However much you think the modern Left hates America

And to a broader extent, the whole of the Christian West, you doubtlessly underestimate the reality. This was brought to mind when Deacon Greydanus copied this FB post:

Woof.  Most "White" Americans in 1872 were White Supremacists?  What about 1873? That made me think of this:

The joke is that this is a fellow insisting Trump/MAGA/Conservatives are the Nazi racists when he, like so many on the modern Left, thinks nothing of judging and condemning an entire nationality based on race and ethnicity.  We call that projection, not to mention naked hypocrisy.  And, of course, it's racism plain and simple.  But it's what we're up against, and there are obviously a growing number of people in the world more than happy to cheer on this thinking, since they can clearly see where this attitude and bias is heading. 

If you're wondering, here was Deacon Greydanus's own comment in the post that linked to this typical progressive spin on our history: 

Saying you will learn anything about anything by reading such a leftist screed is like saying 'If you don't know the background of the LGBTQ community - read Fred Phelps."  We won't get into the slanted way one must see history to agree with such an appraisal.  

As the Left peddles more and more anti-Caucasian race hate for the purpose of burning the whole of the Western tradition, and further makes clear that it cares not a lick about human suffering but that it can be exploited,  and on top of it all is doing this in order to sniff around the door of walking back religious liberty, free speech, advocating cannibalism, excusing the slaughter of Jews, and pondering the benefits of human sacrifice, we're faced to confront a difficult reality. Those Christians who have long aligned with the left of center can't possibly not see what is happening.  Naivete and innocent credulity only go so far.  At some point we must concede that they know full well what is being done, they see it for what it is, and for reasons known only to them and God, they fully align with it.  Not that this hasn't happened many times in history.  It's just difficult when it's happening in your own time. 

Friday Frivolity: A very good movie

So our youngest hadn't seen all of the movies the older boys grew up with when they were young.  He's seen many, but not all.  Recently he watched, for the first time, the first Sam Raimi Spiderman film.  He was impressed, but not overly.  

I remember that well.  The X-Men movie had come out and brought back some of the good will lost to the genre after the disastrous Batman and Robin starring George Clooney.  After that garbage heap, I recall some folks wondering if this time the Superhero Movie genre was dead for good.  The same conversation came after the dismal performance of the uber-preachy Superman IV back in the day, only to get a second chance from Tim Burton's first Batman movie - admittedly due to the hype around then superstar Jack Nicholson's turn as the Joker. 

But X-Men got people's attention and folks thought perhaps it could work, or at least it was worth trying again.  Then came Spiderman.  In those infancy years of the Internet, I was only partly on board with the cultural conversation trends.  And I've never been a big comic book fan in the first place.  I know some of the bigger characters, and recall Saturday morning cartoons here or there from back in the day, but that's all.  

Nonetheless, I couldn't help but hear that there was quite a lot of controversy surrounding that upcoming movie.  Because for this Spiderman, some young, rather diminutive actor named Toby Maguire had been tapped to play the superhero.  A scrawny little geeky kid?  That's not Peter Parker!  Heading into its release, I remember the scuttlebutt about the assumed pushback.  This was only exacerbated by the delay in release because of the movie erasing scenes involving the World Trade Center towers, which ceased to exist after filming.  

But when it came out, it was an out of the box smash. The idea of Spiderman as the alter-ego of an otherwise put upon, beaten up, bullied and awkward super-nerd captured the imagination of young filmgoers everywhere.  Sort of every geeky wallflower's dream.  Even if they made the unwise decision of covering the face of crack actor Willem Dafoe and not allowing him to emote as he could have, it was a mega-hit.  And then, of course, you had 'the kiss', which became the talk of the pop culture mainstream media that year. 

Now the next question was, could they do it again. X-Men 2 had come out, and many felt it was better than the first.  But the X-Men franchise was always somewhat niche for the comic book world.  Spiderman, like Batman and Superman, was a household superhero name.  I knew of the character after all, and that's saying something.  Being that well known does place a burden after all. So was it luck for the first time out, or could the success of these franchises keep the genre alive?  

Then came Spiderman 2.  The first correction to the original came to the supervillain - Dr. Octopus. This time the main antagonist was played not by some A-List actor's turn as the latest supervillain, but by accomplished character actor Alfred Molina.  No masks or face coverings here.  He was allowed to show all of his human expressions and emotion, and he did so in spades.  Being an almost would be mentor to young Peter, he is transformed by a science experiment gone terribly wrong that costs him everything.  Bringing a combination of wit, snark and at times understated delivery, he was able to do what Dafoe couldn't.  And he did it wonderfully.

But more than that, my son noticed that the movie was, well, mostly just a good movie.  The 'comic book' parts were few and far between.  In fact, a sizeable part of the movie could have been a teen romantic comedy with nothing superhero about it at all.  You could have taken away the minimal comic book  story and replaced it with a young, conflicted kid overworking to get ahead, struggling with his romantic relationships, with a disgruntled coworker whose own dreams have been dashed and is seething with resentment, and the main crux of the plot and the characters would remain unchanged. Which only adds to the punch when the actual comic book element comes crashing back into the story.

FWIW, I'm not a professional film critic, and I don't know the jargon and the gibberish that film critics use to unpack this or that film.  I just know a good movie when I see it. For example, in addition to the movie itself being hailed even now as one of the best in the whole genre, my sons tell me that the climactic confrontation upon a speeding L-Train is still considered one of the best action sequences ever, not only in comic book movies, but movies in general.  I'm inclined to agree. 

Because like the best filmed scenes in any good movie, the action flows from logical development to logical development - it helps tell a story.  Just like the lightsaber duels in the original Star Wars films.  As opposed to much of the CGI action now (including later Star Wars films), which is just endless CGI action followed by more endless CGI action almost to the point of numbed boredom.  When the action starts in Spiderman 2, it's moving the film from point A to point B, as all scenes in good films should. And it's worth noting that those scenes are surprisingly brief. 

A big shout out goes to the effects for not being merely a ton of CGI on greenscreens.  For instance, the mechanical arms of the villain were real, and worked by puppeteers off screen for most of the shots.  For those cases where CGI was needed, and certainly it was used extensively throughout the movie, it was still built upon the modeled arms for reference.  It was similar to the original Jurassic Park, which filmed all dinosaur scenes with stop motion models as reference, giving the CGI more depth and realism when it was used.  

But the most important thing, at the end of the day, is that it's a movie that is incidentally a superhero movie.  The important part of the film is the storyline, the struggles of the main character and his interactions with those most important to the story arc.  Take away the fight scenes and spiderwebs and costumes, and you're still left caring about what happens to him.  Will things work out?  Will he find his footing in life?  Who is going to get hurt?  Because the rival for Mary Jane's affection is not portrayed as a one dimensional jerk.  Rather he's shown as a great guy who is genuinely good, at which point you know someone good is going to lose.  And that's a bold decision in any story.  It would be easier on the audience to have her beaux be a jerk or frothing at the mouth sexist or something.  But nope, someone has to be hurt when the dust settles, and the film does a good enough job preparing you for the star being the one who gets the loser card at the end (assuming you don't know the comics).   The same goes, it should be mentioned, to the very shy and awkward daughter of Peter's quirky landlord.  She obviously has a crush, but for her to hope for a chance, Peter must lose what he wants the most.  Otherwise, she loses. And she is nothing but a sweet, shy girl. 

That's how the movie works so well.  Maguire does an excellent job as the beat-dog superhero who is a genius on one side, but at times socially awkward and lacking in basic life skills on the other.  The guy who just seems to be there to be kicked around.  His one benefit is being a superhero, but even that is as much bane as boon in this movie.  Kirsten Dunce does a good job with the frustration and confusion she has over this would be lifelong childhood friend and possible love interest. J.K. Simmons chews up the scenery with his few minutes of screen time as Spiderman's chief critic J. Jonah Jamison. James Franco  merely broods and growls and complains about Spiderman, but this is one more part of Parker's life that seems in shambles.  And behind the scenes but always felt is Dr. Octavius, who is his own tragic character in the mix.  One of the best such villains, he is also one of the few who pass from mentor to monster and finally redeemed hero.  His classical training as an actor no doubt lent help to his role. 

Overall, it was just a good movie.  Like the original Raiders of the Lost Ark, it transcends the genre and becomes, not just a fine superhero movie, but a fine movie overall. 

As a side note, I should mention that it's been probably over a decade since I last saw this.  That's why I was almost shocked with a movie made before the last dozen or so years of the era of bat-nuts crazy.  At the end of the day, it's a movie with mostly white people, men and women, in what used to be a focus on story, characters and action.  There is no feeling that a demographic chart is at the bottom of the screen tracking various groups and their proportional representation, ready to blacklist the moment it fails in its obligation to meet appropriate group identity quotas.  There is an African American in a small part, Molina is part Spanish and Italian (but still "white"), and some long shots of crowds show a variety of groups (it is New York after all), but that's it.  It's neither a problem nor a focus. It just is.  In those days, we wouldn't have thought much about it one way or another.  Just the fact that some diversity was represented was good enough.  Likewise, Mary Jane doesn't suddenly turn into a Ninja warrior and take out a platoon with her bare hands, pinning Dr. Octopus in a half nelson for Spiderman to finish off.  She's the damsel in distress who must be save by Spiderman.  It all seemed so ... normal, natural, common sensical, and in the oddest twist, a million times more real than agenda driven movies today supposedly based on reality but that seem anything but real. 

Original teaser art that I remember got people talking

A note for supporters of President Trump

As President Trump shocked his supporters by initially putting the kibosh on the Jeffery Epstein case, there is another thing that is far more important for his and his party's fortunes in future elections.  He must improve the economy - for the average American.  

I'm not one who says he's been in office six months and hasn't ended sin in the world so I'm out of here.  I'm old enough to remember the horrible 1982 Recession, when the press and Democrats jumped all over President Reagan, saying it's because of him that our economy was on the brink of ruin.  

Then things cleared, the economy rebounded, and we entered into a stretch of huge growth across the board.  Growth that a large swath of America happily enjoyed (including those who criticized the excess of the day).  Hence the 1984 landslide happened - and GHW Bush coasted into his first term on Reagan's coattails.  Because that Recession blip turned out to be a blip.  And we saw overall growth and improvements for the bulk of the population, in addition to a couple other significant accomplishments on the part of the Reagan administration. 

Something the Democrats/Press missed in 2016, and again in 2024.  At the end of the day, you can have everything in your pocket, but in a democratic society, you have to produce.  You have to show results.  You can't lie or deny your way out of it.  The same here with a president the media doesn't support. Despite the media's hysterics, the economy hasn't collapsed and prices haven't skyrocketed through the ceiling because of President Trump.  Which is good.

But things haven't really improved either.  And they were bad these last several years.  Very, very bad.  The post-truth media, having perfected the art of ignoring the screams of a million dying innocents if they can't be exploited, thought it could  pour a ton of manure on the economic news hoping that something beautiful would grow.  But funny thing about people.  They'll believe a lot, but not that things are fine when they're suffering as a result of them not being fine. 

Because of the press's antics, however, it's easy to forget just how bad things were these last few years.  But now the pilot of the good plane America is President Trump.  And while he has only been in office six months, he has been in office six months.  Much of what he has done appears to be impacting vast, social, national and international long term issues and, as during the Biden administration, Wall Street as good as always.  Fair enough.

But by next year, people like me and tens of millions of others better see things improve.  We better see either the results of the staggeringly disastrous inflation under Biden reduced if not eliminated, or see incomes or wages or benefits skyrocket or something.  At the end of the day, for every other topic that drove voters into the booth last November, it was - to quote the sage - the economy stupid.  And rightly so.  Not since the 2008 collapse have I seen it so bad, only this time the press was insisting there was nothing to see and thus being no help.

But things were, and are, very bad for very many millions of Americans.   Of course, just like telling people things aren't bad when they are, people will also know they're good no matter how much the bad is focused on.  See the 1984 election, when so much media emphasis was on all those failing to benefit from the improvements.  People know when things are better.  But President Trump has a limit to how long it can go without the average American voter seeing things improve.  I'd say by the midterms there better be something to grab onto, don't expect them to go well for President Trump or the GOP. 

Another birthday comes around

I've beat that dead horse about 'our time of the year', which doesn't mean as much now that our daughter-in-law, her and our son's anniversary, and our little doll granddaughter all have their big days in May.  And, as can be expected, things have always been muddied anyway, with each year various forces trying to intrude on any and all traditions, customs and ties to the past, no matter the time of year.  

Nonetheless, our third oldest's birthday, now after that goofy Juneteenth that nobody seems to know why we celebrate, has special punch to it.  It's around the six month sprint to Christmas, still that most magical time of year despite Madison Avenue's and Hollywood's attempts otherwise.  And it means we're on the down slope from Summer (my least favorite season) and heading into Fall (my most favoritest).

This wasn't one of the big, monumental birthdays.  But it wasn't a lost one either.  Comfortably in his mid 20s, he's going to culinary school to pick up where his older brother had to leave off.  Years ago, after the BLM riots caused him to step away from going into law enforcement (shame, he's the large, big hearted type you want as a police officer, but that's leftwing activism for you), he confided in me about something.  That is, he also enjoys cooking and wouldn't mind going into the world of gourmet cooking - he just didn't have the heart because of his brother.  I told him that's commendable, but he also has his life and own calling to think about.  After some time, and hard work, and getting to work next to one of central Ohio's top chefs, he decided to take the plunge - with his oldest brother's blessings. 

As birthdays go, with all the health roller coasters we've been riding these last couple months, it was a little sedate.  We got him the obligatory wargame (he is our board game guru after all).  He was gifted a couple other things that he enjoyed (he's so easy to buy for). We were shocked at how much he loved one of his gifts.  We weren't really imagining that, but that's the fun of gift giving.  His menu request was rather simple this year - Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with fixins.  And a nice family time with the others and the grandbaby bringing the fun.  

Plus, for added fun, a while back we decided to take the plunge into that colossus of all wargames that I've written about, World in Flames.  The ultimate comprehensive WWII game.  It's a favorite of his; more a stand alone hobby than a game.  More about logistics than military maneuvers, and he's all about logistics.  No matter what he does in life, he'll be happier if it involves crunching numbers.  Of course we no longer can get all the brothers around for something like that.  But we decided this time we'll adopt a sort of 'deal me in/deal me out' approach.  That is, as long as one is on each side and available, we can play.  The others will be brought up to speed when they're around.  I also promised this time I'll keep a log so whatever crazy might happen to disrupt things, we won't have to start from scratch because we can't remember what was happening. That made him happy.

So as birthdays go in tumultuous times, not bad.  Here's to another year and a blessed one ahead. 

It just breaks your heart

Rod Dreher, who I know can be both hit and miss, takes time to muse on the difficulties we have processing such tragedies.  Crimes, wars, abuses, murders - these we can chalk up to the evil that  men do.  And sometimes, as suggested by the testimony of that nurse at Camp Mystic, it can be the fact that we are flawed people.  The goes for some of those in charge of the alerts that were delayed.  Or just the decision to build a camp in low lying areas known as 'Flash Flood Alley.'  We make mistakes. That is not to condemn these or others for decisions made.  It happens.  We're an imperfect brood in a fallen world, and sometimes those imperfections can cause endless pain and suffering.  I don't envy them the guilt they may live with in the coming years. 

But there are still times when you do want to go out and shake your fist at God. The Psalmists knew this all too well.  Though I've never known why this was supposed to be some slam dunk against the existence of God that atheists seem to imagine.  Dreher suggests Dostoevsky's Ivan Karamazov had better arguments than the often puffed up Voltaire. Perhaps. Nonetheless, the most such arguments could do would be to cast some doubt at the proclamation that God is Love, all Powerful, and yet such things happen (see Harold Kushner).  They have nothing to say about a God existing one way or another.  

And it isn't like Atheism's answer is any better.  Which is basically conceding that suffering happens  because it happens, like atoms and gravity.  Besides all notions of meaning are subjective illusions anyway.  You suffer, so do birds and caterpillars and honey badgers.  Sucks to be you I guess. In the end you matter no more than a donkey burp.  Which is about all atheism can honestly offer.  Would we suggest, therefore, that this proves atheism is wrong?  

Anyway, it's a deeper subject to delve into than this little blog can handle.  And, as we used to say in ministry, it's not like getting an answer would take away the pain.  It's not as if Job would be comforted if he found out his suffering was due to a wager between God and Satan.  Yet my son did notice something.  Recently there has been newstalk about younger Americans not wanting kids.  Apparently some celebrity came out and said kids are the pits, and everyone she knows who has kids is a miserable schmuck.  Which, of course, is an extension of our abortion era mindset about kids as a disease to be cured, only to be blessings if and when convenient to certain people.  

Nonetheless, when something like this happens, it seems everyone is shaken.  Not that we don't care when tragedy strikes adults or older people or anyone really.  But when children are impacted, no matter how our pop culture might suggest the best kids are no kids, it's just not in our DNA to really believe it. Like so many dogmas that our post-God era promotes.  So often reality is the first line of defense against what we are taught nowadays.  Which, in its own weird way, gives hope.  No matter how much our best and brightest appear to want us to toss the real and embrace the mortal sins of the world, there's just too much of that Divine spark in us for it to last against overwhelming common sense and common virtue.  Which might be why, no matter how the Psalmist laments the question of why God has forsaken him, he inevitably ends up proclaiming that the same Lord is his shepherd.  

That lack of loyalty again

There's a funny saying that if you want to know what God thinks of money, look who He gives it to. I thought of that when I heard the news that Elon Musk is threatening to form a rival political party to combat both parties, including President Trump. 

This continues to be a giant fly in the ointment for President Trump.  Not in my lifetime have I seen a president inspire so little loyalty among his own allies.  I mean, you have your turncoats and the ones who decide they can no longer support a leader. You have those who jump ship and vie for control by usurping the leader in question.  It happens.

But wading through the stadium full of people who have turned on Trump and betrayed him and joined his opponents is telling.  I said that before, here.  I'm sure some of it is as above.  It happens.  Sometimes you have your Benedict Arnold types. But so many, with it happening so often, as to be almost the rule rather than glaring exception, has to mean something beyond 'it's not Trump but because they're all the nasties.' 

Oh, and eventually President Trump must fix the economy. So far his opponents have performed miracles by making the hysteria so bad that our country could plunge into a Depression and it wouldn't live up to the panic.  Nonetheless, when the dust settles, and the months have turned to years, we'll need to see the disaster of the last three years fixed.  Those prices will have to be cut, or incomes catch up, or something.  Otherwise I can't say who will be the next president, but I know who won't be.  Just saying.  

Prayers for the families in Texas

By now you've probably heard.  Tragic, and that camps for children were so prominently impacted, a parent's worst nightmare.  Right now, prayers are all that we can do.  Prayers and thankfulness for those out there, even risking their lives, to help save others.  

UPDATE: We should avoid like the plague any idea of blame here.  Already, as if on que, you have the blame game going on.  Fact is, I saw interviewed on ABC this morning a nurse at Camp Mystic.  By her own admission, she received the first Flood Warning alert.  She said it was raining but not bad, so she took no other action.  An hour later another camp counselor notified her that water was already coming into the cabins.  Then she said she notified camp staff and, rather than move the children, they simply toured the camp to see the state of things.  And based on everything stated by those who saw the floods rise, that was the fatal error.  Instead of immediately getting the girls to higher ground and then surveying the camp to see what was happening, by her own admission they didn't do that.  We call that human error.  She didn't appear to realize the implication of what she was saying in the interview.  I'm not sure why she said it.  I sat in stunned silence as she unpacked the chain of events.  I won't point fingers, because you never know what else was happening.  But no matter what led them to feel leaving the girls sleep as waters were pouring into some of the cabins, that has to be a factor behind the disastrous loss of innocent life that happened.  Again, I won't condemn.  Unless there is some big part of the story she didn't mention, however, when the gravity of how things went down hits her, I'm sure it will be something that will plague her the rest of her life.  

Of course it's fine to ask questions.  For those in the broader area who died, perhaps changing things around might be a good idea.  Having different warning signals.  Perhaps not having camps in low lying areas known as Flash Flood Alley.  I don't know.  But right there we have an added layer of that human tragedy that can be overlooked if we rush out to make political hay from such human suffering.  A woman who probably is in shock and will be hit hard by the decisions made.  That's why prayers, rather than politics, are the right thing to do for all involved, especially as the tragedy continues to unfold.  

Happy Birthday America

For all that has gone on in our country, it's amazing that when you think it's time to move somewhere else, you're still hard pressed to imagine where.  As I've told my boys over the years, there are people in the world who would kill to have our worst day.  Not that an American with a brain tumor the size of a watermelon is therefore not really suffering or shouldn't complain.  It's just that we have so many wonderful blessings we can take for granted that barely rank fiction in many places in the world, and throughout most of human history.  That's why it's easy to forget how thankful we should be. Which might be part of the problem; a problem perhaps intentionally manufactured. 

UPDATE: Another example of the malaise among those forgetting our blessings comes from Where Peter Is. A young John Grosso demonstrates that common line of thought, especially among the Left, that says America deserves to be celebrated only if and when America votes Democrat and acts as the Left dictates, and not a minute before.  This is accomplished under that liberal umbrella that claims to be tolerant of everything but evil, while defining evil as anything that isn't liberal.  So they're not saying Americans must conform to their politics, they're merely saying America shouldn't celebrate in such evil times, which looks to all observers like being defined as not conforming to progressive politics.  While leftwing activists like you'll find at WPI are more flagrant with the notion that praiseworthy only means progressive, I fear it has filtered down into a common mentality, especially among younger generations.  An excuse to avoid sacrificing or committing to a cause unless it's worthy of me - and I can always make sure it never is worthy of me, so I needn't bother with those sacrifices and commitments to other causes.  

BTW, I've taken to visiting WPI semi-regularly to note the sparseness of Pope Leo articles compared to how you couldn't go five minutes without seeing new articles singing the praises of Pope Francis on a regular basis. I find that interesting, and yet I've noticed it across the liberal Catholic spectrum.  We'll see. 

You wouldn't think this needs to be said

Only if you aren't a student of human history.  A fellow who pops up in my feed every now and then, who seems to be about 3 or 4 hits to 1 miss, points out what should be obvious: Why you should judge people as individuals, not races.  

Of course societies and nations and empires, being made up of people, suffer that same tendency we all suffer as people.  That is, it's easier to descend into vice than to ascend to virtue.  Let's face it, when was the last time anyone said, "You know, all my life I wanted to be a lazy couch potato, but I just couldn't overcome the temptation to eat right and exercise."  Vice and bad and unhealthy are easier than virtue and good and healthy. Let's be honest.

Which is why civilizations and cultures, being made up of people, tend to suffer the same thing.  Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, freedom, equality and fraternity, of the people and by the people are tough.  Tyranny, oppression, conquest, bigotry and imperialism are easier.  As we're seeing now.  

Even now, we have journalists informing us that freedom of speech can be dangerous and sometimes we need a little of the old government censorship (kudos for that one 60 Minutes).  Barry Lynn once told Anderson Cooper in 2005 that the First Amendment clearly didn't mean religions that promote discrimination and prejudice (that is, that disagree with him).  And since BLM we've been informed that it's time to stop judging based on content of character and get back to judging based on the color of one's skin or any one of a thousand other demographic identities.  With the caveat, as Deacon Greydanus pointed out, that saying JD Vance is white has nothing to do with him being white.  It being postmodernity with its post-reality dogmas.  

At the end of the day, that post-WWII PTSD that the world slipped into in which we decided everything before must have been flawed and we were now going to get it right, has passed. Many of those lofty ideals of total and complete tolerance, respect, openness, freedom of expression, and most of all never judging based on group identity or accident of birth are dead Jim.  As any student of history should be able to predict.  If they ever really lived. 

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.