Articles

At its heart, Whiplash is the story of a young man who strives for greatness in his chosen career and who struggles to overcome the failings of his overbearing mentor to do so. The film is inspiring, not only because it portrays the quest for greatness, but because the people who created the film achieved greatness in their work.

Machete-wielding jihadists in Bangladesh hacked to death American secularist author and blogger Dr. Avijit Roy for "insulting Islam." The jihadists also hacked Roy’s wife, severely injuring her and cutting off one of her fingers. She remains hospitalized. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the couple’s friends and family.

The electronic versions of the Spring issue of The Objective Standard have been published, and all articles are accessible to subscribers. For promotional purposes, we’ve made the cover article, “Islamic Jihad and Western Faith,” accessible for free.

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape Our Modern World, by Mark Miodownik. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 272 pp. $16.45 (hardcover). Reviewed by Daniel Wahl In May 1985, a young Mark Miodownik sat on a train, with a fresh thirteen-centimeter stab wound in his back, and thought…

The Frackers, by Gregory Zuckerman. New York: Portfolio, 2013. 404 pp. $29.95 (hardcover). The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters, the second book by Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman, tells the story of the development, over the past several decades, of the amazing technology by…

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, by Alex Epstein. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2014. 256 pp. $27.95 (hardcover). Who would argue that producing and using fossil fuels is not only not shameful, but also positively virtuous? Alex Epstein would. And he has done so eloquently and thoroughly in his book, The…

“Circumcision in America” traces the history of and rationales for nontherapeutic circumcision, sheds medical and ethical light on the widespread practice, and argues that Americans should take a principled stand against it.

“Piketty’s Rickety Assault on Capital” dismantles and dispatches Thomas Piketty’s arguments against free markets and the principle of rights, including the “fuzzy math in Piketty’s alleged laws of capitalism.

Examines the role of faith in Islamic jihad and shows that to accept faith as a means of knowledge is to aid jihadists at the most fundamental level.

This, the Spring 2015 issue of The Objective Standard, begins our tenth year of publication; so let me start by extending a hearty thank-you to all of our subscribers and donors who have supported our vital work over the years. In a culture largely hostile to the ideas we elucidate…

Success is possible, but not guaranteed. We can achieve our dreams, but only if we direct our thought and effort toward them. Difficulties, roadblocks, obstacles are a part of life, and Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way is a great resource for learning how to turn these obstacles into opportunities.

Barack Obama recently announced a plan to use taxpayer money to pay the full tuitions of community college students. This proposed program is immoral and destructive on several counts. To begin with, the program would violate the rights of taxpaying Americans who would be forced to fund the program.

Although TOS does not approve of the bizarre message in this cartoon (a tearful Muhammad under the header “All is forgiven” holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”), we profoundly approve of Charlie Hebdo’s persistence and refusal to be silenced by jihadists. Here’s to the courageous men and women involved in this magazine.

Those who whitewash Islam thereby spiritually aid the jihadists. Although such aid to the enemy may be legal, it is nevertheless evil. It is time for all civilized people to acknowledge that to pretend Islam is not evil is to bear some measure of responsibility for the atrocities committed in its name.

Muslims who wish to violently suppress freedom of speech can find plenty of support for their cause within their religious texts. But there is a more fundamental reason why so many Muslims oppose freedom of speech, beyond the contents of their religious texts: the very existence of freedom of speech is at odds with their faith-based worldview.