My friends at the Discovery Institute are publishing a monthly on-line newsletter, edited by moi, called The Human Exceptionalist. It is the next step up for the Center for Human Exceptionalism, of which I am co-director.
As readers of SHS know, I believe that anti humanism is one of the major challenges of our time that cuts across a broad array of issues that otherwise seem unconnected—such as, say assisted suicide and radical environmentalism. I conceived the HE not as another vehicle for my personal commentary, but to present such stories in one place, juxtaposed to help people connect the dots that desperately need connecting. Here’s an excerpt from my introductory note. From The Human Exceptionalist, Vol. 1, No. 1:
Dear Exceptional Human:
Welcome to the first issue of The Human Exceptionalist, the Center for Human Exceptionalism’s monthly report on the many emerging threats to human dignity and equality.
Why The Human Exceptionalist now? Western Civilization, which depends on accepting the moral importance of being human, has generated greater freedom and prosperity than ever before seen in history. Despite this, very powerful and bounteously financed ideological forces in seemingly unrelated—but actually symbiotically connected fields—such as bioethics, radical environmentalism, neo Darwinism, scientific materialism, animal rights, radical environmentalism, and futuristic transhumanism, assert with mounting vigor that being human is morally irrelevant.
Not coincidentally, as the moral importance of human life has become increasingly marginalized, flora, fauna—and even nature itself—are seen increasingly as possessing rights equal to those of man. Some even go so far as to declare us to be the enemy of the planet itself! Worse, these nihilistic views are communicated continually (and sometimes subliminally) by popular culture, in schools, at our most important universities, and by the media.
When faced with these subversive philosophies, too many people roll their eyes and say, “It can’t happen here.” No more dangerous words were ever uttered. As The Human Exceptionalist will show, it not only can happen here, it is happening now…
Check it out and see what you think. If you’d like to subscribe, hit this link. No charge! (Yes, you get much more than you pay for.)
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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