Latest news with #JosephEpstein
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Protest? It's Strictly Business
Joseph Epstein rightly laments society's moral decline in 'Protest Isn't What It Used to Be' (op-ed, May 30). Yet he searches for the underlying cause in the wrong location, as hate and prejudice have always been an integral part of our condition. What has changed in recent years is threefold. First are the effects of social media, which through its anonymity has supercharged the viciousness of the town square. Second is the development of a permanent cadre of disaffected people who look to inclusion in any cause that seeks to attack the system into which they so poorly fit. And third is myriad organizations and deep-pocketed activists who have harnessed the social unrest through financial support and incentives for the disaffected serial protester. In the end, protest isn't personal anymore; it's strictly business. Pete Gurney
Wall Street Journal
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Circle Back on the Deep Dive
The letters in response to Joseph Epstein's op-ed 'The Incredibly Massive Number of Hackneyed Words Is Surreal' (April 4) have been excellent but not exhaustive. Allow me to add the rules of language that seem to dominate every committee meeting, board room and professional setting today: First, every sentence must begin with the word 'so.' Assuming the subject is within one's wheelhouse, he must then look at the metrics of whatever idea is under discussion and be sure it is both 'scalable' and 'sustainable.' That is a conversation that will take up a lot of real estate and inevitably require a deep dive. But fear not: One can always circle back.
Wall Street Journal
23-03-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Israel Shouldn't Fall for the Azeri Trojan Horse
In their March 15 op-ed 'Azerbaijan Is Israel's New Friend in the Muslim World,' Seth Cropsey and Joseph Epstein argue that the U.S. and Israel should include Azerbaijan in the Abraham Accords. Their goal to counter Iran is noble but their prescription is naïve. There are two Azerbaijans: a fictional one that Baku shows visitors and a real one it hides. Take its relations with Iran. Azerbaijan's lobbyists say the two countries are adversaries, but behind the scenes they're partners. In 2021 Baku signed a gas swap deal with Tehran, helping to relieve Iranian authorities from Washington's 'maximum pressure.' Armenia trades with Iran as a matter of necessity due to a blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey. Azerbaijan's trade with Iran is nearly as high but a matter of choice.
