How our elites have sold out Americans

It will be interesting to see if this plays out. Will there beat of night of the long knives.

She knows that something is wrong. It would be interesting to hear her thinking on the matter. I doubt she’d be able to articulate much.

What we’re talking about is something between an intense social clique and an outright religion. Leftists/Progressives are the domestic equivalent of the Taliban. They are both religious zealots. But I doubt she understands her ideology in that way or that her friends are religious zealots. After all, these are the “secular” types who put all that voodoo religious stuff behind them. They believe in “science.”



There is no saving it because the template for saving does not exist within the last four generations or so. As much as, say, a 20-year-old might (might) scoff at “wokeness,” he has no idea that it is just a further limb on the branch he is already sitting on: atheistic materialist Marxist Freudian Darwinian consumerism. I’m not sure that a good acronym can be made of that. But it fits.

It’s like someone plants a gooseberry bush in their yard and are surprised that they sprout gooseberries. “You will know them by their fruits.” Well, there are certainly plenty of fruits to choose from on that side.

My brother had on a YouTube video of a guy trying to explain why all the latest Star Wars movies sucked. He was beating around the bush, but at least he did recognize mediocrity. My explanation is simple and probably true: Because none of the dolts who write and produce this stuff have read Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick, et al. They have not developed a sense of taste beyond that of a 9-year-old.



Although I don’t have a Facebook account and do not do “social media,” believe me — I believe you.



He’s nailed that phenomenon in a nutshell.



Wow. “Bereft of an understanding of what it means to be fully human.” I’d amend to “Mostly human,” but that’s a quibble. As much as we might think of ourselves as being in a small bubble here at Reviews&Things, the fact is that the world out there has lost its flavor. It's just chock full on goofball.

Artler said something about military matters that I think generalizes quite easy with our current topic:



This is good as well:



But they do have religion. This is important to remember. Whether it’s the Church of Global Warming or any of the other Leftist ticks, they do believe, as least superficially, in something. In fact, their religion is great because it is the perfect one for narcissists. It frees them of the commitment to do anything or act well.



It’s very important to understand, as I’m sure this guy does, that the key component of the making of little self-absorbed narcissistic monsters who lack meaning or purpose (or, that is, good meaning or purpose) is because they’ve been cut off from the family of mankind. They can instantly connect to anywhere in the world and yet they own no past because they have not been taught to value the past. In fact, they’ve been taught to despise it. So all that’s left is chasing the latest fad of today.



Fine, all true, at least regarding the male of the species. But one must understand this within the context of feminism. Too many girls and women have become toxic, offering nothing to a man.



Again, I wonder if they are “frozen by fear” or really just tired of the narcissistic, pouty, demanding, selfish women that most have become. Online porn is much less bother.



Standing ovation for that sentence.



Yes, it’s important to point out that there is nothing wrong with individualism. Individualism is a great antidote to the stupidity of the groupmind. The better description might be how we have become atomized, there being few shared values and the only truths are not objective or eternal. Each individual has their own set of “values” that are as fungible as Silly Putty, and based in even less substance.

Allow me one quibble with Bawer’s gushing praise of this paragraph by Adams:



If you want to know where much of the ennui, violence, discontent, and destructiveness comes from, it’s from a belief such as the above — a paragraph that could have been written by Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. It’s the view that life has no intrinsic purpose and that we have simple “won the cosmic lottery.” Such an atheistic, materialist view leads to all the gunk these guys are writing about. Without reason and purpose deep-seated in something, then all life can ever be is the jumble of fads, Facebook, and falderal. And that’s what we have now.

Yes. That's a good way to put it.



Indeed. And one would never confuse me with a bible-thumper (well...Artler might), but the elephant in the room is G-d. If the answer is other than "a pointless, random universe," then the Almighty has just entered the building. And a lot of people (well-meaning though they are) scamper about and tie themselves in pretzel knots to avoid using the word.



Yes, exactly. I think their answer to that would be "Followers on YouTube or Facebook."

No, even the real Bible thumpers these days give Jews a pass. After 2000 years they have figured out that we are just not worth the effort. A short joke with an element of truth, so it makes a good story. I might have told this before, but--

A nice Jewish boy fell madly in love with a Catholic girl. She insisted on a church wedding and to accommodate his love he agreed to convert.

He began classes with the parish priest and over time, as these thing do, his girl and him broke up. However, he continued classes and was on the verge of officially converting until he asked the priest. 

When I convert can I become a priest?
The priest was pleased as Jewish/Catholic conversions were rare, and even more rare was a conversion when they entered the priest hood. "of course the priest said"

The next question was a little tougher for the priest. "What kind of advancement can I expect in the priesthood? The priest was a little put off but replied you could become a Monsignor, maybe an auxiliary bishop.

The boy thought this over for a minute and ask, "what else". By this time the priest was getting very angry and snapped, Bishop maybe Cardinal, but the odds are very slim and only a few make it. The final questions put the priest over the top, "what is after that?" The answer was tart and tinged with contempt. "Pope, but that is one of several hundred cardinals. The boy nodded and asked, "After that?"

The priest exploded with frustration and anger, "What do you want to be G-D?"
The boy replied, "well, one of our guys made it"

What makes this story interesting is that it was told to me by a good friend and Catholic priest, Monsignor Michael Kennedy SJ. Mike was a true and loyal friend who took his calling as divinely inspired and never attempted to convert me, or to my knowledge anyone else. His method was to live out Scripture as he understood it. If more Christians were like Mike the world would be a better place. Mike passed in 06. He would have made a great Jew. I told him that the last time I saw him. He laughed and said I could have been  Jesuit since I can always see another side to almost any question.  RIP Mike

 

Father O'Malley is my movie version of a good priest. He was sometimes lenient on the small stuff by never wavered on the big issues. He was friendly and likable and yet wasn't such a people-pleaser and trend-follower that he was a doormat. In my book, there's a heck of a lot more to being good than just flattering people in their sins. At the same time, you can have a moral backbone without being a religious prig. A tough balance that probably not all that many have achieved. Sounds as if Father Mike did.