An Eclectic Link Collection

Facebook is a black hole. At its edge, it can be a source of enlightenment. But this surface is continually being sucked into the abyss where it is crushed by the weight of Facebook’s superficiality and transience – its algorithm from hell.

So, I’ve decided to start curating here instead, where I can be modest in scope, where I can present in order to preserve and where I can keep the wolves at bay. I will simply add links to social, political & religious commentary that resonates with me. I will add them as I find them, and perhaps remove them when I tire of them. Some of these I have pulled from bookmark lists going back ten years or more.

It’s probably true that the strongest negative force in my nature is my dislike of elitism. Whether it be in the trades (union/’guild’ monopoly), the church (staff/council over-reach) or politics (majority rule). George Will’s seasoned perspective on this is worthwhile reading.

This thorough analysis of liberalism’s faults comes from First Things, a leading intellectual journal. I offer it as a challenge to those who share my charitable nature but differ from me in their means to that end.

The Dutch touch to solving the world’s problems is amply illustrated in this YouTube channel. Coming, as it does, from a fellow Dutch Canadian (from London and Toronto) now living in the Netherlands, it appeals to me on many levels.

This link is the oddball on this page, chosen not for what it says as for its use of one of my photos. I do not mind the use or the lack of attribution.

As someone who has loved the work that I’ve done, but not always been able to do what I love, this article speaks volumes to me, and is a necessary antidote to current trends.

Words are very important to me. And, even though it’s not my native tongue, it is English that I seek to master. This digging into its roots illustrates that, even though English is now thought of as domineering, it is a coming together of natives, migrants, invaders and people of all classes.

This long, meandering essay about the nature of writing strikes at the heart of our place in this world as co-creators calling things into being.

Over the past thirty-five years, our daughter’s Down Syndrome has become a fixture in our lives. It just is, and this article illustrates that reality very well. It’s my belief that our ‘radical acceptance’ is a practice ground for acceptance (I hate to say ‘tolerance’) on a much wider scale.

David Koyzis is one of my most reliable sources, both for what he writes and for the links that he posts (several of which are on this page). Though I hesitate to wade into the the issue of racism, I do have to affirm Koyzis’ recognition of the brokenness that cuts through all intersections.

I do not know why more people do not pay attention to Thomas Sowell. This short article is perfectly reasonable in spite of its deviation from popular narratives.

This statistics-heavy analysis of representation in professions, academia and sports paints a different picture of social justice and diversity than is currently in vogue.

Life is religion, and the headlined piece on this page is a tour-de-force analysis of how this has been working out, particularly in late-Trumpian USA.

Good and evil presents us with a clear choice – except when it doesn’t.

About

Newmaker Notes – writings, photos and collections – by Henry J. de Jong.

Newmaker is the spirit that drives a lifetime of creativity, and is a reflection of the Creator who continues to make all things new.

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