately, facts show that diversity does not work, and it actually increases racial and other forms of inter-population strife. One study Derbyshire sites states that diversity could in fact doom our system of government. “The [American philosophical-Constitutional] Creed is unlikely to retain its salience if Americans abandon the Anglo-Protestant culture in which it has been rooted. A multicultural America will, in time, become a multicreedal America, with groups with different cultures espousing distinctive political values and principles rooted in their particular cultures.”

Along with diversity, our pessimism should be extended towards government. In Derbyshire’s words, “Most of what legislators legislate and executives execute is foolish, counterproductive or downright wicked, so the less they do the better.” Derbyshire is also afraid that our previously successful republic will not last because of an increasingly monarchical presidency and a stagnated, permanent-incumbent congress. We have given the political class too much power and given up too many of our freedoms in the optimistic hope that the government can fulfill their promise of peace and prosperity. Promises, they never in the end keep.

Derbyshire also makes his case for pessimism towards the future of religion, our current foreign policy, the economy, immigration, and even the future of the Conservative philosophy itself.

You can read my review of We are Doomed here.

The One with Joan Miró

199. Title & Author: Joan Miró by Janis Mink (93 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Art History

Completed: 24 September 2011

Summary & Review:

Art historian Janis Mink explores the life, times, and work of Spanish artist Joan Miró. Despite the turbulent eras in Spain through which Miró lived, his work was constantly focused on and inspired by the land he loved. Along with the text by Mink, there are dozens of full color reproductions of Miró included in the book, as well as a chronological history of the artist’s life.

Zzzzzzzz….Oh…where was I? I remember now, I was bored to tears. Miró’s work does absolutely nothing for me. I do not find it intriguing, interesting, or even aesthetically appealing. Coupled with that, the text by Mink was unbearably dry, so there was no real redeeming value there to make up for my utter lack of interest in Miró’s work.

I can’t help but think that so much of modern art is just a big scam. How have all these historians, critics, and scholars been seduced by such junk? How can we as a society seriously compare artists like Miró and Kandinsky to Michelangelo and Caravaggio? Someday, history will look back at the twentieth century and assess the art as a low point in the history of Western civilization. I have heard all the erudite and eloquent defenses of modern art, post-modern art, and what have you, and I am not falling for it.

Rating: 3.5