About VFR

A reader wrote last night:

Along with my donation to VFR, I’d like to give you an explanation of why I’m sending it. For a casual follower of political affairs such as myself, I’ve always felt dissatisfied with the tenor of most political commentary. So much political debate (online or otherwise) seems superficial and unsatisfying, either because it’s silly, or partisan, or else steeped in a kind of “pragmatic” attitude towards every issue. It is rare to find commentators willing to keep track of recurring themes or attempt to draw general truths and fit them into a broader scheme. I’ve found so much political talk to be structured this way—avoid philosophizing at all costs.

What you’ve done with VFR is rather remarkable, for you’ve built up not only an insightful running commentary on current affairs, but also a sort of catalogue of recurring societal patterns, laws, and tendencies that have accumulated over years. And you’ve left citations to these discoveries sprinkled everywhere, which really adds to their impact. VFR is not so much a blog as an intellectual world, almost a field guide to contemporary liberal society. In particular you have a real talent for pointing out strange tics in usage (such as the passive voice trick), moral lapses among public figures, and other horrors of modernity so blatant that nobody thinks to notice them anymore. All of these reveal a society deeply afraid of telling the truth about itself.

Truths of this kind are often hard to come by for the casual observer, but also deeply felt once we have them. My donation is given simply in hopes that you’ll continue to practice your immense talent for discovering them.

I thanked the reader very much, and told him he had pointed out some things about VFR that no had said before, and that I had never said to myself.

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Laura Wood writes:

That was a very vile compliment you received. Vile sycophancy at its finest. It was all true. If anything, it was an understatement. But I’m worried. You’re not going to get Narcissism Personality Disorder, are ya’?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 27, 2010 11:15 AM | Send