And it is not RED. Honest. I was having a little fun ranting on Flame, and playing with the language, perhaps trying to get a rise out of our conservative friends.

But there is a germ of truth, an underlying annoyance at the article you quoted. It may seem like a stretch to you, but to have the meaning of Western civilization, something I believe I have shown myself to be very passionate about, so condescendingly explained to me by such a bastion of conservative rectitude is a bit more than just annoying. It is as if he is patiently making it clear to the rest of us Philistines just what western civilization is, and by extension, that I need it explained to me by someone of his persuasion. As if he and his allies were the guardians and guarantors of that civilization.

I first read the Dialogues of Plato, including the Republic, when I was 12. I didn't digest it all the first time around, but I continued trying, again and again. I found the Republic a recipe for tyranny, and many of his other concepts even more disturbing as a budding young scientist, a feeling I only reinforced by my increasing understanding. I couldn't understand why this philsophy was treated with such great respect today by contemporary thinkers.

But I also fell in love with the mind and soul and intelligence of these men 2500 years ago, and the community they lived in, how they sounded so contemporary and modern to my ears. Plato's account of Socrates' defense at his trial is a phenomenally moving document. What I would have given to hear it in the original Attic dialect. The respect I have for this civilization, even when I disagree with it, is part of my education, my heritage as a an American and as a European. I don't need it explained to me by this, this....person.

I guess I'll get the left wing take of the Golden Age of Athens from Bettany Hughes tomorrow night, and if you've followed my posts on that you'll probably know I'm gearing up to be pretty steamed about her version of it, too. But I can take it from her. She is so much fun to watch.