Comments on: More Cultural Enrichment

By: Nicholas Moses

Nicholas Moses — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:44:36 +0000

@31: A young lady last year found out what parish I attend in Paris (you can probably guess) and with no provocation on my part, candidly told me that she had had an abortion because otherwise she would have had to "stop studying." I did not mention that my own mother also was in school when I came along! Some weeks later when it came out somehow that I favoured capital punishment for some crimes, she acted as though I had been the one who murdered her child. "I don't understand how you can sit in Church and pray to God and then support killing people!" I don't want to be too uncharitable. This young lady, not really an intellectual nor necessarily a committed "leftist," had redeeming qualities, but for whatever reason they were often well-hidden when it came to general life choices. But the complete inanity and hypocrisy of the leftist complex suggests that you are not far off.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:32:55 +0000

Derek,
I once heard the late Hamish Frazier tell a leftist during a debate at my Alma Mater that the real reason leftist opposed the death penalty is because they knew in their heart of hearts that they deserved it !!! I don't know that I agree with this, but there is always something twisted in liberal truths --Just as the witches did tell some truths to MacBeth. But to even look upon a man such as Christopher Hitchens is to see unhappiness and misery and then to wonder how such a man could ever hope to give what he does not possess --- however sincere his efforts and remarkable his talent.

By: Derek Leaberry

Derek Leaberry — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:07:57 +0000

If I could tweak my previous post, I would agree that the Leftist loves himself in a narcissistic way. For example, Jean-Paul Sartre's favorite person was John-Paul Sartre and he was the sun of his world and everybody else was to revolve around him, surely the mentality of a perpetual child. However, by rejecting his ancestors and his history and his culture, the Leftist engages in a most extreme form of self-hatred. I can not fathom or respect this aspect of the Leftist mindset.

By: TJF

TJF — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:34:33 +0000

There is an insight, I think, in each position. It is the nature of Leftism that it offers a sense of superiority by rejecting everything that ordinary decent people believe, beginning with monarchy and Christianity, moving onto private property and patriarchy, and finally to a rejection of heterosexuality and the dominance of the human species, but in accepting these childish positions leftists implicitly hate everything that their ancestors were and everything that, underneath the crazed veneer, they really are. Straight white acquisitive males come to believe that straightness, whiteness, property, and social distinctions are evil, even as they go on chasing women and making money and buying property. Whatever is real in them, they are compelled to hate or at least act as if they hated. It is as if they are afflicted with the Patty Hearst syndrome.

By: Clyde Wilson

Clyde Wilson — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:18:21 +0000

I am inclined to agree with Sempronius (17) rather than Derek (15) on the nature of leftists. In my observation, they are generally people who have an exaggerated sense of their intelligence and their importance. They are just clever enough to catch the fashion---that being leftist is a cheap way to make themselves feel superior to us plain folk. Also, if self-hatred were the key, then leftists would hurt themselves,but their whole thing is to hurt other people for their own profit.

By: MarkB

MarkB — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:08:46 +0000

@23Frank....

We simply don't get TV. No cable, satellite or even decent antennae. In our neck of southern Indiana this means no TV. But we rent/own a number of DVDs from back in the day, and seek to balance the damage that even old school TV does against the hunger all kids have for "screen time". Thus we have a fair amount of control. Most importantly, though, limit the amount of time they sit in front of any screen. (30min/day in our house) Start with the Sound of Music. Add Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins. Throw in a batch of Mayberry RFD. You'll get the idea as you practice. Talk to them at their level of understanding, about the lessons of the shows, plus about how the contrived picture manipulates reality, so they watch critically. If you watch with them, and enjoy the good parts with them, they'll listen to you about the bad parts. Our three are all teenagers now, and we enjoy watching good shows together. Anyway, that recipe seems to have worked Ok for us so far. Good luck and have fun!

markb

By: Etienne Gervaise

Etienne Gervaise — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:41:14 +0000

@24 Frank
While I don’t know of any good comics or cartoons ...

South Park, while vulgar is the most politically incorrect show on the tube, and regularly skewers loud-mouthed lefties -- especially the non-thinking Hollywood sort. The Simpsons is the best written show, period, and has entertained my children from a very tender age since most of the jokes require some life experience. And King of the Hill is also excellent, in my opinion, Mike Judge can do no wrong.

By: Chesterbelloc

Chesterbelloc — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:34:15 +0000

"I don’t watch cable TV, and I’m interested in locating virtuous entertainment, not so much for myself but for recommendation to others for their children or, if I’m blessed with any, for my own."

Well said Frank. I think that the tempation to pretend pop culture is OK for our children will arise when we are older and busy with our careers, etc. We must remember to be proactive in locating good programming for our children. Sometimes it's easy to forget that Christianity is a fundamentally different way of living. Good think we have Good Friday to remind us. Have a good Easter.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:10:38 +0000

MARKB,
Trying to keep your question alive for you by repeating it. I would be interested in that same issue because I just got home from Maundy Thursday services 25% in spanish, 25% St. Louis Jesuit Pop, 25% Traditional Latin Hymns and 100% distracting. Hard to know anymore where multi-culturalism ends and Babel begins.

"Sometime, possibly in the late ’80s or early ’90s, TJF wrote, if my memory serves, an eloquent defense of ritual and tradition in church services. Unfortunately, I no longer have my stack of old “Chronicles” mags to search through. My church has slowly teetered over the brink into dismal abyss of “happy clappy” services. I would love it if TJF or someone else could recall the month and year of this issue, so I could pester my library into finding me a copy of it, which I could then forward to my church “Worship Alive” committee (Saints preserve us!).

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:20:34 +0000

Chesterbelloc: "You just can’t blindly trust pop culture any more."

No you can't. I watched the Death Note anime - it was good in its reminder that power is dangerous and corrupting. It also praised strategy, which I fear Americans downplay.

I was actually going to reply that I was being overly pessimistic about American pop culture. While I don't know of any good comics or cartoons, there are some good children's movies, most of them not recent.

And there are some very bad manga series. Bleach is sexually corrupting, as well as promoting of multiculturalism. And Code Geass is essentially Marxism.

---

I don't watch cable TV, and I'm interested in locating virtuous entertainment, not so much for myself but for recommendation to others for their children or, if I'm blessed with any, for my own.