tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post4562688119888973097..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Signs of Cultural CollapseStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-54027628271996504852016-07-05T01:05:43.995-07:002016-07-05T01:05:43.995-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Suzy Parkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-8197690684461604582016-07-03T11:05:58.605-07:002016-07-03T11:05:58.605-07:00http://www.unz.com/freed/jewish-decline-and-the-ri...http://www.unz.com/freed/jewish-decline-and-the-rise-of-china-in-the-us/sumnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-80831462771252909042016-07-03T10:16:02.060-07:002016-07-03T10:16:02.060-07:00Ares , you make my point exactly. I'm not aski...Ares , you make my point exactly. I'm not asking you to be a Christian. You are corrct, we have freedom of religion. But you demonstrate a lack of understanding of the foundations of Western civilization. Much of Western civilization owes a great deal to the heritage of the Jews, Greeks and Romans and their connection to the foundation of Christendom. But Christianity forms the bedrock of our unique view of freedom and the sanctity of life. Indeed, our freedom of religion emerged as a solution to the Hundred Years War so that Christendom might live in peace. Our freedoms are lost without context. That's why departing from a cultural tradition because the legacy was passed from "a bunch of dead white guys" reflects not only a failure to appreciate the history of ideas, but reflects a juvenile silliness that is not making us any better. In fact, it's turning us into a bunch of sniveling, blithering idiots. We are not a wise people. We are moths at the Glowing Box -- obeying it's commands, reflecting its depth. Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-10284408720788754482016-07-02T21:16:20.982-07:002016-07-02T21:16:20.982-07:00IAC, you mention three different things "Cult...IAC, you mention three different things "Cultural collapse", "abandoning civilization" and "leaving Christendom".<br /><br />Some of us, presumably Stuart is not Christian, and we live in a country that has freedom of religion, not just freedom for Christianity, although Jews and Islam all follow the same old testament God at least. <br /><br />You say "We are certain that God could never become man in Christ, but we are convinced man can play God, or become God." <br /><br />I don't suppose burning one-time resources like fossil fuels, allowing for world populations to explode in a century has anything to do with "man playing God" or claiming anthropogenic climate change is a hoax because we don't know how else to keep ourselves to the lifestyles we've been accustomed without burning this ancient stored sunlight?<br /><br />Wendell Berry said only the Amish have an honest lifestyle that deals with the limits of human-scaled technology, and he refused to use a computer because he didn't want to become dependent upon unnecessary technology that doesn't allow him to think any more clearly than paper and pencil. And he also refuses to write at night because he despises the mountain top removal to get at the coal seams, by leveling off the mountain tops and filling in the valleys, and filling all the streams with toxic metals leaked from the rain runoff on the despoiled landscape.<br /><br />Thomas Jefferson's vision for America was the Gentleman farmer, but we've progressively abandoned that for the speed, noise and opportunities of the city, or fake country suburban or exurban landscapes, while spending hours every day in a small metal box getting from city employment to a country escape.<br /><br />Local culture is being lost, certainly, but probably the reality is that most local culture is reinvented all the time in learning how to cooperate with others. And now we can pretend we don't need culture, we don't need good manners. All we need is access to credit, like Donald Trump, and then we can be anyone we want to be. So the rise of conservatively hated multiculturalism and the rise of money go together.<br /><br />I'd like to know a world we can go back to, one where life long debt wasn't a prerequisite to a shot at a middle class. The reality of our indefinite future seems to be that debt is only a good deal for people like Trump, who can simply renegotiate with his creditors when his bets go bad, while the rest of us may find some future variation of debtors prison, thanks to ever stronger laws that favor large lenders over small borrowers.<br /><br />Anyway, who has time for promoting civilization unless you're paid to do it when you have bills to pay, and little saved for an imaginary retirement that may never come.<br /><br />So at the Mayor's meeting, the Dalai Lama focused on compassion and selflessness, which sounds hopeful, but where does that fit within a debt-filled world? If your debt is my retirement investment, who needs compassion when that arrangement no longer works?<br /><br />The only thing that is always clear is someone else needs to sacrifice to make things right, while your own hard-earned benefits must be protected at all costs.<br /><br />Some Christians talk about a debt jubilee and something like that must come, a sort of collapse and rebirth at the same time. It would be nice to imagine it was something that could be managed, but it looks necessarily messy, and probably war will end up wasting most of the resources as the last benefactors try to secure their shares.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm still not worried about Lady Gaga's participation, and I'm glad she recognizes kindness is important.Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-5480540528743194152016-07-02T18:44:43.051-07:002016-07-02T18:44:43.051-07:00Cultural collapse is not an unwillingness to defen...Cultural collapse is not an unwillingness to defend culture. Cultural collapse is an abandonment of culture. Abandonment of Western culture is indifference to civilization. Its a dismissal of our inheritance, we who think ourselves so morally magnificent in comparison to our ancestors, who were just as human as we are... or so "science says." Abandoning civilization is more toxic than love or hate, it's "Meh." Only a stupid people do such a thing. We are fast becoming a stupid people... in this postmodern age where we leave Christendom altogether. We are certain that God could never become man in Christ, but we are convinced man can play God, or become God. The mistake among the elite sophisticates is that this is an advancement. It is a vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum. Our elites don't believe that ideas fill a vacuum, ignoring the human operating system. Other ideas will come. We are not as perfect as we imagine ourselves. War teaches us this. Daily. Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-1193075976439486972016-07-02T11:08:58.283-07:002016-07-02T11:08:58.283-07:00Brit politics turning into farce.
http://www.brei...Brit politics turning into farce.<br /><br />http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/07/01/labour-press-conference-on-anti-semitism-results-in-fresh-accusations-of-anti-semtism/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-23245077417169344732016-07-02T09:54:44.700-07:002016-07-02T09:54:44.700-07:00Well, at least they didn't invite 50 cents.
M...Well, at least they didn't invite 50 cents.<br /><br />More cultural collapse.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycP0Jvda4moAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-45064365232293411122016-07-02T06:07:23.597-07:002016-07-02T06:07:23.597-07:00I don't know. It looks rather harmless, not a ...I don't know. It looks rather harmless, not a choice I'd make, but mostly harmless.<br /><br />Gunlock: Yet, when it comes to being kind and respectful to people of religious faith, Gaga’s well of kindness dried up long ago. Just like Madonna did decades before her, Gaga takes particular pleasure in insulting Christians. ... Perhaps Gaga will take her own words to heart and realize just how many of her actions, songs, performances and behaviors demonstrate a deep-seated unkindness and contempt for people of faith. Perhaps she’ll realize the importance of using her talents in less harmful, disrespectful ways.<br /><br />That is an interesting point, and shows something divided within all of us, who want to think of ourselves as good kind people, while not seriously reflecting on how our behavior negatively affects others.<br /><br />Perhaps the Dalai Lama's comments will cause her to reflect and eventually change course and she can someday call out her own poor choices and say "Do as I say, not as I did." to the next generation of status hungry singers.Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.com