David Thompson has written for The Times, The Observer and Eye: the International Review of Graphic Design. Bad Faith, his irregular column for 3:AM, is usually about dishonesty of one kind or another. David is also an executive board member of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion, based in Amherst, New York. He lives in England, but not in London, and blogs at David Thompson.
Why do you blog? > Rage, joy, curiosity; not necessarily in that order.
What has been your best blogging experience? > 'Meeting' people I otherwise wouldn't have, and whose perspective I enjoy. Being told I'm right, sometimes.
What has been your worst blogging experience? > Being told I'm wrong, quite emphatically, by people who don't know why.
What would be your main blogging advice to a novice blogger? > Be prepared for people to dislike you because of the above.
What are your favourite blogs? > The Daily Ablution, Butterflies and Wheels, Protein Wisdom. And normblog, naturally.
Who are your intellectual heroes? > Why would a person have intellectual 'heroes'?
What are you reading at the moment? > Keith Windschuttle's The Killing of History: How Literary Critics and Social Theorists Are Murdering Our Past, and Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible.
What is your favourite song? > Today, it's 'La Degustation' by The Lovers.
Can you name a major moral, political or intellectual issue on which you've ever changed your mind? > That all religions are – somehow, mysteriously - equally prone to intolerance, violence and dysfunction. (See below.)
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to disseminate? > That one should not become stupid or dishonest in order to seem 'fair'.
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? > Islamists, jihadists, and the socialists who service them.
Can you name a work of non-fiction which has had a major and lasting influence on how you think about the world? > Celia Green's The Human Evasion. It captures quite vividly, and in a rather unusual way, just how dishonest people can be.
What is your favourite piece of political wisdom? > 'It is only through the collision of adverse opinions that the truth has any hope of being brought to light.' - John Stuart Mill
If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be? > I'd scrape away the misapprehension that peace and security can somehow be achieved through weakness and timidity, or the appearance thereof.
What would you do with the UN? > Disassemble it. Think again.
What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world? > Islamic fanatics, especially if equipped with tools of indiscriminate destruction, and the spread of the ideology in which they swim. Oh, and the so-called 'anti-war' movement doesn't exactly help.
Do you think the world (human civilization) has already passed its best point, or is that yet to come? > Yet to come, perhaps.
What would be your most important piece of advice about life? > Never rely on people who use the words 'hegemony' and 'discourse', and never leave your children with someone who claims to know what God wants.
Do you think you could ever be married to, or in a long-term relationship with, someone with radically different political views from your own? > Doubtful.
What do you consider the most important personal quality? > Reciprocation.
What personal fault do you most dislike? > Dishonesty; habitual mooching.
In what circumstances would you be willing to lie? > In desperation.
Do you have any prejudices you're willing to acknowledge? > When people use the words 'discourse' and 'hegemony' I sometimes imagine they're evil, rather than just stupid.
What is your favourite proverb? > 'Theory, like mist on eyeglasses, obscure facts.' - Charlie Chan
What would you call your autobiography? > Bastards, They're All Bastards.
Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)? > The United States.
What do you like doing in your spare time? > Cocaine.
What talent would you most like to have? > Perfect pitch.
What would be your ideal choice of alternative profession or job? > Emperor.
How, if at all, would you change your life were you suddenly to win or inherit an enormously large sum of money? > Operation Overlord would begin.
[The normblog profile is a weekly Friday morning feature. A list of all the profiles to date, and the links to them, can be found here.]