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Kalb on Phillips
Three years before I wrote anything about Melanie Phillips, Jim Kalb posted at VFR in May 2002 some interesting observations about her that anticipated my later criticisms. In particular, Mr. Kalb points out that Phillips makes a traditionalist-sounding appeal to moral norms and to a common social identity, while neglecting to state what is the basis of this identity and these norms. In short, Phillips is the typical moderate liberal who wants quasi traditionalist results, without actually having to do or affirm anything traditional.
A few months later, Mr. Kalb found that Phillips had made some progress toward theoretical clarity on these problems. Email entry |