This may be a mere political tactic, but I have a hunch that it’s because nearly all modern Western thought (especially liberalism) is descended from fourteenth-century nominalism.

Nominalism is the philosophical position that states that universal concepts have no existence either inside or outside of the mind; they are merely terms or words to which arbitrary collections of individual things are attached.

If a term has good connotations, then it is to ones advantage to attach that term to a collection of individual things of ones own choice. Adding just a few more individuals won’t hurt anyone. And, while you’re at it, taking away a few unneeded individuals wouldn’t be so bad; especially if doing so puts down those hate-filled right-wingers.

If Luxanta accesses VFR’s Search feature (on the main page) and looks for nominalism, she will find some interesting discussions of liberalism as nominalism.

The articles are enlightening. Thank you for pointing that out.

It’s about time that you know that I am a seminarian with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. My username at plogs.net (which I use as an Internet handle) is a contraction of “Lux Sancta” (“Holy Light”).

Yes, I know that “lux” is a feminine noun. One of the hymns in the Roman Breviary uses the phrase “Lux sancta,” so I decided to use it. I apologize for any confusion.

Sorry about the wrong conclusion as to sex. I should have avoided using any pronoun until I had determined which was correct.

I have learned so much from Paul Gottfried’s works, and I wish he did not ally himself with the silliest of paleos so often. This piece is very good, except for this quote early on:

“In my view, Jewish liberals and neocons who favor both a Jewish right to ethnocentricity and a Euro-American obligation to have open borders and to exchange their traditional identities for ‘human rights,” have turned paleos against Israel.”

Jewish liberals are hypocritical and therefore paleos turn against Israel? Gottfried spends the rest of the interview explaining why that makes no sense at all. So maybe these paleos have some other, less savory, reasons to love the poor Palestinians so.

I think Agricola may read too much into what Gottfried wrote. An observation - an accurate one at that, I suspect - does not necessarily imply approbation, as Gottfried makes clear. I also suspect that most paleos who criticize Israel do so not out of any great love for murdering Moslems but out of frustration at the double-standard Gottfried mentions and their perception, shared by many who are not paleos, that the Israeli lobby has extraordinary influence in the U.S. government. That the influence does not always lead to American policies that actually work in Israel’s best interests may be due to the fact that a lot of the bulwarks of the Israeli lobby are liberals - hence incapable of understanding solutions that might actually solve Israel’s existential problem, any more than they can come to grips with America’s real problems.

Lux Sancta (why leave out the S?),
God bless you for taking up the burden of being a Traditional Mass priest. I am very glad you have such a vocation and I hope it goes well for you. As a frustrated Catholic who loves the old Mass, I wish for many more of you and for many more churches where the Traditional Mass is offered. Good luck in your ministry. HRS

Mr. Gottfried and some on this forum are a little confused about the relationship between liberals neocons and Israel.

Leftists of Jewish descent hate Israel as it is a (non-communist) nation-state. Most support the creation of a single binational state.

Liberals who support Israel ignore the racial aspect speaking in platitudes of democracy, while promoting a three-state solution (Israel, Palestine, Jordan).

Neocons do not seriously differ from pro-Israel liberals, except in so far as they realize the racial aspects. Some neocons will ignore the logical implications of race. Others fully support nation-states, so long as they are liberal democracies.

Neocons are not out to destroy the ethnic core of America like leftists do. Neocons view America as an idea, not as a nation-state.