Great to see John J Ray on the blogroll, he is a great unsung hero of the resistance and he deserves to get full recognition before it is too late for him to see and hear it. Check out his sites and take advantage of the arsenal of weapons that he has forged to help us.
Read his current post on the Swdish response to Covid!
Some personal background
My full name is Dr. John Joseph RAY. I am a former university teacher aged 65 at the time of writing in 2009. I was born of Australian pioneer stock in 1943 at Innisfail in the State of Queensland in Australia. I trace my ancestry wholly to the British Isles. After an early education at Innisfail State Rural School and Cairns State High School, I taught myself for matriculation. I took my B.A. in Psychology from the University of Queensland in Brisbane. I then moved to Sydney (in New South Wales, Australia) and took my M.A. in psychology from the University of Sydney in 1969 and my Ph.D. from the School of Behavioural Sciences at Macquarie University in 1974. I first tutored in psychology at Macquarie University and then taught sociology at the University of NSW. My doctorate is in psychology but I taught mainly sociology in my 14 years as a university teacher. In High Schools I taught economics. I have taught in both traditional and “progressive” (low discipline) High Schools. Fuller biographical notes here
I completed the work for my Ph.D. at the end of 1970 but the degree was not awarded until 1974 — due to some academic nastiness from Seymour Martin Lipset and Fred Emery. A conservative or libertarian who makes it through the academic maze has to be at least twice as good as the average conformist Leftist. Fortunately, I am a born academic.
Despite my great sympathy and respect for Christianity, I am the most complete atheist you could find. I don’t even believe that the word “God” is meaningful. I am not at all original in that view, of course. Such views are particularly associated with the noted German philosopher Rudolf Carnap. Unlike Carnap, however, none of my wives have committed suicide
In my teenage years, however, I was fortunate to be immersed (literally) in a very fundamentalist Christian religion. And the heavy Bible study I did at that time left me with lessons for life that have stood me in good stead ever since.
A great liberty quote this morning.
We have entered a new phase of culture – we may call it the Age of the Cinema – in which the most amazing perfection of scientific technique is being devoted to purely ephemeral objects, without any consideration of their ultimate justification. It seems as though a new society was arising which will acknowledge no hierarchy of values, no intellectual authority, and no social or religious tradition, but which will live for the moment in a chaos of pure sensation.— Christopher Dawson
Cheers Rafe. John is one of best for those who are looking for more than just simplistic slogans.
I credit John Ray to completing my basic political education.
This assumes that Leftists are amenable to rational argument.
Mostly they are not anymore.
This is the problem.
From his website:
He should stick to what he knows.
Roger, the site was not built to be read by leftists.
So who are the weapons meant to be used against, Rafe?
Indeed, was thinking that too.
What a mirror of modesty.
I once received, unsolicited photocopies of a couple of Lipset’s papers. Mystified, I asked an American political scientist what the deal was. I was told he spent most of his department’s budget doing this and sending them to other political scientists in the hope they would cite him so he maintain his citations. Speaks volumes!