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. 

We call this revealing

 One of these things is not like the other: 

Did you notice?  Look again.

That's right, the 'Tomatometer' score, that is the compilation and average of individual, professional critics, is missing on The Chosen.  I looked it up, and that means for a production already released, that not enough such critics have bothered to review the show or movie in question.  Despite its mammoth, global success or that it's been out now for almost eight years, still not enough have bothered.  

Let's review: 

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’"

That's from the Gospel of St. John, chapter 15. 18-25.  Now, liberal and leftwing Christians often make a mess of this passage.  Not infrequently they'll claim the reason why the world hates Christianity, Jesus or the Church today is that there are Christians who still refuse to vote Democrat or support the latest leftwing activism or talking points.  Perhaps they confuse their politics with God or the Faith.  Or they really think the Left to be so infallible that to not support it is akin to rejecting God, despite the Left's increasingly open advocacy for the most egregious evils and mortal sins.  I don't know.

I just know that's not what the passage means.  It's not really about where one falls on the political spectrum, be it left or right or center. 

No, I'm not equating The Chosen with God or Jesus. But let's face it, whatever you think of it, it's clearly trying to promote the Christian Faith and the Gospel.  And despite being a global phenomenon of staggering levels, with worldwide audience views in the hundreds (not tens) of millions each episode - it's crickets from the critics.  That's what all those thousands and thousands of professional critics around the world have to say.  

The other shows?  Just random ones.  I searched popular shows and movies on Rotten Tomatoes and grabbed a few.  One of them actually had a story about how they've gone from 1.5 million to 3 million viewers!  Huzzah!  As opposed to those hundreds of millions watching The Chosen that critics haven't appeared to notice. 

Again, the Church always believed it must have some impact on the world.  Perhaps we didn't know what to do when the world decided it no longer wanted what the Church was selling. But a perusal of the Bible or Christian history should demonstrate that however much God loves us and reaches out, we will forever smack His hand and tell Him to take a hike.  As we're seeing now. 

Oh, it's different now, as Rod Dreher pointed out.  For centuries and eons, the Gospel moved into new lands that had never heard it, and then made inroads.  Not all was accomplished at the end of a sword or gun, despite what the modern narrative says.  Sometimes the message came and was eagerly accepted by those living in the darkness of paganism and heathen gods.  

But today, the World that once heard the Gospel is now tired of it, and wants to go back to that world of paganism and heathen gods, at least from a secular angle.  An angle that has a vague religious underpinning that says I'll either die and become worm food or perhaps, if not, there'll be some happy light place we all go when we die because of course we do.  Otherwise, the trappings of old paganism are becoming popular among our best and  brightest.  And they are increasingly willing to demand conversion to the cause by rhetorical sword and figurative gunpoint.  Because that's what the World does.  See John's Gospel above. 

Does this seem a lot to hang on a single show, however popular, that is missing reviews on Rotten Tomatoes?  If this was the only thing I could point to, then perhaps.  But you know as well as I do that this is only one of a million examples of the World's increasingly open hatred for God, Christ and His Church.  Those who say the problem is that Christians don't vote the way I do, one way or another, are worthless in confronting this development.  

Because even if we did everything the modern World wanted - bring back race based hatred, dabble with broadening the mass extermination of undesirables, porn sex younger and younger children, embrace Marxism outright and end national identities and tear down principles of equality, freedom, forgiveness, and religious liberty (or fully embrace a Free Market for that matter) - the World simply would find other reasons to continue the hatred of Christ while openly embracing the rulers of darkness of this world.  Because we know from our Bible studies, that's what the World does.  And I'm sure I don't know how much more the modern world could do to make that clear.  

Those who don't follow the ways of the World are about one of four.  If the Parable of the Sower has anything to say about statistics.  And if we work to remain in that group and avoid making excuses for the World by changing the Gospel to conform to the World, we can take heart.  Because John continues:

“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16.31-33

Maranatha 

*Brief Note: I mentioned to one of my sons that I was posting this.  He said there is a possibility that critics have reviewed the series, but RT has chosen not to link to them.  I suppose.  But that seems almost more purposefully corrupt.  It's easier, and perhaps more charitable, to assume they are simply blinded by their own biases - biases which today are clear as day - than that there is some purposeful conspiracy to suppress those critics.  Plus, I searched myself for reviews and have only seen a couple beyond some religious outlets and publications.  So I'm going with a notable lack of reviews from critics as the reason.  It seems, kinder.  

A sign of the times

2025 University of Maryland commencement speaker

Now, I'm fine with Kermit.  Grew up with him.  Before the dark days, The Muppet Show was a cultural watering hole in which everyone at school talked about last night's guests and mimicked the old geezers in the balcony box.  But Kermit?  And I know, that's Henson's alma mater.  Nonetheless, Kermit? 

Remember when this is what was considered a newsworthy commencement speech back in the day:

Solzhenitsyn's legendary 1978 Harvard commencement speech

Even high schools tried.  I recall one of our graduations (not mine, but a grade or two ahead) featured a young, starting out state politician named John Kasich.  Even in a small, rural high school, that's what we shot for.  But Kermit?  Oh, and flash - it's not Kermit.  It's a puppeteer and performer who delivered, and possibly wrote, the message.  Just saying since the news coverage this morning failed to point out that most obvious fact. 

Lowering standards, lowering expectations, discarding historically grounded values and common sense has been a goal of our ruling institutions for generations.  The result?  I think it speaks for itself. 

BTW, to show I'm not anti-Muppet, a little song from my kiddo days.  I've liked it since I first heard it on an old Sesame Street record I was given to cheer me up when we moved to a new home.  It wasn't Kermit, but it's a reminder that pop culture has it's place, as long as it stays in its place: 

What I've been saying for years

John C. Wright, who sometimes can be a bit gruff for my tastes, nonetheless hits the nail on the head:  

The Left will support whatever causes the most harm to Christian civilization and likewise will oppose whatever most is needed to help it: whatever most degrades the social fabric, whatever spreads vulgarity and ugliness, whatever promotes vice and crime

Because: 

They hate the West and seek to dismantle it, because and solely because the West is Christendom.

Not that he's alone, or that I'm the first to say such a thing.  It's just something I've been saying for years now, especially in the last few years where it takes more blind ignorance to deny the fact than admit it.  

The Left is about the utter destruction of the Christian, Western democratic tradition.  The values, heritage, heroes, principles, manners, attitudes, beliefs, virtues, decency, common sense and base morals of anything vaguely connected to the Western Tradition are at best suspect, at worst in dire need of eradication.  And that includes apparently timeworn assumptions such as liberty, equality, the value of life and the abhorrence of violence.  All thrown upside down, changed or tossed in the trash.  Anything, anywhere or anyone that aids in that mission will be tolerated at worst, lionized at best.  

Whether it can be stopped or we're merely witnessing that next stage in history that moves into a dark age after a period of development and striving for the better remains to be seen.  After all, a growing number of Christian leaders today seem to begin every statement with an explanation that Christianity is best seen through a post-Western set of glasses.  

Nonetheless, know thine enemy, as the old saying goes.  And it's almost impossible to think of the manifold blessings and benefits that the Christian West brought to the world and not see the ones trying to undo it all as the enemy. 

"We are told to love our enemies, but Jesus never once said that in doing so they would cease to be our enemies."  A quote from an old Presbyterian colleague and friend from my ministry days. 

Some old reflections on Columbus Day

Here, here, here and here.  It's barely mentioned now.  In fact, here in Buckeye land, this is the time when different outlets point out the effort by some to change the name of our state's capital.  One network - our local CBS affiliate - now refers to the city and city news as 'C-Bus.'  In fact its morning news magazine that was Wake up Columbus is now Wake Up C-Bus.  That's long been an informal nickname in these parts, but usually not for official use.  

Today Columbus is all but gone, and increasingly if the day is mentioned at all, it's Indigenous Peoples Day, or similar.  Of course now we're seeing challenges against everything from Washington and Jefferson, to the Constitution itself (earlier editorial from the New Yorker).

Things are happening fast.  Vichy Conservatives have long hidden behind the idea that bellyaching about such trivial things is just sissy stuff.  They'll wait until the gulags or the gas chambers are in full swing, then they'll start to worry.  Never a great strategy.  And looking at where things are and where they are going, and how quickly they are getting there, should be all the evidence you need for that appraisal. 

As for the Left venerating cultures who did what Columbus is accused of doing or worse?  Need I prattle on about that?  I think by now the reasons for that strange hypocrisy should be clear. 

A nation led by Sodom

 And taught by Gomorrah 

Enough said. 

Mr. Kimmel gets it

It turns out Jimmy Kimmel thinks America (and Europe) is a pretty filthy place.  At least compared to the always awesome Japan. 

You have to have a sense of pride in yourself to strive for the best.  You have to have the same for your country.  The same country Mr. Kimmel and his compatriots have spent years - decades perhaps - trashing, and hashing, and bashing. The same country young ones for three generation have been told is one of the worst ever in history.  The same country filled with people that young ones have been told are, and always have been, the worst: the most stupid, boorish, vulgar, bigoted, arrogant, violent and useless in the world. 

Everything around you sucks.  Everything around you has always sucked.  Perhaps you are a true god who should be worshipped and if you say you're Napoleon then the definition of Napoleon should be changed.  But the fact that it doesn't work that way just shows how bad everything around you does, and always has sucked. 

Loyalty?  Duty? Honor?  Patriotism?  Gold Rule?  Bah.  Insert copious F-Bombs here.  By the time I came along, those were punchlines, not principles.  Everything is subjective, except for everything that objectively sucks.  You owe nothing to anyone, everything owes all to you.  And if you aren't Einstein or the Beatles, it's because everything sucks.  

Oddly, this constant thrice-daily repeated mantra hasn't build back a better country.  Though it hasn't  always been this way, it should be noted.  In high school and early college, I took karate.  The fellow who taught me was pushing for karate to be an Olympic sport, so he couldn't accept fees (we paid for the facilities instead).  He traveled much, however.  He had a love for Japan.  But even then, he admitted traveling abroad was tough because it could be so dirty.  Even in Europe and Japan (we won't discuss what he said about the Middle East).  

I knew students in my graduate days who were from other countries, including the former USSR.  One thing they complained about was America's cleanliness fetish. They said we were almost psychotic about being clean and having everything clean.  That was the 1990s.

So Mr. Kimmel, what you are lamenting is what America has become under your watch.  You can't be a willing partner with a media culture that has promoted the worst, the ugliest, the dirtiest, the most judgmental and most critical of everything that was ever seen as good and then be shocked with the results.  You can't tell kids for generations that their society is garbage and then be shocked when things begin to smell.  

It takes effort to be good, never bad.  When was the last time anyone said 'You know, all my life I wanted to be a lazy couch potato, but I couldn't overcome the temptation to eat right and exercise'?  Probably never.  In this world, goodness, virtue, beauty and maturity take effort.  They have to be practiced and worked for. But we went on the cheap and aimed lower than dirt, and now we're seeing the results.  Thank you Mr. Kimmel for admitting the obvious.  Now, if you could admit why it is.  

Ken Burns is what we call White Noise

That is, just another annoying blip in the noisy static.  Apparently he produced a docuseries called The United States and the Holocaust.  If the interview in this article is any indicator, it is the same old same old for many, especially young, Americans.

That is, he's gracious enough to say the United States wasn't exactly responsible for the Holocaust per se, but then proceeds to explain how the United States and Nazi Germany were practically salt and pepper.  He trots out the Jim Crow era, genocide, Native Americans, slavery and antisemitism charges, applied to one country as easily as to the other.  

Apparently at least one episode focuses on the rift between FDR and antisemite Charles Lindberg.  I asked my son, who recently graduated college, about that.  He told me that those of his peers who even had heard of Lindberg, only knew him as some Nazi hero in our Nazi country, vaguely aware that he did something with flying. 

In keeping with our era of hyper-judgmentalism, the series seems wrapped in the context of 'sure we beat the Nazis, liberated the camps, and allowed thousands to come into our country ... but we didn't do it perfectly enough.'  Not like it would have been if our generation was there!  When you have the track record we have, I suppose arrogance is all that's left. 

The funny part of this interview is that one of the producers seems to think they've really blown the lid off of something.  The person talks about how 'uncomfortable' the real truth of our nation and its role in those events makes people in the audience feel, once they see the production. Really?  That's like saying people will be uncomfortable when they learn the secret that slavery existed in America's past.  That's as much a lack of awareness as you can get.

Years ago, when I used to comment on the Huffington Post, I ran into people who believed that the whole of the Holocaust was an American conspiracy, as was the entire war.  By then (c. 2004ish), it wasn't uncommon to run into people online who believed the Nazis were lifted up by the American Military Industrial complex for the sole purpose of inciting a war that the US could then exploit, and use to subjugate the world to our racist, imperialist ways. Compared to them, the saner ones back then dismissed such thinking, being content with the notion that America was no better than the Nazis, and didn't really lift them up as much as inspire them (the old 'the Nazis became racist when they studied the Confederacy' storyline).  

That was almost 20 years ago.  Does Mr. Burns really think people like that have gone away as opposed to multiplied exponentially?  Does he really believe they will be uncomfortable with his documentary?  About the only thing that will make them uncomfortable is his insistence that the US isn't solely responsible for the Holocaust.  That might bother them a bit. 

I don't think we realize just how post-Western, and by extension post-American, we already are.  Harkening back to my oldest son, he said a cool 1/3 of his classmates can barely distinguish between the Swastika and the Stars and Stripes.  Had I not seen examples myself of such thinking over the years, I'd almost be inclined to think he exaggerates.  But I have.  

And we have those useful fools like Burns, a historian I've traditionally enjoyed, to thank.  Because instead of seeing the bleeding obvious, they think they are bravely facing the fan club by exclusively focusing on the negative, endlessly criticizing, and so blurring the line between Nazis and America.  

BTW, all of this is made possible by the Left effectively elevating Western-based racism as the only, all defining, most evil, unpardonable sin in the world. And that goes for anything we thought we did well, like win the Second World War.  This is aided by the fact that by now, about 75% of our recollection of WWII is focused on the Holocaust, primarily as it effected Jewish (and sometimes homosexual) victims; about 10% focused on the Japanese interment camps* in the US, another 10% recalling the use of the Atomic Bombs, over 4% (but growing) the segregation in the US military in WWII, and a shrinking less than 1% on D-Day.   

For most youngsters today, that was WWII. The tens of millions of others killed barely make a drop in the bucket where focus is concerned.  The soldiers?  Except for some minority groups, they are barely mentioned at this point.  I subscribe the the National Veterans Memorial and Museum updates.  It's been many moons since a white male veteran was showcased.   You could be forgiven for not knowing white men ever served in our military if you got your info from that museum.  

But then, when mentioned at all, it's increasingly the fact that they were likely racists in their own white supremacist army.  Hence Burns can acknowledge 'a little heroism' from that time, but those were mere specks of light in the overall darkness that is, and always has been, America.  When that's your narrative, it's not hard for young people to conclude the Soviets might have been the good guys all along. 

*In December 2021, I saw on the news that some Asian American activists are wanting 'Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day' to be replaced by the anniversary of the Japanese Internment camps.  Sort of how Juneteenth will assuredly never be used to replace July 4th.  Again, we're seeing the utter destruction of the West and America, and it's likely a bit too late to stop it.  Thanks go brilliant thinkers like Burns. 

A vacant and hollow nation

Ours has become a sad, sad country.  We don't even care.  At least about anything that matters.  Youth are taught to hang their righteousness on vast, sweeping ideological crusades that cost them little in terms of self-sacrifice.  Like global warming.  Actual character or values barely make the grade at this point. 

I thought of this as my eldest - our resident sports guru - was commenting on the upcoming Super Bowl.  Before Sunday night's game, he said the real betting was over which narrative would come out on top.  Would it be the Detroit Lions, everyone's favorite worst NFL team, finally winning the Super Bowl?  Or would it be the corporate media's insistence on the Chiefs, with the lucrative tie-in of Taylor Swift Incorporated, that would win out?  Apparently that has dominated much of the chatter on sports sites and other outlets. 

And I though on that.  I mean, we realize what this means don't we?  It means people are discussing this with the assumption that the fix is in.  That it isn't a case of 'which team will be the best.'  It's which narrative will be sustained for the benefit of whoever benefits from it.  That is - it's rigged.  And more to the point, nobody cares. 

This has already been demonstrated by the cheating accusations against Michigan's football program.  If you don't know, Michigan University football has been accused of cheating for the last couple years.  It's being investigated, and I'm the first to say innocent until proven guilty.  But the evidence does look damning.  After all, Michigan's football program struggled up until Covid.  Then, suddenly, it flipped and became a powerhouse, this year making it to a victorious national championship.  The worst part is that the accusations of cheating match the turnaround for the program. 

Now, as I said, innocent until proven guilty. But what has shocked me is the Michigan fans who have said they don't care.  If it's true, so what?  A meteorologist who used to work here but moved back to her Michigan hometown said as much.  If Michigan cheated, it's on the dopes who were cheated - not on Michigan.   They won and they won.  That's what matters.  Even the press and sports media seem to have swept it under the rug, mentioning it only as an afterthought.  If it's mentioned at all.  I compare this to the outrage that arose when the New England Patriots were found to have cheated, and how that one scandal sort of tarnished the entire program no matter what they accomplished. 

Yet today?  Nah. Just like the discussions about which narrative will win the day at the Super Bowl.  It's as if we just accept corruption and corporate manipulation.  That people are talking about it like discussing the weather suggests a beat, lost, done nation.  Granted, this is only the internet and social media.  But I have always subscribed to the idea that where one example is found, hundreds of others haven't been.  And there were enough my son pointed to that suggests this is not some fluke from one site or another.  

I just thought on that.  Is it only football?  Yeah.  Is it life ending?  No.  Are there bigger things to worry about?  Sure.  And yet there seems to be a connection.  'Say it ain't so, Joe', became a veritable proverb and was often repeated in my youth even if I didn't understand the context.  So devastating was the news of corruption from that earlier period in time that the phrase passed down to my years as part of our national lexicon.  Yet today?  We seem to take it in stride. 

Isaiah says woe to those who call evil good evil and good evil.  Beyond the clash of good and evil, we have right and wrong.  We seem to have lost the ability to care, much less discern, the difference.  And I can't help but think that isn't a good thing.  Because if we no longer care about right and wrong, not caring about good and evil can't be far down the road - if it's not already here. 

Reflections on the Worst Generation

We've all heard the phrase 'The Greatest Generation'.  That was popularized by Tom Brokaw by way of his book titled The Greatest Generation.  It applied to the generation that fought in World War II.  It specifically applied to the men in the trenches, more than the older generations who were the high ranking officers, commanders and world leaders of the war.  Though I don't recall actual WW2 veterans referring to themselves that way, the phrase took off and was elevated by Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and that brief wave of patriotism following the 9/11 attacks. 

But I'd like us to consider the Worst Generation.  If we have the greatest, then we must have the worst.  And I don't mean those rascally Baby Boomers who get blamed for everything.  Or Generation X, Y, Z, or whatever.   

By Worst Generation I mean - you probably guessed it - the WW2 Generation.  Yep, the same one labeled the Greatest and cheered by many, including most to the right of center, has some explaining to do, as far as I'm concerned.  Oh sure, they won the battle of WW2.  Even the most sympathetic appraisal, however, suggests they turned right around and lost the war for the civilization that they fought WW2 to preserve. 

Why?  What went wrong?  How could such a storied, celebrated, successful, courageous, and beloved generation fail so miserably after winning so decisively?  I don't know.  I'm sure it would take more than a blog post or even entire blog to unpack what went so horribly wrong.  But it is impossible not to see that, within their lifetime and under their watch, the civilization they inherited is well on its way to oblivion, thanks in part to the time under their watch. 

Again, I have my hunches.  But it would take a book at least, not merely a post or two.  Nonetheless, it's time to be honest.  They failed and failed miserably at the main task of any generation, and that's preserving their inheritance to be passed on to their posterity.  Long before those eager Boomers took over in the 80s (and have yet to let go), you could see the foundations crumbling and the barbarians climbing the gates. 

I'm certainly open to suggestion about how and why they dropped the ball.  But it's time to admit these problems didn't just begin with Vatican II, or the arrival of The Beatles, or even those rascally Marxist Communists  In the latter case, their goals were merely aided by what developed in the years and decades following the WWII generation's greatest, yet brief, accomplishment. 

So what did last week teach us?

First, that I'm obviously a Beatles fan.  I know.  Given the rot in our society it seems odd to be a fan of something that many consider instrumental in furthering that rot.  But as long as other Christians eat their slice of the worldly pie, and justify it with copious appeals to Romans 14, I'll still like the Beatles (and other musical offerings from the whole sex, drugs and rock and roll era - tens of millions dead from AIDS and drugs being something we apparently have learned to live with rather than give up our playlists).

Second, I'm clearly growing tired of 'Issue Blogging.'  Let's face it, the blogosphere of 20 years ago is dead and gone. Twitter and other similar platforms that distill complex issues into sitcom level one liners are now the rage for Internet discourse.  Many Catholic  bloggers, especially to the left of center, have moved to sites behind digital walls that keep dissenting views from troubling them (I kid you not, find more than a couple leftwing Catholic sites that still have open comments sections).  Meanwhile the shadow grows and the suicide of the West continues apace. 

My boys and I were talking some months ago, as you know we're wont to do.  While discussing America's willingness to let the Marxist assault on our nation win out, we were pondering how these things happen.  Perhaps because we abandoned God?  Let godlessness win out? Were cowards and wimps who looked for slick excuses to avoid actually defending virtue and truth?  Or, as one of my sons suggested, perhaps the whole reason America and the entire era of democracy existed at all was merely to thwart the Nazis in their goal of exterminating the Jewish people.  You know, a lifting up Cyrus sort of thing. 

I thought that was an interesting take.  It certainly isn't non-biblical.  God's ways aren't ours.  Which might be why, at this point, it looks like God has given our nation up to its lusts and impurities.  After all, whatever good the nation had is mostly fading from the historical stage.  The nation so many are desperately trying to save died many years ago.  Young people have been told to believe that the United States and all the West are defined by their unforgivable and unique sins and need only be eliminated.  Cue the Jews now linked with Israel which is seen by the Left as part of the West that has to go. 

In the face of this, continuing to prattle on about the same old same old gets a bit tiresome.  Stress for the sake of stress.  A growing number of Christians are surrendering and giving in.  Many church leaders are making it clear that there is nothing the world can throw at us that we won't find a way to compromise the Faith in order to accommodate.  The media is a propaganda organ that is less concerned about slaughtered Jews than it is pinning a single crime on anything associated with the West.  And young fanatics are getting worse on a daily basis because they are encouraged to do so by the powers that be. 

Therefore, constantly posting on the same thing over and over again is just posting on the same thing over and over again.  It would be like having a blog in WW2 and spending every day fussing about the violence in the news.  I do think we are heading where we are heading: a post-Western, post-democratic world in a post-Christian era.  Back to the old paganism, secular version.  No particular God of worth, guaranteed eternal paradise if that's your thing, physical worldly priorities otherwise. If we have to crush someone, we promise it won't be you. Because what matters most is you, and the World promises to accommodate you accordingly. 

It won't end with that of course.  That's the 'we promise, all animals will be equal' part.  Already we are seeing that modified to some animals being more equal than others.  Which seems fine for so many today.  Even now, Jewish liberals in the face of 'death to the Israeli Jews' chants are trying to twist their concern about being exterminated with their fealty to this post-religious, post  Christian Western movement and utter hatred for its defenders.  All while the alliance to throw down the West that includes, but is not limited to, Muslims, Chinese Communists, and anyone from any group disenfranchised by the West, continues to make significant strides.

Therefore, I'm once again going to back down.  I can't say I won't mention anything in the news.  I've declared that intention before, only to find myself drawn back in when we took another crazy step toward the end (remember me ducking out on the eve of the Kavanaugh circus?).  Same with last week.  Our state made it clear that sex and drugs and the right to abort anything hindering our libidos is our core value.  The typically lame and impotent GOP continued to lose, and even liberal school board candidates seemed to dominate the win column as schools become more open about sex for kids, gender change for teens, and post-Western Marxist propaganda in the curriculums.  What to make of that?  See the paragraphs above.  

In the end, empires rise, and empires fall.  Our is falling.  The Church is floundering because it's not difficult to believe that a substantial number of our leaders just don't believe it anymore.  In Europe and America, except for those rascally Pentecostals, the churches are dwindling along with the civilization they helped build.  In Asia the Faith is strong, and God bless those African Christians.  But like all things, our own progressive fellows have made it clear they'll heap no end of scorn and contempt on those swarthy and dark skinned types when they dare challenge a leftwing dogma.  Just like those slaughtered Israeli Jews who are barely mentioned now in the news or on leftwing sites (compare that to endless weeks and months condemning Kanye West over his statements about Jewish people). 

So now what?  Well, I like the blog.  But sometimes I miss the early days, when it was one part fun and frivolity, about two parts issue and news or commentary just to comment.  Sometimes I added reflections on the Faith or life, like this:

Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:  

Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? 

For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Which came to mind in light of the crushing defeats of virtue and goodness we saw last week.  At the end of the day, the majority of us who inherited the West, including our leaders and religious guides, accepted the gospel of the World and have stood by amidst failure after failure to defend our inheritance.  Well, when that's the norm, blogging about it every day won't change things.

So I'll try to go back to the early days.  I won't not comment on the egregious, even as the egregious becomes more and more the norm. I'll try to reference funner things, family things, and just things in general. It may not be what people want (I discovered there is a stunning lack of Beatles fans among my readers), but it will be what I want.  

If I post on issues, I'll try to avoid being shaped by the latest news stories.  My sons often ask why I bother watching or reading the news at this point.  We know it isn't telling us the whole story, and sometimes verges on outright falsehood.  Why take anything the press says as any type of a launching pad for a thought, whether good or bad?  They have a point.  Not that all stories are false or missing important context.  But you never know which, do you?  As the late Michael Crichton explained with his Gell-Mann Amnesia principle: if you know the press got this story so horribly wrong because you know the topic at hand, why assume the next one dealing with a topic you don't know will be any better? 

Again, back in the early days of the blog the point was to sharpen my claws at writing.  I've always been a better public speaker (in certain settings) than writer.  A priest friend suggested the blog for that reason. And though I did reference the odd stupid or wrong or concerning thing coming from the world, I also posted on reflections, fun things, family outings, personal interests or similar topics much more often.  It may not have ginned up the readership, but it didn't feel like running up a down escalator every day either. 

So that is what I plan to do again.  As I said, I won't promise no more issue blogging.  When it finally hits the fan, I want my objections to be on record beyond just family and friends.  When future generations look back at this era and ask why, I don't mind my allegiances being on the public record, no matter how obscure.  I realize God knows, but it's nice to know that those future generations who will suffer for our folly will know who to blame and who not to blame.  But I'll try to find things to blog about that are more fun, light hearted, meaningful to me (and hopefully others) or just plain goofy.  That can only help at this stage in the game.  Goodness knows. obsessing about the latest has done nothing to stop the latest.  So why affirm the age old definition of insanity?

Dawn Eden gets schooled

About something I wrote on many moons ago.  That is, the idea that for the Left there is no humanity, only demographic groups.  And your value, your believability, your suffering, your place on the pyramid depends on if your demographic group is the group du jour or not.  Which means is it the one, at this moment, most able to shoot holes in the heritage of the Western Tradition?  I wrote about this little development within the Left some years ago.  You can read it here. 

Ms. Eden appears shocked that so many would accuse Israel of the hospital bombing.  Heck, I'm shocked so few did.  Jews are important for trotting out endless stories of antisemitism and Jewish hate throughout Western and American history.  Ms. Eden herself has embarked on a crusade to focus on antisemitism in the Church, in our leaders, in our forebears, in anyone White, Christian, preferably male.  To the Left, people like Ms. Eden, who are willing to keep the focus the West's sins, are the good Jews.  Just like blacks who go all BLM or radical anti-patriarchal feminists.  Anyone who helps tear down the foundations of the Christian Western Democratic tradition is A-OK. 

Ah, but sticky point.  Israel is seen as a love child of that vile imperialistic, colonizing West.  In the minds of a growing number on the Left, the State of Israel is as bad as the Nazi Confederacy.  Plus, being not Western means innocent, pure, virtuous, victim.  Hence even our president is careful to say 'Bad boys you Hamas people' and insist Palestinians are not the problem.  Despite Palestinian protests at best fully supporting and sanctioning what Hamas has done.  At worst, they have made it clear they want to see more of it, with at least a couple such protests sporting signs along the lines of 'gas the Jews.'  How many times that happened I don't know.  The press has quickly stopped mentioning such things. Compare that to Charlottesville, which is still trotted out by the press at least every couple months as proof that defenders of America's heritage equal White Nationalist. 

Of course it isn't as easy as 'bad Hamas, bad Israel, beautiful Palestinians'.  A sane non-21st Century thinker would realize this taps into that ages old rift between Arabs and Jews that saw its own brand of bigotry and racism long before Bismarck decided to make Germany a thing.  Instead, it's an inconvenient challenge to the narrative that, as bad as Hamas is, Israel and everyone in it is worse  because of the evil West. 

That is part of the overall narrative that Ms. Eden clearly accepts.  If not about Israel, then about the unique and singular evils of anything west of the Urals.  Despite accepting these narratives, she appears shocked that they are applied even when you think they shouldn't be.  Like when more Jews were killed in a single day than any time since the Holocaust, yet let's just have a polite discussion and not jump to conclusions.  Unless it's assuming Israel is the bad guy of course.  If you live by the leftwing sword, be prepared to die by it when you or what you cherish is no longer convenient. 

BTW, I was going to post a photo from one of the protests where the horrible 'gas the Jews' signs were held up.  You know what?  I searched hundreds of images in various news outlets and on Google, and could find none.  The closest I came to anything suggesting it happened at all was this:

I should have copied the pictures when I saw them.  Our ministry of censorship and propaganda at work.  

Again Ms. Eden, get used to it.  You matter when your various group identities can bring down the Western tradition, including its democratic and Judeo-Christian roots.  As long as you do that, you're good.  Most valuable player and all.  But the minute you don't, as we see here, people who are about aiding in the destruction of the West will be given carte blanche over your interests in a fast heartbeat.  If they chant 'gas the Jews', we'll do our best to  insist to cover our ears and just move on.  And we'll do it because you have no more worth for the Left as a Jewish woman than you would as a woman opposing sharing the bathroom with Trans men, or if you were black, being a black conservative.  It's the side you've chosen.  Get used to it. 

UPDATE: 

Wow.  So I was informed that the comments at the link to Mark's blog tell the tale:

Note that.  Nothing at all about the Palestinians who chanted support for Hamas, or called for more of what Hamas gave.  We won't even discuss the explicit calls in pro-Palestine rallies for more slaughter because the victims were Jewish.  Just ignore the slaughter and the hatred of Jews, and attack Trump/MAGA.  All of this is as good as saying it's not the slaughter of Jews we mind so much, but that their slaughter can be exploited to attack our hated political enemies.  

This is the result of that evil tendency of only caring about human misery when it can be exploited that I've been pounding the pulpit about all these years.  And it isn't just at Mark's site.  Send me examples of politicians, pundits, journalists or even Christian leaders who have called out those Palestinians who cheered on the slaughter and demonstrated hatred of Jews, as opposed to simply framing it as 'bad Israel/bad Hamas/beautiful Palestinians.'  The narrative is already that deep. 

BTW, the video Mark links to is an Al Jazeera affiliated video that explains it's only MAGA Trump supporters who are a threat to Jews.  In a sane world that is the last thing I'd link to after the horrific slaughter of innocent Israeli Jews.  But sanity is one of the first casualties of the anti-Western Left. 

When I see the world lead the modern Church around on a leash

 It brings to mind this old Looney Tunes cartoon from back in the day:

I'll leave you to figure which dog reminds me of the world, and which one reminds me of the Christian Church today. 

Was a time when the Church was about converting the world to Christ.  But for too long the world has been converting the Church to secularism, and I'm not sure we realized it.  

I am no lawyer

So I don't know.  But this seems significant.  Or at least it is being portrayed as significant by our always objective and reliable news media.  Some youths sued the state of Montana because, apparently, fossil fuels exist and proper establishment approved climate change solutions aren't being implemented in the state.  Therefore, that denied them their constitutional right to clean air and water.  

Now my thoroughly untrained and ignorant-where-the-law-is-concerned eye sees this and I see something much bigger behind the gibberish going on.  I don't know.  Something about it seems on the surface goofy, almost stupid, and yet I get a whiff of maliciousness behind it all.  We'll see.  I'm sure others will chime in around the media world.  After all, the WaPo says it's a case the whole world is watching.  Therefore I suspect others in the world will have more to say than I do. 

Duh

It turns out that brave corporations cheering on Pride Month, aren't doing so in places like the Middle East.  Can we say 'not surprised'? 

My eldest son, who possesses a good historian's head on his shoulders if I may say so, has a pretty solid theory for what we're seeing.  Long and short, we all grew up in the 'Age of Democracy' because, for over two hundred years, the individuals with all the wealth and power believed democracy, liberty and equality were part of the magic formula for ever more wealth and power.

After all, combined with a robust and free market, and some lag-over Christian ideals, that formula brought the West from a world of horses and buggies, candlelight and log cabins to a world of planes, trains, automobiles, television, computers, space travel, medical breakthroughs, agricultural breakthroughs, and unparalleled wealth, leisure and luxury.  And all within a half dozen or so generations.  Obviously, those factors in the formula had to be defended.

But they no longer believe that.  China, in some ways, changed all that.  Like Jeopardy James, they broke the game and showed the world you don't need those things to rake in the big bucks, at least for those on top.  In fact, you might do better avoiding those things.  After all, in our world today there are billions of potential costumers in nations and societies that have decidedly undemocratic, unfree and unequal laws and values.  But that's still billions of potential customers.

Why does the NBA call down hellfire on the USA as the four hundred year old racist Nazi state that we are, while turning a blind eye to China?  Because in China basketball is now the one of the most popular sports, and it's estimated that the NBA has hundreds of millions of bona fide fans in China - more fans than the United States has citizens.  Same with Disney.  Disney now makes more in China than it does America. 

Heck, America is now practically a 2.5 world country.  Not quite 2nd World.  America's standard of living, its wealth and leisure were so astronomically high compared to the rest of the world, that we could fall a thousand miles and still be at a higher standard that most of the world.  But not for much longer.  When was the last time America wowed the world?  When was the last time we built something that left the world in awe?  Today, you have to go to other parts of the world for that.  Heck, earlier in the year the world had to step in and bail us out when we couldn't produce enough formula for America's babies.  Remember when it was America that would step in when the world couldn't do those things? 

I think my son is correct.  In the end, the United States, and the West in general, simply isn't that important anymore.  The lofty values we took for granted aren't needed and, in some cases, might be obstacles for the emerging global ruling classes.  China, like some Middle Eastern countries, has learned if they just make deals with the big corporate interests, those interests will happily turn a blind eye to other problems. In fact, those corporate entities might find it in their best interest to shame the West and United States so they will shut up and stay out of the way.  That way those corporations can more easily roll in the money given them by countries that are the antithesis of the old life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness principle. 

Hence Pride month.  Corporations will gladly peddle that here.  It keeps America a godless, sexed up, drugged up customer base unlikely to resist any tearing away at its moral or even legal foundations.  But no way do those corporate interests really give two swigs about anything remotely gay.  Those same LGBTQ folks could be tossed off buildings in  other parts of the world for all those companies care.  Same with women and blacks or anyone.  As far as our global rulers care, whatever the countries and cultures with the billions of customers want, will eventually be what the rest of the world gets.  

We fell for it

We heirs of the Christian West fell for the modern progressive notion that any condemnation, or even criticism, of an 'other' is tantamount to Nazism.  No matter what Muslims do, we can't criticize.  No matter what blacks do.  Gays do.  Chinese do.  Mongols do.  Aztecs do.  Women do.  Transgenders do.  If anyone not in those groups were to criticize anything about those groups - Nazi.  Heck, sometimes if anyone in those and similar groups criticize those groups they get smacked down.  We might be able to condemn an action but never, ever the actor.  

Therefore the only real way to express any notion of trying to fix a world we're supposed to save was through this strange demographic masochism that has defined our modern age.  Condemn others in our own demographic group, if not our entire demographic group.  

So men, spew hatred and vitriol on all men throughout all time as the misogynist rapists that they are.  Whites, it's the white race that alone is a racist pox on humanity.  Heterosexuals, just admit how superior those in the LGBTQ community are to us boorish birthing people.  Americans?  Let's not even start with any other country's evils but the United Sates.  Europeans, is there any other civilization as vile as ours?  I think not.  And on and on.

It was easy.  It gave a little dose of the pharisee's prayer (for behind any such condemnation always seems to lurk that subtle 'thank you Lord, that you didn't make me like all the other sinners in my demographic).  Plus, as often as not, much of the condemnation was based on lies, stupidity and all out BS.  So after 9/11, you could beat up on evil Christians as the real source of death and terror in the world, safe in the unspoken knowledge that you weren't likely to be beheaded for your efforts. 

Eventually it became so engrained that even those supposedly not buying into this, bought into it. Liberals ate it up, but non-liberals fell into line just the same.  Conservatives would preface any statement with variations on 'I'm not like those other uncompassionate  conservatives.'  Or white conservatives would begin by conceding the racism of most [not me] whites in our racist country.  Or men would bow before feminists and concede that history has been a giant sexist conspiracy against women, but I'm feeling much better now. 

It was a piece of cake.  Far easier than saying the black community is off the rails and doesn't seem to care enough to fix it as long as they can blame white people.  That women putting themselves above anything else, including family or human life, is selfish and wrong.  That there is probably a reason why a vast number of AIDS deaths in America are men who have sex with men.  That the Islamic world may not have given up on its age old desire to subjugate Europe to the Muslim way.  Nope.  Say any of those things and you might actually get push back. They might say mean things to you.  Heck, it could get worse than that. 

That's why it was so easy, so cheap, so safe.  We could pat ourselves on the back, revel in our righteousness and bravery, knowing that we had virtually nothing to lose.  This was especially true if we aimed our holy wrath at those in our demographics who were long dead and unable to defend themselves.  Bravo I tell you. 

So on we went, building our righteousness on the capstone of demographic self hate.  So now, as the best of the transgender community sanctified the Nashville school shooter as a bona fide victim, others made the murderer the only real victim, and not a few even mocked and celebrated the deaths of the victims including the children, us not-trans people shuffled our feet and looked the other way.

Not the Catholic bishops, not most Protestant faith leaders, few Republicans, only a handful of conservative pundits, and virtually nobody else called out the trans community, called out the horrific evil of the worst of the trans community's vitriol, or chastised the whole of the trans community for trying to equate the murderer to the murder victims. Imagine if, after the Buffalo market shooting, someone came forth and pointed out that middle aged white men are now a big suicide demographic, and even subtly suggested there might be a connection to that, our modern approach to race, and the shooting.  Imagine how fast such a person would be skinned.  But the trans movement did just that - and experienced cricket chirps for its troubles. 

For those who have said anything at all other than Guns!, it's been like my old classmate Russell Moore.  A man who has basked in the limelight given him for throwing under the bus evangelicals, men, whites, and Americans as the sexist, racist, white supremacist extremists that they are.  As it is?  It's a vague and generic 'Why can't we all get along?  Why is there so much hate?'  No real zeroing in on the obvious this time. 

But in fairness, at least he has said something.  Many have left it at Guns! or simply dropped it like the hot potato it is.  There is no way we can condemn an 'other'.  At least if the other is not white, male, heterosexual, Christian, American, European or conservative.  Those not in one of these groups can always condemn everyone in these groups, as we're seeing now.  And as we watch nobody do anything about it, we realize we are now along the next step in the path.  We're dealing with traditional Christians murdered, with few actually caring enough to state the obvious - including 'traditional' Christians.  So if you thought if it came to murder then boy that would change everything, once again you were wrong. 

We lost the war for the just the and good because we raised a generation devoid of character, convictions and courage.  They chose the easy way of beating up on little old blue haired ladies among our ancestors to avoid standing up to the threats and evils of our lifetime. We accepted that the slavery of the first civilization to abolish slavery is the only slavery worth condemning.  That's why we can see emerging a movement as bad as the Hitler Youth, that defends slaughter, promotes harm, and rejoices in its superiority with no fear of being stopped.  All we can do is count the losses of this dodge, knowing it will be our posterity who has to cash in the chips. 

Scriptural food for thought

And Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”  Luke 12.15

I sometimes think we forgot that.  Not that prosperity is automatically some evil thing.  But I fear we fooled ourselves into thinking it was the main thing.  Especially back when we were at the height of our prosperity as a nation.  Men especially failed in keeping our priorities straight, and not just after The Beatles arrived in New York:

Easter Morning, 1959 - the trend was already too apparent

 

Being a parent nowadays requires creative thinking

 Thus:

I loved that.  One point for the parents!

BTW, isn't it odd that the whole 'youth rebellion' - promoted by society and even given back handed support by church leaders - was basically a repudiation of the Fourth Commandment?  You know, the first commandment with a promise.  Well we didn't follow it.  And how did that promise turn out? 

Actually it's a stupid point Mr. Annett

 So:

The fact is, what Stein said had nothing to do with Annett's point.  Stein is trying to deconstruct the positive influence of the Gospel, as well as using the sins of Christians to dismiss the historical contributions of the Christian Faith. Contributions that were still taught as late as the 1980s when I attended a state university and learned from decidedly not-Christian professors.  That Christians may have raped teddy bears is irrelevant to the role that the Christian Gospel had in revolutionizing the world's attitude about a host of issues, including the worth of the poor, the meek and the sanctity of human life.  Mr. Annett should have reiterated that valid point. 

Instead, Mr. Annett reminds me of the type of person I don't want by my side if I have to charge into battle.  Children of the Christian West have made acquiescence, surrender, compromise, and cowering before opposition our generational trademark.  We have focused so much on the sins of our ancestors, we'd rather let Moloch eat our children than take the chance on being as horrible as those reprehensible old timers in their defense.  We see that in the tens of millions of aborted pregnancies.  We see it in the staggering suicide, homicide and drug overdose rates among our youth.  We see it as our society goes from 'nobody will ever change a minor's body' to proudly declaring the goal of changing our children's bodies - consequences be damned - and parents can head to the cornfield if they don't like it.  

All of these developments are the result of those like Mr. Annett who, when met with a clear attack on the unique heritage of our Faith and the positives of its inheritance, is happy to charge forth with white flag waving.  I don't know if it's cowardice or a lack of belief.  I just know there comes a time when what we call virtue is merely cowardice with a Jesus mask.  

A very Catholic movie?

I wonder.  Over at John C. Wright's blog, he posts a reader who argues that it is.  Yes, it had some pretty obvious Christian imagery.  That doesn't always mean something is filled to the brim with Gospel messaging.  

It wouldn't  surprise me if it was.  Even if Europe and the West were quickly shedding their beliefs in the Christian Faith by the 20th Century, it was still there.  And if belief in the religious message wasn't there, you could still find value in the Faith's teachings and symbolism.

Plus, you have to watch out.  Even if it wasn't steeped in Catholic meaning, that doesn't mean it was some communist socialist agitprop, as I've at times heard it (and other things) described.  In any event, it has been a long time since I watched it.  I'll have to go back and watch it.  The last time I saw it the boys were much younger, but all agreed it lived up to the hype.