School Choice, Sputnik Moments, Centrists, and More...
Recent articles from Everyman writers around the web
Besides writing for The Everyman, most of our writers are freelancers whose work appears in other publications. This is a new feature that will gather these articles into one place every so often and invite readers to read more from their favorite Everymen (and Everywomen) and enjoy some dank memes.
The Woke Oscars Will Be Entirely Out Of Step With The National Vibe Shift Right
Auguste Meyrat, The Federalist, January 30, 2025
Some things never change. Public opinion may change, new administrations may come into office, and popular media trends will always bubble and pop in the many streams of arts and entertainment. But the imperturbably woke standard the left imposes on everything under the sun will forever remain.
This is apparent in the recent Golden Globe winners and Academy Awards nominations. True to form, films with obviously woke values lay at the forefront: Emilia Pérez, a musical about a drug cartel kingpin “transitioning;” Conclave, in which a group of leftist bishops works against bigoted conservative bishops to elect the next pope; A Complete Unknown, a Bob Dylan biopic celebrating his leftist sensibilities and how he rocked out with people of color; and The Substance, an artsy horror film that examines the impossible beauty standards placed on women.
For good measure, there were more traditional (i.e., slightly less obviously woke) films like the three-and-a-half-hour The Brutalist, in which a Holocaust survivor architect makes his way in the antisemitic culture of New York City (a kind of woke version of Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead”), and Anora, a dark comedy set in Brooklyn about a prostitute who marries the son of a Russian oligarch (a kind of woke parody of Cinderella)….
Read the rest here.
Texas’ School Choice Bill Will Help Teachers And Students Alike
Auguste Meyrat, The Federalist, February 06, 2025
Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, announced SB2, his new school choice bill that would allow Texan parents to have publicly funded Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). If the measure passes, parents, students, and teachers in the Lone Star State — and other states that follow suit — will benefit immensely.
ESAs are similar to a school voucher system, but more flexible, equitable, and generally useful. In SB2 the ESA would be a publicly funded savings account of between $2,000 and $10,000 (or $11,500 for students with a disability) that could be applied to alternatives to public education. If parents are unhappy with their child’s neighborhood public school or charter school, they can apply for an ESA and use that money to pay for a private school, a homeschool-private school hybrid, or resources for full-time homeschooling. Along with this, they can also use the funds from the ESA to pay for education-related programs, like after-school tutoring, online courses, or special education services.
As it stands, the only parents in Texas who homeschool or send their kids to private school are the ones affluent enough to afford it. Everyone else is forced to send their children to the neighborhood public school or a charter school. If these schools are awful, they have no choice but to accept it and do what they can on the margins….
Read more here.
The “Sputnik Moment” Delusion
Auguste Meyrat, Crisis, February 04, 2025
China’s new AI program Deep Seek has taken the world by surprise. China is known for its penchant for stealing ideas and joining those ideas with slave labor and authoritarianism to manufacture cheap junk, and now a Chinese outfit has surprisingly developed something new— and it’s better than the most cutting-edge AI programs produced here in America.
Combining some well-known methods of programing an AI platform and using less sophisticated microchips, Deep Seek is far cheaper and more efficient than American counterparts like ChatGPT (or, at least, this is claimed by its creators). This, in turn, lowers the barrier of entry for other engineers to develop AI products and relieve some of the power grids being overtaxed by massive energy-sucking data centers. Consequently, the announcement of Deep Seek has caused the mammoth microchip manufacturer Nvidia, whose chips are primarily used for AI, to lose over half a trillion dollars in the stock market.
Ever fond of historical clichés, commentators are calling this a “Sputnik moment,” referring to that famous moment in the mid-twentieth century where American scientists were shaken out of their complacency when the Russian satellite Sputnik appeared in the sky. So the story goes, this event caused Americans to mobilize every educational institution and amass extensive resources in order to build up a rival space program that would beat the Soviet Union in the Space Race. No longer would our best and brightest be asked to memorize poetry and learn dead languages; they would take advanced calculus in high school and learn the principles of rocketry during their spare time….
Read more here.
Beware the Centrist
Auguste Meyrat, Chronicles, February 14th, 2025
Few people are more dangerous and outright annoying than the self-proclaimed moderate or centrist. These are the people who refuse to take sides on important issues, claiming to be above the fray. They will usually champion debate, but only to the point that each side has their say and nothing is decided. They are conservative in the sense that they want to conserve the status quo no matter how awful it is, but they are progressive in the sense that they like to signal their sympathy with progressive pieties no matter how absurd they might be. In the end, they have nothing to contribute and waste everyone’s time.
Nevertheless, people persist in holding up these centrists for their “principled stands” and impartiality. As Jonathan Keeperman (AKA @Lomez) recently observed on X, that this centrist branding is all a dodge: “Probably the most disappointing discovery of becoming politically aware is that the “sensible centrists” are not merely cowards but profoundly unserious and often very stupid people.” In too many cases, centrism is a pose and preaching moderation is a copout. It is the intellectual refuge of uninformed midwits who want to appear smarter and more courageous than they are.
For an example of this dynamic, one need only listen to the interview last November between Bari Weiss and Peter Thiel. Compared to her interlocutor, Weiss is a pathetic lightweight mouthing platitudes and barely following the far more intelligent Thiel who does his best to slow down and use small words so she can keep up….
Read more here.
A Western About Cowboys, Indians … and Mormons
Auguste Meyrat, RealClear Books and Culture, February 13th, 2025
Overall, American Primeval, the new Western on Netflix which takes place in the early days of Utah’s settlement, is a good show—in a directional sense. That is, it is enjoyable because it represents a step in the right direction. On the one hand it avoids the usual mistakes made by most historical television series in this genre, providing a good example for other shows to follow. On the other hand, it has some structural flaws and missed opportunities that prevent it from being a truly great show.
The show’s main virtue is its refreshing commitment to being historically realistic, if not always perfectly accurate. Even though it’s mostly shot in New Mexico, this is close enough to capturing the rugged, open terrain of 1850s Utah. The sets all feel real: the dirty, crowded Fort Bridger; the busy teepee encampments of the Shoshoni; and the random trading outposts and cabins nestled in the forests and hills. The characters all make their way on narrow dirt roads with their horses, ox-drawn wagons, or their own two feet. Like any good Western, the series transports the audience to that particular time when life was slower yet far more grounded and dangerous….
Read more here.
We Don’t Really Care, Margaret
Katya Sedgwick, Chronicles, January 31st, 2025
It was pure delight to watch our brilliant young Vice President J. D. Vance tackle CBS’s Face the Nation scold Margaret Brennan in a recent interview. Brennan believed she had the facts to back up her assertions when she started a conversation on refugee admissions, but soon discovered otherwise.
Brennan insisted that the Afghan asylum seekers are properly vetted because “refugee screening takes 18 to 24 months to go through,” as if the length of time allotted to immigration bureaucrats to complete an assignment is a guarantee of quality work. Vance countered that “we know that there are cases of people who allegedly were properly vetted and then were literally planning terrorist attacks in our country.” Here, Vance cited the example of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, the recently foiled Election Day terrorist in Oklahoma.
Brennan then defended the program saying, “It wasn’t clear if he was radicalized when he got here or while he was living here.” To which the Veep responded with the instantly iconic retort: “I don’t really care, Margaret.” Explaining “I don’t want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me.”….
Read more here.
The Mystery of Biblical Giants, From Goliath to the Nephilim
Bradley Shumaker, The National Catholic Register, January 28th, 2025.
Fictional giants have appeared in popular entertainment for centuries, from old fairy tales to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But many who are entertained by these unique creatures may be unaware that the Old Testament contains several mysterious references to “giants,” and serves as a source for the fictional stories.
Goliath
For many of us, the most famous giant from the Bible is Goliath. Goliath, who hailed from the city of Gath, was the Philistine fighter who was slain by the young David who would eventually become King of Israel.
In some Bible versions, Goliath is listed as being 6 cubits tall, which is about 9 feet. Writings recovered from the Dead Sea Scrolls listed Goliath’s height as only 4 cubits, which would have made him about 6 feet 9 inches tall. In the New American Bible (NAB), Goliath is specifically identified as being “6 and a half feet tall” (1 Samuel 17:4). Thus, as it turns out, while he certainly may have been large, the most famous giant in the Bible does not appear to have been gigantic (in the same way that most people have historically understood this term).
Read the rest here.
Photo Credit- ABC News