The wizard of Ozz

At least according to this article's rather positive spin on the legacy of Ozzy Osbourne.

Here's the thing, and I've reflected on this for some time.  In Robert Altman's film MASH, there is a scene that pretty much summed up where the postwar liberal revolution was going.  The arch-villain Frank Burns (an early Robert Duvall role), was sitting in the surgeons' tent.  Hawkeye, and his companion who would not transfer to the TV series, Duke Forrest, first arrive and bring in their belongings and meet their new tentmate.  

When they arrive, they see Frank overseeing reading lessons for a young Korean boy named Ho-Jon.  Ho-Jon is being taught to read from the Bible.  Duke and Hawkeye share a glance, and Duke points out the obvious. Duke mentions that he's learning to read from the Bible, then somewhat sardonically states 'that's nice.'  

Then, the next moment, Duke goes up and leans over Ho-John and, pulling the Bible away, says 'you might like this instead.'  The 'this' is an adult magazine - likely Penthouse or Playboy.  At that point, seeing the bare chested girl on the cover, Ho-Jon eagerly looks at Frank and asks if he may be excused.  Frank, apparently not noticing what went on, says yes.  

At that point - at that one moment in our history - Christians in America and anywhere the movie was released should have risen up and in one voice said, "OH NO YOU DON'T!!!  We see what you're up to and you're not going to lure our children and their children away from God and Christ and into a Sodom and Gomorrah orgy of debauchery and decadence, of catastrophic levels of misery and hopelessness.  This scene is practically a commercial for everything you have in store for our little ones!" 

But they didn't.

Somehow or another, no matter what this postwar revolution against the Christian West did, there was always the feeling that 'someday they're going to go too far!', and yet that day still hasn't come.  Oh, we vote sometimes and we'll fuss online.  But now those same forces are carving up the bodies of children.  The Left's pushing of drugs and sex is as common in our modern schools as the Golden Rule was in early 20th Century American schools.  Abortion by the millions.  Mass killings in schools.  Cataclysmic violence, suicide, drug addiction and basic hopelessness define the generation of our modern youth.  And the biggest religious news is the unprecedented numbers that are abandoning religion and religious living altogether.  

I thought of all this when I read the Word on Fire's tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.  Quite a guy, that Ozzy.  Some mention of his drugs and all, but he worked to get over that, didn't he.  Not that I think shortly after someone's death is the time to trash and hash them.  But must we make him so - honorable?   

In thinking of Ozzy's life, and the world in which he lived, think of the damage done.  Think of the millions of lives - mainly of young people - that have been ruined, weaned away from God and Christ, plunged into despair, AIDS, overdoses and ruined existences, not despite our pop culture for the last 70 years, but because that is exactly what our pop culture has been telling them to do.  And all while we have stood by and let them. I mean, the message that religion is for losers, there's probably no God anyway, so get high, get laid, and someday drop dead was aimed at the last half century of children like a Death Star laser beam. 

But no real solid or concerted effort to stop it.  Or, to be honest, at times we stepped in and helped out by buying the songs, seeing the movies, watching the shows, while making endless excuses for doing so.  I stand accused.  I thought of my series on the Beatles from some time back. I acknowledged then that their staggering influence on Western culture was far from universally positive.  But think on that. Think on the symbolism of intent from that scene in MASH.  Think of Ozzy's 'bout' with drugs, which the article itself merely calls mythological. 

And think of the children, the teens.  I mean, we have spent decades wondering why kids leave Church when they grow up, and now why so many are officially renouncing their belief in God and religion altogether.  Should we be surprised?  I'm shocked the numbers doing so are as low as they are.  The targets have been youth and children all along since, let's face it, if you want to own the future you seize the little ones as fast as possible.  Because like the wise man once said:

Perhaps that is why Christ Himself said this:

Jesus called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And He said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.  But if anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!  Matthew 18.2-7

Think on that.  You hear that Duke?  Next time an itch to watch Animal House, or listen to Black Sabbath, or even She Said, She Said, or anything on television today, or make excuses or shrug our shoulders, think on that passage in Matthew.  It seems the Almighty takes a dim view of those who would corrupt and lead to apostasy the least of these who, within the context of this passage, are the little children. I imagine God's opinion of those who stand by and allow it to be done is only slightly better.    

Oh, I'm not saying go burn your books and movies and DVDs and damned Beatles albums.  That's a dangerous path in its own right. Even if the movement (post-war liberalism) that once screamed fascism the minute anyone thought of challenging a scene like the one in MASH is now more intolerant and destructive to free speech than a witch council in Salem.  

No, it's to say we should have stood our ground more then, since the whole 'but all morality is relative, everyone should tolerate all things in an enlightened democratic society' was always more fertilizer than fact.  After all, the ones who championed such scenes and wanted more, think nothing of dropping the hammer on the Bible, love of country, resistance to mass abortion, or any other sacred cow of that modern movement of tolerance. And for all of it, look at the results all around us. 

As a side thought, some years ago when we still had cable, MASH was shown on TCM.  This was shortly after Ben Mankiewicz replaced the late Robert Osbourn as host.  Usually, before each film, the host would give a brief history and some fun tidbits about the movie in question.  The same happened that night.  In a sign of the times, however, Mankiewicz also did what I never saw Osbourn do, and that was apologize for the movie.  Specifically, apologize for the way in which women in the movie were portrayed and treated.  The odd part is, I'm sure it wasn't seen as good back when it came out.  I know my parents were never fans of the show, much less the movie.  Given the reputation of being controversial in its day, I'll bet people then didn't like much of that either.  They also, I'd like to think, would have been just as outraged at the other parts - like the vulgarities, the drugs and sexing up a young boy just the same.  Things Mankiewicz notably did not apologize for.  Thus 'woke' defined, even in its earliest days.