TOS Weekly - Jihad, Appeasement, and Evil
Plus Michael Huemer debates Craig Biddle on ethics, I celebrate the defiant optimism of Gene Roddenberry, and more.
Welcome to this week’s TOS Weekly!
In the wake of last week’s horrific events in Sydney, it’s vital that we identify and oppose the ideology that motivated that atrocity and so many others like it. Craig Biddle does just that in his article “Ten Steps to End the Jihad Against the West.” That vicious crusade will end only when Western politicians and intellectuals stand up for the values that Americans, Australians, and all those lucky enough to grow up in the civilized world owe their freedom to: reason and rights.
Appeasing vicious, anti-life ideologies only enables them in the long run, a lesson the West should have learned in the 1940s. Adolf Hitler appointed himself leader of the German army eighty-four years ago today, one of his many tyrannical actions ultimately enabled by Britain and other countries’ appeasement of the Nazis in the 1930s. John David Lewis’s deep dive into that story of appeasement and compromise clarifies how important it is that we stand firmly by the principles on which freedom depends when dealing with those who would deprive us of our lives and liberty.
I hope you find value in this week’s articles!
Thomas Walker-Werth
What’s New?
Michael Huemer and I Discuss Ethical Intuitionism and Rational Egoism
I recently spoke with philosopher Michael Huemer about the nature and foundation of ethics. He argued for moral intuitionism based on intellectual appearances, and I upheld rational egoism derived from observation and logic.
“I Believe in Humanity”: The Defiant Optimism of Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry's story is inspirational—an example of how one man who knows what he stands for can change the direction of a culture.
From the Archive
Ten Steps to End Jihad Against the West
Here’s what Westerners and Western nations can and should do to end the jihad against the West.
The Evil of Whitewashing Islam
One religion today regularly motivates large numbers of its followers to murder, behead, rape, and enslave people across the globe. That religion is Islam.
“The Balm for a Guilty Conscience”: Moral Paralysis, Appeasement, and the Causes of World War II
On this day in 1941, Hitler took command of the German Army. Which ideas led to British appeasement and compromise in the late 1930s and, in turn, enabled the rise of Nazi Germany?
“The Objective Standard is a fountain of clarity in an otherwise murky world.”
—Martin
Copyright © 2025 The Objective Standard. All rights reserved.