— On Assholes

A sympathetic understanding of “republican” thought requires us to raise taxes.

Here’s the sympathetic understanding: in society, our chief concern is and should be that everyone is assured against subjection to the arbitrary will of others.  In being so assured, we can look at our fellow citizens in the eye, as equals.  

This is from a Q and A with yours truly over at “the nook,” a nice blog on things cultural, literary, and artistic, here.

aaron sat down with ‘the nook’ today and generously answered some questions that were burning our chapped, winter lips:

In moments of self-doubt, I’ve sometimes wondered whether he isn’t merely an ass-clown, and so unfairly classified as an asshole.

There’s a difference because you can be both obtuse–an “ass”– and prone to attention-seeking buffoonery–a “clown” and yet without all of this flowing from an

The next generation being two recently ousted corporate assholes, Scott Forstall of Apple and Steve Sinofsky of Microsoft.  Let us pause to appreciate a rare moment for justice: both got their comeuppance.

Both followed in Steve Job’s footsteps, styling themselves as indispensable visionaries who are entitled to set aside usual expectations of

In some cases, sure.  David Brooks glowingly praises spaceman Elon Musk in order to make sure Americans don’t forget–as though Americans *could* forget–that encouraging grand visions and getting entrepreneurs to take big risks can return benefits to everyone.

Trouble is, a culture that inflates egos in hopes of nurturing a few “game changers” can run *out of control*, with grandiosity of asshole proportions

If only there were such steps, and a self-help book that laid the steps out.  We could all read that book, follow those steps and, presto, assholes would all wind up somewhere else.  (I’m not sure where.   Some island?  Or Newport Beach?  Or maybe they’d de-materialize.)

So assuming there aren’t seven easy steps (or eight or eleven or…), we might find a little bit of help in considering how a seven-step self-help book might oversimplify.  (If my comments also oversimplify, take that as proof of my main point.)

We, as a society, are in trouble if Rousseau is right about this:

…the manner in which public affairs are conducted gives a sufficiently accurate indication of the moral character and the state of health of the body politic.  The greater harmony that reignes in the public assemblies, the more, in other words, that public opinion approaches unanimity, the