As I said above, if all you mean by "diversity is our strength" is "there is strength in diversity" then you have a point. But considered by itself the statement is nonsense. Increasing diversity in no sense automatically increases strength, which is what these corporate and academic chowderheads believe.
Some of those clobber passages need to be "re-recontextualized". The largely-ignored, early church fathers had the full context of what was meant by them. The context makes me tremble. (harming these little ones... millstones... dozens more)
I care about my family's eternal salvation. My 21 and 24 year old kids, one a teacher, one starting a finance career on Monday, have been bombarded with DEI training. I worry about grandchildren when the very, basic, SECULAR understandings of sex and gender are being overturned.
I'm not trying to chide or shame you. Judging by your image, I was about your age when I started to question the beliefs and culture in which I was raised. I read Peter Kreeft's "A Refutation of Moral Relativism". I was a moral relativist and I was lying to myself out of convenience. It was obvious.....hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was starting married life, and I began searching for THE TRUTH. I found it to be shocking, eternal, and personally disruptive. The more it (He) gets revealed to me, the more I see myself as a weak sinner......yet He loves me. Best of luck to you.
"Agreed on the some of the DEI stuff, though no one seems to be aware of any of it outside of graduate schools that serve to justify their own existence."
Haven't had to deal with a corporate HR department lately, have you? Or a public school system?
Seriously. As I said before, I work for a Fortune 500 company and we get this shizzle Almost. Every. Day. It's on the websites (both inter- and intra-), in corporate emails, in regional team meetings. And it's not even Pride Month yet. Last year by the end of June if I saw one more *!!&$#! rainbow I was going to vomit.
Heh-heh. Get back to us when they (you?) start mainstreaming polyamory, pedophilia, etc. The Sexual Revolution is a great thing until you want it to stop somewhere.
Cohesion used to be billed as a strength, in group endeavors. Strong leadership or the ability to facilitate different talents among diverse employees ......was another strength. "Diversity" may or may not be a strength in its traditional Websters definition. DEI is a lie.....that rhymes btw.
I think that's a great question--they may not have really had any intention to do so.
Now, some blue state may offer them some sweetheart deal and Disney may build something there, but I'll believe it when I see it.
It's ironic that it's actually controversial among the left to take away special rights and welfare for an international megacorporation. It really shows that the modern American left really only cares about defending sexual "diversity"...other principles must be forgotten if they obscure that.
I'd be happier if DeSantis and his fans were railing against corporate personhood in general, and not just against a single bête noir: standing on firm and general principle, not just engaging in a vendetta. Of course if that cause were really taken up by the Right their corporate paymasters would have enough cows to keep McD's in beef for a year.
I've begun to wonder if DeSantis' sole focus on Disney itself is a way to establish his bonafides against an easily recognizable cultural corporate monolith 'locally' in order to then extrapolate his successes to the broader country during a national campaign. Disney makes it easy for him to do this in his own backyard, as it were, by being obviously, vocally woke to its corporate core AND by being an easily identifiable corporate land-hog and profiteering bully. The Florida-specific Disney battle keeps DeSantis firmly in his governorship while strongly signalling a wider strategy of going after the concept of bloated, entitled corporate activism - and either way, he accomplishes something if he can hold them down/hold his own on these issues.
Yes, I would add that most news organizations want to portray DeSantis as a mini-Trump......picking on Cubby and the Mousekateers. Is DeSantis focused on Disney or is the news media focused on DeSantis's Disney battle? I would question anything that comes from mainstream media especially ABC/ESPN in this discussion......and yes, ESPN is constantly weighing in on political discussion...not so subtly anymore.
This was funny and camp back in the day. I'm sure that nobody involved with this production (song/video. BTW, we didn't have music videos back in '78, they were produced, but there was no forum to display them. This was several years before MTF) ever contemplated today's state of affairs.
When I try to make sense of the Cultural Revolution we're living through, inflicted upon us to punish the proles for their peasant rebellions of 2016, I think of it as the establishment (or attempted establishment) of a New Church/State ruling coalition. (A Church/State coalition—basically some religious representative blessing and applying a sacred stamp of approval onto a political ruling class—has been the basic ruling scheme since probably the first major civilizations.)
The Church of Social Justice gets what every religion wants: official state recognition, at least one of their commissars on every payroll, their flags on every flagpole, their dogma in every church and school, and of course their first and deepest need met: to destroy their ideological enemies and ruthlessly install their morality anywhere and everywhere.
The global corporate statists receive moral legitimacy for all their projects (Diversity! only bigots disagree!), various smokescreens of piety to hide their power schemes (We're only silencing you to protect the marginalized!) plus access to Twitter mob justice and its hornets' nest of bigotry accusations, which is an incredibly powerful tool to silence any opposition.
This is why everyone on Team Global Corporate State—from journalists to generals to profs and CEOs etc—zealously mouth the required pieties and play the role of True Believers: publicly expressing obedience to the new One True Faith is the price that must be paid to maintain exalted status; and this is why all the supposedly socialistic Leftists are now cheerleaders for Big Pharma, Big Tech and the missile makers: their silence gets them insider perks like lucrative sinecures, book deals, various academic, corporate or NGO perches.
And like all paranoid, vindictive and power-hungry rulers desperate to achieve and maintain total control, they have one message for the world: You're either with us or against us.
Are we not in effect living through a new Reformation? The old order is usurped, its statues pulled down, its values mocked and proscribed, and the establishment leads or follows - either way - along the path of conformity to power and privilege.
Decades of diversity canard. Diversity in thought alone presupposes absence of universal truth. If no truths common to our humanity , then man is free to act as he desires and you see results. Even from practical point of view diversity concept is dumb - the greater the number of different parts = the greatest strength of the whole? Contradicts Ockham - fewer assumption to truth is superior to more assumptions. Diversity of thought should be means to filter out falsehoods in order to find truth.
Careful. Push this too far and you overturn the principles on which Freedom of Religion is based.
I would prefer to state "Universal truths may exist, but we humans are too damaged to know them with certainty, so none of us should state 'I alone have The Truth'."
There is real live social science (Bowling Alone) that regretfully comes to the conclusion that diversity in fact dissolves community. Evidently it comes down to production of fight or flight hormones in the presence of The Other, which leads to pathologies like NPD. If you think our masters aren't aware of this, think again.
Not only are our "betters" aware of the social science you refer to, they have used diversity as a battering ram to shatter the working and middle classes in this country for two generations.
Open borders and mass immigration that leads to mass displacement is a very structured plan, and unfortunately, there is no end in sight.
"The Other" is not a fixed category. In past eras Catholics and Protestants saw each other as Other. That lasted into living memory in Northern Ireland. But I grew up in a neighborhood where Catholics and Protestants, plus some irreligious people, were all mixed tofether, and no one gave a hoot.
Diversity is a strength only within commonality. As an example, consider how normal it is in the history of popular music for a band to break up because the leader, the members, or both, have developed differing ideas of what the band should do. These guys are all musicians, within the same genre, and nobody is proposing replacing the bassist with an accountant or the drummer with an electrical engineer.
Yet something isn't clicking.
Which marriages succeed? Which friendships? Obviously, the ones in which the partners have more things in common than not. I think it is a great thing, a sane thing, if young men would rather not have a gay male in the shower with them. The same is true of young heterosexual women and lesbians, or even mutilated men.
Every heterosexual man is at least somewhat homophobic, and I imagine the same is true of heterosexual women and lesbianism.
I got over the homophobia thing many years ago. I just say No to unwanted sexual advances, whether they come from men or women (and at my age I'm lucky if a horny dog tries to hump my leg)
If you're over the homophobia thing, the next time you're standing in front of a public urinal, start a conversation with the stranger standing next to you.
That's not a matter of homophobia, but of modern day American social custom based on how we are raised from early childhood on. Ancient Romans used crappers right out in the open in front of each other, and chit-chatted while they took care of business. Different customs for different people in different ages. In our time and place even if you know the guys with you in the men's room you don't talk while taking care of a body function-- maybe you do at the sink afterwards.
I would say I have a vague contempt for homosexuals but I don't hate them and I feel a little sorry for them. I am generally tolerant of homosexuals if they don't flaunt their lifestyle. If Clifton Webb is in a movie, I don't turn it off because he was homosexual. He never flaunted his homosexuality and never outed himself. My Mexican history professor in college was a closeted homosexual but he never flaunted it and was an interesting lecturer.
What amounts to "flaunting" it? I am fairly lenient about things like gay people having openly acknowledged spouses/boy(girl)friends. My general rule being "If it's OK for straight folks it's OK for gay folks". I dislike the steamier sorts of public displays of affection (between anyone-- get a room, folks), and dislike the "professional gay" sort who wears his (her) sexuality on the sleeve.
I am not an egalitarian, Jon. And I believe in public posturing for the purpose of good manners. For instance, FDR engaged in adulterous behavior with at least two women after Eleanor kicked him out of the marital bed. But he never flaunted his affairs. In public, he was the dutiful, loving husband of Eleanor. Good manners count.
Manners are important, on that we agree. It does not bother me if two guys (or two women) are obvious "together" provided they do not indulge in steamy PDAs in public.
The only problem I have with homosexuals is how thin-skinned and hair-trigger so many of them are about the world conforming to their humanistic horseshit. I have more gay affiliations in my life than I can count. Nothing about them bothers me, except the ones who are leftist zealots. Attention whore babies. Self-righteous gas bags. There is enough sin in all of us to put us on a level playing field of guilt before the holiness of God. So I dont think that their existential condition is worse than anybody else. However, when they think that they are so special that society needs to bend over for them in order to feel “normal”...they need to be reminded that they are dust. God will get around to that. Eternity is eternity. Which is it gonna be? Eternal life or eternal damnation. Eternal life is conscious joy and unity with God. Eternal death is conscious suffering and alienation from God.
"Would you be willing to kill or die for the sake of defending sexual diversity?"
Nope.
1 of my great-grandfathers served in WWI. Both my grandfathers served in WWII, one did 28 years starting enlisted at 17 and rising to O-4. My dad served. They refused me for medical reasons (the military had standards in the early 90's.)
My daughter would make an excellent officer -- smart, strong, likes the military, beats the boys at paintball -- and I've told her I would be immensely proud to see her get a set of bars. But she sees what's going on and told me last year that she won't. I was not surprised nor can I say I'm really sorry. Her decision ends a multi-generational military family. Part of me is sad about that, but I'm even sadder that my daughter is growing up in a country that she doesn't believe is worth defending.
Families like mine are the backbone of the armed forces. When we leave, we're not just choosing a different career, we're giving up on the country.
I grew up respecting the military but the last ten years or so have me down on the military. I told my sons I would disown them if they joined and none have. Let the military waste away as far as I'm concerned.
I would hope that the military is still a means of escape for some people. I know one coworker who's parents were heroin addicts and one who grew up in foster care. Both became strong family men and were great at their jobs. Do they even bill the military as a means of becoming self-sufficient and productive anymore?
The advertising I've seen recently is isn't about the how the military can shape you but how you can shape the military: "we will make you all you can possibly be" vs "bring your strengths and help us do better".
The army still provides structure and discipline to young men who have never had any. The first 4 years really can save your life. However, people who joined because they had no other option (either for financial or psychological reasons) have never been the core of the military. They do their 4 years but, like this author and Vance, then leave for other things. The career guys overwhelmingly come from families like mine, where dad or grandpa was also career. We ain't there for the money or the structure; we're there because we believe the stars and stripes and worth defending. Start saluting the rainbow flag instead and you can kiss our butts goodbye.
Maybe the military can replace us. Maybe there is a pool of talented, devoted, hard-charging men, women, and non-binaries that want to have their lives upended every 2-3 years and shipped halfway across the country (or around the world) for the privilege of ending "white privilege and heteronormativity". I'm not sure what scares me more: that this group doesn't exist and the American military ends up understaffed and decrepit, or that they do and we end up with a highly trained and capable army that hates half the country.
Comments like Stoltenberg's mainly serve the regime's domestic goals. Yes, indeed, there is ample evidence, especially from Washington, of aggressive promotion of gender ideology, etc., abroad, but the target of most of this earnest speechifying is the bigoted holdouts who remain in western territory, those people who perversely believe biology exits. Consider the logic: Our geopolitical enemy is Putin. + Putin doesn't cheer on the trans movement. = Those who don't cheer on the trans movement are internal geopolitical enemies.
There is always a double-standard at work. What did Rod call it once -- "politicized noticing" or something? You're only allowed to call these things out if you're praising them. If you call them out from the other side the things either suddenly cease to exist or you're a bigot. (This occurs in a lot of liberal Civil War historiography. The South says something and it's proclaimed to be a lie, an exaggeration, etc. Someone in the North says a similar thing and magically "He has a point.")
So Putin's "homophobia" is at once a show, a ploy to attract conservative Western support, OR something that he really means and that we have to take seriously, depending upon which argument against him is being floated at the time.
Yes, but I'd add that we've reached a point where their double standards have double standards.
Of course we've always lived with double standards (as in your example of Civil War historiography) but there's something unprecedented in the utter incoherence that our elites now get away with. On every front, and all at once.
What strikes me again in this current case (i.e. Stoltenberg's remarks) is the degree to which the meaning of the West is reduced to just the one formula: "Diversity." And worse, that formula is itself of course a lie, since it everywhere shouts: "WE formulate what diversity means, and if you don't subscribe to that ONE MEANING of diversity, you are not part of the West."
There is, glaringly, no diversity in diversity. Orwell couldn't have done better.
It is quite simply a hijacking of the West. They have to keep hammering it home because there remain those who see it for what it is: a hijacking.
Agreed. My comment about double standards was intended to augment yours about the faulty "logic" that's being invoked. Personally, I think it goes back to the whole 60's New Left idea of freedom: "To forbid is the only thing that's forbidden!" and "Everything is tolerated except intolerance!" This mentality has gone to seed in today's cultural left to the point where they see neither the the irony nor the
Yes, agreed, there’s a line going straight back to those New Left bromides, but there are multiple other lines too, all intersecting in the past decade, myriad little manias coming to a head. As for our “cultural left”, it is itself 90% sheep (those who literally can’t see the irony) and 10% grifters (our academics, the ESG crowd, etc.). These latter just hope to ride the wave they see forming and end up solidly in the new elite. If coherence is no longer required—and they see that it isn’t—all the better for them. They can just virtue signal and emote.
Woke shahadah! Woke Ramadan! Drone bombing a hypothetical imam while telling the story of the Muslim prisoner! Rod, you have reached Dave Chappelle levels of simultaneously being offensive and hilarious. 😂
Oh gosh, I didn't mean to be offensive. I apologize if I caused hurt. I like comparing Pride month to other religious celebrations. Ramadan is the only major one that lasts a month. And I hope it was clear that the fictional radical imam would have been correct were he to say so today.
I did get exactly what you meant with the comparisons, and they were indeed hilarious, and apt, though sacrilegious, ergo the Dave Chappelle comparison. (Although while Ramadan does last a month, it's a month of fasting and abstention -- but you knew that, which is another reason it was Chappelle-level humor.)
By the way, if you're looking for religious celebrations to compare it to, here's this one -- though this is no metaphor, and feels like this is where the mask drops:
This pretty sympathetic profile of the Satanist convention, on the BBC, no less, has a little throwaway line about how their membership has gone from 10k in 2019 to 700k today...
A bit of historical irony in reading of the NATO Secretary General’s statement of priorities. It led me to recall a text & story.
“ Reports of protests about the schools have found their way into the outer world from various districts of Germany, and especially from the Catholic districts. The population has been aroused again and again when the Nazis have removed the crucifixes from the religious schools to replace them with photographs of Hitler and with the swastika. In the Bishopric of Minister, there was a historic peasant demonstration, terrifying in its complete monotony and insistence. No one spoke for hours, there was no shouting of slogans during this demonstration; there was nothing but the continual murmur of one word coming from all the people gathered. The crowd stood there, murmuring the word: “Crosses, crosses, crosses . . . ” without interruption, for hours, “. . . crosses, crosses . . .” In this single instance, the Nazis surrendered. They returned the crosses to the diocese. In almost every other place, they were victorious, for almost nowhere else did they meet with opposition.”
— School for Barbarians: Education Under the Nazis (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science) by Erika Mann
“ Published in 1938, when Nazi power was approaching its zenith, this well-documented indictment reveals the systematic brainwashing of Germany's youth. The Nazi program prepared for its future with a fanatical focus on national preeminence and warlike readiness that dominated every department and phase of education. Methods included alienating children from their parents, promoting notions of racial superiority instead of science, and developing a cult of personality centered on Hitler. <br />Erika Mann, a member of the World War II generation of German youth, observed firsthand the Third Reich's perversion of a once-proud school system and the systematic poisoning of family life. This edition of her historic exposé features an Introduction by her father, famed author and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann.<br />”
It seems, at least historically, we have come full circle - with a new totalitarian religion fighting the ancient religions.
As in 1933, the net effect is the dumbing down of society and its pillar institutions of tradition and success.
The text continues.
“The German schools, then, highly respected throughout the world, until 1933, for their thoroughness, their responsibility, and their progressiveness — the schools that held so much hope for the future cannot now be compared with any other educational institutions. Graduates of Gymnasien used to receive an education which brought them to the level of the sophomore or junior year of an American college; today they are beneath the intellectual standard of the young Americans who have just passed College Entrance Examinations. Graduates of French Lycées or Swiss Grammar Schools are justified in their contempt for German students who can do nothing but march.”
It's tough to stay away from the obvious analogies to the Nazis as it opens you up to accusations of cheapness and triteness. But it's there, all right. Did you know that in Germany in the '30s, before the Nazis took power, if university students gathered in a lecture hall didn't like what their professor was saying (e.g., Theodor Haecker, the great Catholic classicist and Virgil scholar) they would stamp their feet to drown him out? Those risers in those old lecture halls were hollow, so the noise was terrific. Sound familiar?
Two things. Erika Mann was gay (so was her brother, Klaus, and so was her father, for the matter of that). In order to secure her British citizenship and regularize her status in the U.S. a marriage was arranged with W.H. Auden. The Manns were in Princeton and Auden was in New York. To my knowledge they never divorced. Auden of course asked Hannah Arendt to marry him directly she was widowed.
The late Christopher Hitchens used to call the Catholic Church the patron of the Nazis, which still makes my blood boil. Hitchens never made the distinction between fascism and National Socialism, which is step one in these matters. Hitler, btw, is reputed to have called fascism a half-job, and pace the left, what we have in large part is national socialism. The place to go for insight on this is The Last European War by John Lukacs, his largest canvas, and an immortal masterpiece.
Regarding the NATO Secretary General’s comments on the need to institutionalize diversity, I was reminded of efforts to do the contrary in 1933.
“Reports of protests about the schools have found their way into the outer world from various districts of Germany, and especially from the Catholic districts. The population has been aroused again and again when the Nazis have removed the crucifixes from the religious schools to replace them with photographs of Hitler and with the swastika. In the Bishopric of Minister, there was a historic peasant demonstration, terrifying in its complete monotony and insistence. No one spoke for hours, there was no shouting of slogans during this demonstration; there was nothing but the continual murmur of one word coming from all the people gathered. The crowd stood there, murmuring the word: “Crosses, crosses, crosses . . . ” without interruption, for hours, “. . . crosses, crosses . . .” In this single instance, the Nazis surrendered. They returned the crosses to the diocese. In almost every other place, they were victorious, for almost nowhere else did they meet with opposition.”
— School for Barbarians: Education Under the Nazis (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science) by Erika Mann
“The German schools, then, highly respected throughout the world, until 1933, for their thoroughness, their responsibility, and their progressiveness—the schools that held so much hope for the future cannot now be compared with any other educational institutions. Graduates of Gymnasien used to receive an education which brought them to the level of the sophomore or junior year of an American college; today they are beneath the intellectual standard of the young Americans who have just passed College Entrance Examinations. Graduates of French Lycées or Swiss Grammar Schools are justified in their contempt for German students who can do nothing but march.”
— School for Barbarians: Education Under the Nazis (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science) by Erika Mann
And DeSantis should have made his point about Disney and moved on. At this point the continued obsession is starting to make him look as weird as Trump.
History is no where near over (contra Mr. Fukuyama!)
The myopia of America's foreign policy people in the 90s joins a whole gaggle of should've-beens, could've-beens in history: the past is littered with such lost opportunities. And courtesy of Mr. Putin's haste to assert Russian power rather than leave it to a successor to reap the fruit of the promising strategy the nation had hitherto been pursuing, Russia too now has a colossal lost opportunity to regret in a generation.
China has its own problems: it's getting old before it's getting rich. The sclerotic fate of Japan points the way to China's future. Someday China, Korea and Japan will be known as the Three Ancients of Asia.
All of which goes to my belief that humankind is a pack of fools. Though they're the only fools we have.
China will probably be the number one power in the world in 2100 but America will still probably be strong in 2100 with our agriculture and economy. We'll be number two. I can't see India by-passing us. Morally decrepit empires can muddle through history for a long time. Look at Rome, west and east. Even the Hapsburgs. Remnants of the Spanish Empire remained until after the death of Franco.
Re: This is the perfect time for China to shame the US out of the Pacific, which is now easily the most vital part of the world.
China lacks the power to do any such thing. China is also surrounded by nations which are deeply suspicious of its motives: Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Mongolia. And while it's all nicey-nice with Russia at the moment I don't think either nation trusts the other one out of its sight.
We are headed for a multi-polar world, which is the more normal situation across history. I don't know that China will be the "strongest", more likely there will be several "strongest" each relative to their own sphere and areas of concern.
The moral nature of cultures is something that swings like a pendulum, from periods of libertinism to periods of puritanism. And look to Chinese history to see how a civilization goes through ups and downs over the centuries.
Maybe, but this is making him look like a one-note obsessive Johnny. If you want to see DeSantis win either the GOP nomination or the presidency he needs to be something more than a one-trick pony. The more he focuses on this to the exclusion of all else the less genera;l appeal he has. What he really should do, IMO, at this point is broaden this far, far beyond the specifics of Disney in Florida and start attacking corporatism and globalism to gain cred with the Trumpist base (the core of which is really not on the SoCon bandwagon). Trump did not win in 2016 by relitigating the 80s or 90s culture wars stuff. He won by addressing a bunch of working and middle class concerns that were being ignored otherwise.
These are wise words. However, I would remind you that he is governor of Florida, and not even a declared candidate. He won last time by 20 points. Give it time.
Yes, but Florida is its own unique place. And other governors who wracked up impressive statewide election numbers sank like lead bricks when they tried to take their show national. Scott Walker...Bobby Jindal...
He might make it, true. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both won the presidency while serving as governor. But neither were up against Trump, who will (as we all know from previous experience) will say anything, do anything to win, and has absolutely no boundaries. I'm not sure that DeSantis is prepared for how nasty it's going to get. But I do recommend a lot of popcorn: it's going to be quite a show.
DeSantis must declare that he accepts the Trumpian mantle without the baggage that Trump's vulgar personality brings. He should explain that MAGA gets you to 46 %. To get to 50%, a Republican needs to expand the vote to moderate women who find Trump personally revolting. Trump will attempt to ridicule and bludgeon DeSantis at every opportunity.
And Trump will lie - he's already accused DeSantis of being a pedophile. As I said, I don't think DeSantis hasn't grasped how nasty this fight is going to get.
DeSantis also needs to fully disavow the sort of glibertarian 1%er, worker-hostile policy that he's been associated with in the past. He is very vulnerable there and Trump has already hit him with his one-time votes and opinions unfavorable to Social Security etc.
European NATO members never trusted Russia. Too much bad blood, invasions, imposed governments, for too long. And Europeans have long memories. (My grandfather, God rest his soul, was born and raised in Constantinople, which he NEVER called Istanbul.)
Plus NATO's decisions are not dependent on America. We don't run NATO, much as some would like to.
I mean, I read through about a week ago, in one sitting. The angel talked about in chapter 10... Kinda reminds me of some things going on in the Present Day. Kinda also reminds me of Dreher's typical article these days.
Yes, Rod Dreher has from time to time written about our time as apocalyptic, without committing himself a specific end-time scenario. In at least a general sense, it seems evident that ours is an apocalyptic time. But I hold to the view that ever since the ministry of Christ, we have been living in the "last day." A book that makes sense to me on such things is John Stephenson's Eschatology. I have read Brighton's long Concordia commentary on Revelation with much satisfaction, too.
RE: "But I hold to the view that ever since the ministry of Christ, we have been living in the "last day." "
That was my view too for a long time. Kept me from getting swept away in sects that did countdown games. But consider: An angel with (a) a rainbow over its head (okaaaaaaay), (b) legs made out of fire (destroys things along its path), (c) has one foot on land and one in the sea (like he's going somewhere. He gives the Apostle John a scroll (representing our media), but doesn't let him talk about it (forbidden subjects today: buyer's remorse for people once caught up in homosex and hisdicklopoffame; mental illness, which would explain the rainbow situated above the angel's head).
Also has sunlight imagery. The so-called 'Rainbow-Flag' assigns meaning to each of its lurid colors. Yellow stands for sunlight. It also has a color for Magic.
The LBGT rainbow flag is stolen and misused from the sign God established for the covenant with Noah. (Talk about "cultural appropriation" -- ! It's enough to make a cat laugh.) I would never see a rainbow in Holy Scripture as a sign of sin.
The angel in Revelation 10 is a servant of the living God, not the Zeitgeist. (Like Bob Dylan almost sang, "It may be the Zeitgeist, or it may be the Logos, but you gotta serve somebody.")
Regarding Disney's decision not to proceed with their plans, it really might just be financial problems within the company and not a strike at Meatball Ron.
Here's a link to their earnings for the last few years. Net income for 2022 was roughly a quarter of what it was in 2018 even though their gross revenue was about a third higher in 2022 than it was in 2018.
Of course the media and all of DeSantis's enemies (but I repeat myself) would spin this as some sort of blow to him and his electoral prospects, but it really might just be about the money.
I'd be willing to bet that this is exactly the case. As a matter of fact; I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't more corporations that are feeling some sort of hit from their woke initiatives. They are simply working overtime to hide the impact. Disney and Budweiser are just two of the highest profile
Not to mention there streaming service is failing causing them to have to cut the number of shows by something like half. There model is losing and it's losing because they tried grooming and indoctrinating the base customer.
As I said above, if all you mean by "diversity is our strength" is "there is strength in diversity" then you have a point. But considered by itself the statement is nonsense. Increasing diversity in no sense automatically increases strength, which is what these corporate and academic chowderheads believe.
Disagree, as it's the American context that's driving all this DEI horseshit.
Some of those clobber passages need to be "re-recontextualized". The largely-ignored, early church fathers had the full context of what was meant by them. The context makes me tremble. (harming these little ones... millstones... dozens more)
I care about my family's eternal salvation. My 21 and 24 year old kids, one a teacher, one starting a finance career on Monday, have been bombarded with DEI training. I worry about grandchildren when the very, basic, SECULAR understandings of sex and gender are being overturned.
I'm not trying to chide or shame you. Judging by your image, I was about your age when I started to question the beliefs and culture in which I was raised. I read Peter Kreeft's "A Refutation of Moral Relativism". I was a moral relativist and I was lying to myself out of convenience. It was obvious.....hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was starting married life, and I began searching for THE TRUTH. I found it to be shocking, eternal, and personally disruptive. The more it (He) gets revealed to me, the more I see myself as a weak sinner......yet He loves me. Best of luck to you.
"Agreed on the some of the DEI stuff, though no one seems to be aware of any of it outside of graduate schools that serve to justify their own existence."
Haven't had to deal with a corporate HR department lately, have you? Or a public school system?
Seriously. As I said before, I work for a Fortune 500 company and we get this shizzle Almost. Every. Day. It's on the websites (both inter- and intra-), in corporate emails, in regional team meetings. And it's not even Pride Month yet. Last year by the end of June if I saw one more *!!&$#! rainbow I was going to vomit.
"Sounds like a pretty good deal to me."
Heh-heh. Get back to us when they (you?) start mainstreaming polyamory, pedophilia, etc. The Sexual Revolution is a great thing until you want it to stop somewhere.
Cohesion used to be billed as a strength, in group endeavors. Strong leadership or the ability to facilitate different talents among diverse employees ......was another strength. "Diversity" may or may not be a strength in its traditional Websters definition. DEI is a lie.....that rhymes btw.
I think that's a great question--they may not have really had any intention to do so.
Now, some blue state may offer them some sweetheart deal and Disney may build something there, but I'll believe it when I see it.
It's ironic that it's actually controversial among the left to take away special rights and welfare for an international megacorporation. It really shows that the modern American left really only cares about defending sexual "diversity"...other principles must be forgotten if they obscure that.
That’s what I’m continuously surprised about these days. I remember when the Left hated corporate America and the big banks.
I'd be happier if DeSantis and his fans were railing against corporate personhood in general, and not just against a single bête noir: standing on firm and general principle, not just engaging in a vendetta. Of course if that cause were really taken up by the Right their corporate paymasters would have enough cows to keep McD's in beef for a year.
Agreed. Even when Republicans are right about culture war issues, they're nearly always thralls of their corporate masters.
I've begun to wonder if DeSantis' sole focus on Disney itself is a way to establish his bonafides against an easily recognizable cultural corporate monolith 'locally' in order to then extrapolate his successes to the broader country during a national campaign. Disney makes it easy for him to do this in his own backyard, as it were, by being obviously, vocally woke to its corporate core AND by being an easily identifiable corporate land-hog and profiteering bully. The Florida-specific Disney battle keeps DeSantis firmly in his governorship while strongly signalling a wider strategy of going after the concept of bloated, entitled corporate activism - and either way, he accomplishes something if he can hold them down/hold his own on these issues.
Yes, I would add that most news organizations want to portray DeSantis as a mini-Trump......picking on Cubby and the Mousekateers. Is DeSantis focused on Disney or is the news media focused on DeSantis's Disney battle? I would question anything that comes from mainstream media especially ABC/ESPN in this discussion......and yes, ESPN is constantly weighing in on political discussion...not so subtly anymore.
We'll be anxiously waiting for the new Disney project here in California. Phase 1, an environmental review, which will only take about a decade...
This was funny and camp back in the day. I'm sure that nobody involved with this production (song/video. BTW, we didn't have music videos back in '78, they were produced, but there was no forum to display them. This was several years before MTF) ever contemplated today's state of affairs.
https://youtu.be/nmGuy0jievs
I was gonna quote Zimmerman in this piece but stuck to Augustine instead, I think you might like it!
https://gaty.substack.com/p/americas-mental-health-crisis-does
“you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
As long as we ignore that wisdom, it’s just gonna get worse and worse…
Happy almost Pride month!
When I try to make sense of the Cultural Revolution we're living through, inflicted upon us to punish the proles for their peasant rebellions of 2016, I think of it as the establishment (or attempted establishment) of a New Church/State ruling coalition. (A Church/State coalition—basically some religious representative blessing and applying a sacred stamp of approval onto a political ruling class—has been the basic ruling scheme since probably the first major civilizations.)
The Church of Social Justice gets what every religion wants: official state recognition, at least one of their commissars on every payroll, their flags on every flagpole, their dogma in every church and school, and of course their first and deepest need met: to destroy their ideological enemies and ruthlessly install their morality anywhere and everywhere.
The global corporate statists receive moral legitimacy for all their projects (Diversity! only bigots disagree!), various smokescreens of piety to hide their power schemes (We're only silencing you to protect the marginalized!) plus access to Twitter mob justice and its hornets' nest of bigotry accusations, which is an incredibly powerful tool to silence any opposition.
This is why everyone on Team Global Corporate State—from journalists to generals to profs and CEOs etc—zealously mouth the required pieties and play the role of True Believers: publicly expressing obedience to the new One True Faith is the price that must be paid to maintain exalted status; and this is why all the supposedly socialistic Leftists are now cheerleaders for Big Pharma, Big Tech and the missile makers: their silence gets them insider perks like lucrative sinecures, book deals, various academic, corporate or NGO perches.
And like all paranoid, vindictive and power-hungry rulers desperate to achieve and maintain total control, they have one message for the world: You're either with us or against us.
Are we not in effect living through a new Reformation? The old order is usurped, its statues pulled down, its values mocked and proscribed, and the establishment leads or follows - either way - along the path of conformity to power and privilege.
Decades of diversity canard. Diversity in thought alone presupposes absence of universal truth. If no truths common to our humanity , then man is free to act as he desires and you see results. Even from practical point of view diversity concept is dumb - the greater the number of different parts = the greatest strength of the whole? Contradicts Ockham - fewer assumption to truth is superior to more assumptions. Diversity of thought should be means to filter out falsehoods in order to find truth.
Careful. Push this too far and you overturn the principles on which Freedom of Religion is based.
I would prefer to state "Universal truths may exist, but we humans are too damaged to know them with certainty, so none of us should state 'I alone have The Truth'."
There is real live social science (Bowling Alone) that regretfully comes to the conclusion that diversity in fact dissolves community. Evidently it comes down to production of fight or flight hormones in the presence of The Other, which leads to pathologies like NPD. If you think our masters aren't aware of this, think again.
Not only are our "betters" aware of the social science you refer to, they have used diversity as a battering ram to shatter the working and middle classes in this country for two generations.
Open borders and mass immigration that leads to mass displacement is a very structured plan, and unfortunately, there is no end in sight.
"The Other" is not a fixed category. In past eras Catholics and Protestants saw each other as Other. That lasted into living memory in Northern Ireland. But I grew up in a neighborhood where Catholics and Protestants, plus some irreligious people, were all mixed tofether, and no one gave a hoot.
Not that you personally would have noticed if they had...
Diversity is a strength only within commonality. As an example, consider how normal it is in the history of popular music for a band to break up because the leader, the members, or both, have developed differing ideas of what the band should do. These guys are all musicians, within the same genre, and nobody is proposing replacing the bassist with an accountant or the drummer with an electrical engineer.
Yet something isn't clicking.
Which marriages succeed? Which friendships? Obviously, the ones in which the partners have more things in common than not. I think it is a great thing, a sane thing, if young men would rather not have a gay male in the shower with them. The same is true of young heterosexual women and lesbians, or even mutilated men.
Every heterosexual man is at least somewhat homophobic, and I imagine the same is true of heterosexual women and lesbianism.
I got over the homophobia thing many years ago. I just say No to unwanted sexual advances, whether they come from men or women (and at my age I'm lucky if a horny dog tries to hump my leg)
“and at my age I'm lucky if a horny dog tries to hump my leg”
👍
If you're over the homophobia thing, the next time you're standing in front of a public urinal, start a conversation with the stranger standing next to you.
That's not a matter of homophobia, but of modern day American social custom based on how we are raised from early childhood on. Ancient Romans used crappers right out in the open in front of each other, and chit-chatted while they took care of business. Different customs for different people in different ages. In our time and place even if you know the guys with you in the men's room you don't talk while taking care of a body function-- maybe you do at the sink afterwards.
When in Rome, etc.
I would say I have a vague contempt for homosexuals but I don't hate them and I feel a little sorry for them. I am generally tolerant of homosexuals if they don't flaunt their lifestyle. If Clifton Webb is in a movie, I don't turn it off because he was homosexual. He never flaunted his homosexuality and never outed himself. My Mexican history professor in college was a closeted homosexual but he never flaunted it and was an interesting lecturer.
What amounts to "flaunting" it? I am fairly lenient about things like gay people having openly acknowledged spouses/boy(girl)friends. My general rule being "If it's OK for straight folks it's OK for gay folks". I dislike the steamier sorts of public displays of affection (between anyone-- get a room, folks), and dislike the "professional gay" sort who wears his (her) sexuality on the sleeve.
I am not an egalitarian, Jon. And I believe in public posturing for the purpose of good manners. For instance, FDR engaged in adulterous behavior with at least two women after Eleanor kicked him out of the marital bed. But he never flaunted his affairs. In public, he was the dutiful, loving husband of Eleanor. Good manners count.
Manners are important, on that we agree. It does not bother me if two guys (or two women) are obvious "together" provided they do not indulge in steamy PDAs in public.
Heard a gay guy tell a joke once:
Why do gay men sashay down the street?
Because if they skip they get beat up.
Ever see the old Titanic movie, the black and white one with Barbara Stanwyck and Thelma Ritter. Webb is terrific.
My favorite is still Webb's Elliot Templeton in "The Razor's Edge". He was nominated for an Academy Award for that one and for his role in "Laura".
The only problem I have with homosexuals is how thin-skinned and hair-trigger so many of them are about the world conforming to their humanistic horseshit. I have more gay affiliations in my life than I can count. Nothing about them bothers me, except the ones who are leftist zealots. Attention whore babies. Self-righteous gas bags. There is enough sin in all of us to put us on a level playing field of guilt before the holiness of God. So I dont think that their existential condition is worse than anybody else. However, when they think that they are so special that society needs to bend over for them in order to feel “normal”...they need to be reminded that they are dust. God will get around to that. Eternity is eternity. Which is it gonna be? Eternal life or eternal damnation. Eternal life is conscious joy and unity with God. Eternal death is conscious suffering and alienation from God.
Bingo
Who was it who said, "Men don't like to shower with men who like to shower with men." ? That about sums it up.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
"Would you be willing to kill or die for the sake of defending sexual diversity?"
Nope.
1 of my great-grandfathers served in WWI. Both my grandfathers served in WWII, one did 28 years starting enlisted at 17 and rising to O-4. My dad served. They refused me for medical reasons (the military had standards in the early 90's.)
My daughter would make an excellent officer -- smart, strong, likes the military, beats the boys at paintball -- and I've told her I would be immensely proud to see her get a set of bars. But she sees what's going on and told me last year that she won't. I was not surprised nor can I say I'm really sorry. Her decision ends a multi-generational military family. Part of me is sad about that, but I'm even sadder that my daughter is growing up in a country that she doesn't believe is worth defending.
Families like mine are the backbone of the armed forces. When we leave, we're not just choosing a different career, we're giving up on the country.
I grew up respecting the military but the last ten years or so have me down on the military. I told my sons I would disown them if they joined and none have. Let the military waste away as far as I'm concerned.
I would hope that the military is still a means of escape for some people. I know one coworker who's parents were heroin addicts and one who grew up in foster care. Both became strong family men and were great at their jobs. Do they even bill the military as a means of becoming self-sufficient and productive anymore?
The advertising I've seen recently is isn't about the how the military can shape you but how you can shape the military: "we will make you all you can possibly be" vs "bring your strengths and help us do better".
The army still provides structure and discipline to young men who have never had any. The first 4 years really can save your life. However, people who joined because they had no other option (either for financial or psychological reasons) have never been the core of the military. They do their 4 years but, like this author and Vance, then leave for other things. The career guys overwhelmingly come from families like mine, where dad or grandpa was also career. We ain't there for the money or the structure; we're there because we believe the stars and stripes and worth defending. Start saluting the rainbow flag instead and you can kiss our butts goodbye.
Maybe the military can replace us. Maybe there is a pool of talented, devoted, hard-charging men, women, and non-binaries that want to have their lives upended every 2-3 years and shipped halfway across the country (or around the world) for the privilege of ending "white privilege and heteronormativity". I'm not sure what scares me more: that this group doesn't exist and the American military ends up understaffed and decrepit, or that they do and we end up with a highly trained and capable army that hates half the country.
Either way though, count me out.
Comments like Stoltenberg's mainly serve the regime's domestic goals. Yes, indeed, there is ample evidence, especially from Washington, of aggressive promotion of gender ideology, etc., abroad, but the target of most of this earnest speechifying is the bigoted holdouts who remain in western territory, those people who perversely believe biology exits. Consider the logic: Our geopolitical enemy is Putin. + Putin doesn't cheer on the trans movement. = Those who don't cheer on the trans movement are internal geopolitical enemies.
Very astute.
There is always a double-standard at work. What did Rod call it once -- "politicized noticing" or something? You're only allowed to call these things out if you're praising them. If you call them out from the other side the things either suddenly cease to exist or you're a bigot. (This occurs in a lot of liberal Civil War historiography. The South says something and it's proclaimed to be a lie, an exaggeration, etc. Someone in the North says a similar thing and magically "He has a point.")
So Putin's "homophobia" is at once a show, a ploy to attract conservative Western support, OR something that he really means and that we have to take seriously, depending upon which argument against him is being floated at the time.
Yes, but I'd add that we've reached a point where their double standards have double standards.
Of course we've always lived with double standards (as in your example of Civil War historiography) but there's something unprecedented in the utter incoherence that our elites now get away with. On every front, and all at once.
What strikes me again in this current case (i.e. Stoltenberg's remarks) is the degree to which the meaning of the West is reduced to just the one formula: "Diversity." And worse, that formula is itself of course a lie, since it everywhere shouts: "WE formulate what diversity means, and if you don't subscribe to that ONE MEANING of diversity, you are not part of the West."
There is, glaringly, no diversity in diversity. Orwell couldn't have done better.
It is quite simply a hijacking of the West. They have to keep hammering it home because there remain those who see it for what it is: a hijacking.
Agreed. My comment about double standards was intended to augment yours about the faulty "logic" that's being invoked. Personally, I think it goes back to the whole 60's New Left idea of freedom: "To forbid is the only thing that's forbidden!" and "Everything is tolerated except intolerance!" This mentality has gone to seed in today's cultural left to the point where they see neither the the irony nor the
incoherence of such statements.
Yes, agreed, there’s a line going straight back to those New Left bromides, but there are multiple other lines too, all intersecting in the past decade, myriad little manias coming to a head. As for our “cultural left”, it is itself 90% sheep (those who literally can’t see the irony) and 10% grifters (our academics, the ESG crowd, etc.). These latter just hope to ride the wave they see forming and end up solidly in the new elite. If coherence is no longer required—and they see that it isn’t—all the better for them. They can just virtue signal and emote.
Yep. Another big part of it is 50+ years of the culture shouting "Have it your way!" That's a difficult thing to unlearn.
Woke shahadah! Woke Ramadan! Drone bombing a hypothetical imam while telling the story of the Muslim prisoner! Rod, you have reached Dave Chappelle levels of simultaneously being offensive and hilarious. 😂
Oh gosh, I didn't mean to be offensive. I apologize if I caused hurt. I like comparing Pride month to other religious celebrations. Ramadan is the only major one that lasts a month. And I hope it was clear that the fictional radical imam would have been correct were he to say so today.
You are one of my favorite commentators, so I really don't want to give offense.
Aww, that's really kind!
I did get exactly what you meant with the comparisons, and they were indeed hilarious, and apt, though sacrilegious, ergo the Dave Chappelle comparison. (Although while Ramadan does last a month, it's a month of fasting and abstention -- but you knew that, which is another reason it was Chappelle-level humor.)
By the way, if you're looking for religious celebrations to compare it to, here's this one -- though this is no metaphor, and feels like this is where the mask drops:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65549975
This pretty sympathetic profile of the Satanist convention, on the BBC, no less, has a little throwaway line about how their membership has gone from 10k in 2019 to 700k today...
Dark depressing times indeed! An interesting, hopeful book by Peachy Keenan
https://www.regnery.com/9781684513529/domestic-extremist/
A bit of historical irony in reading of the NATO Secretary General’s statement of priorities. It led me to recall a text & story.
“ Reports of protests about the schools have found their way into the outer world from various districts of Germany, and especially from the Catholic districts. The population has been aroused again and again when the Nazis have removed the crucifixes from the religious schools to replace them with photographs of Hitler and with the swastika. In the Bishopric of Minister, there was a historic peasant demonstration, terrifying in its complete monotony and insistence. No one spoke for hours, there was no shouting of slogans during this demonstration; there was nothing but the continual murmur of one word coming from all the people gathered. The crowd stood there, murmuring the word: “Crosses, crosses, crosses . . . ” without interruption, for hours, “. . . crosses, crosses . . .” In this single instance, the Nazis surrendered. They returned the crosses to the diocese. In almost every other place, they were victorious, for almost nowhere else did they meet with opposition.”
— School for Barbarians: Education Under the Nazis (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science) by Erika Mann
https://a.co/7bDSZws
“ Published in 1938, when Nazi power was approaching its zenith, this well-documented indictment reveals the systematic brainwashing of Germany's youth. The Nazi program prepared for its future with a fanatical focus on national preeminence and warlike readiness that dominated every department and phase of education. Methods included alienating children from their parents, promoting notions of racial superiority instead of science, and developing a cult of personality centered on Hitler. <br />Erika Mann, a member of the World War II generation of German youth, observed firsthand the Third Reich's perversion of a once-proud school system and the systematic poisoning of family life. This edition of her historic exposé features an Introduction by her father, famed author and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann.<br />”
It seems, at least historically, we have come full circle - with a new totalitarian religion fighting the ancient religions.
As in 1933, the net effect is the dumbing down of society and its pillar institutions of tradition and success.
The text continues.
“The German schools, then, highly respected throughout the world, until 1933, for their thoroughness, their responsibility, and their progressiveness — the schools that held so much hope for the future cannot now be compared with any other educational institutions. Graduates of Gymnasien used to receive an education which brought them to the level of the sophomore or junior year of an American college; today they are beneath the intellectual standard of the young Americans who have just passed College Entrance Examinations. Graduates of French Lycées or Swiss Grammar Schools are justified in their contempt for German students who can do nothing but march.”
It’s not just Germany. It’s the West.
It's tough to stay away from the obvious analogies to the Nazis as it opens you up to accusations of cheapness and triteness. But it's there, all right. Did you know that in Germany in the '30s, before the Nazis took power, if university students gathered in a lecture hall didn't like what their professor was saying (e.g., Theodor Haecker, the great Catholic classicist and Virgil scholar) they would stamp their feet to drown him out? Those risers in those old lecture halls were hollow, so the noise was terrific. Sound familiar?
Two things. Erika Mann was gay (so was her brother, Klaus, and so was her father, for the matter of that). In order to secure her British citizenship and regularize her status in the U.S. a marriage was arranged with W.H. Auden. The Manns were in Princeton and Auden was in New York. To my knowledge they never divorced. Auden of course asked Hannah Arendt to marry him directly she was widowed.
The late Christopher Hitchens used to call the Catholic Church the patron of the Nazis, which still makes my blood boil. Hitchens never made the distinction between fascism and National Socialism, which is step one in these matters. Hitler, btw, is reputed to have called fascism a half-job, and pace the left, what we have in large part is national socialism. The place to go for insight on this is The Last European War by John Lukacs, his largest canvas, and an immortal masterpiece.
Just bought a copy, T. I. Thanks for the recommendation.
Thanks. I have ordered the Lukacs book,
My comment evaporated. Hmmm.
Regarding the NATO Secretary General’s comments on the need to institutionalize diversity, I was reminded of efforts to do the contrary in 1933.
“Reports of protests about the schools have found their way into the outer world from various districts of Germany, and especially from the Catholic districts. The population has been aroused again and again when the Nazis have removed the crucifixes from the religious schools to replace them with photographs of Hitler and with the swastika. In the Bishopric of Minister, there was a historic peasant demonstration, terrifying in its complete monotony and insistence. No one spoke for hours, there was no shouting of slogans during this demonstration; there was nothing but the continual murmur of one word coming from all the people gathered. The crowd stood there, murmuring the word: “Crosses, crosses, crosses . . . ” without interruption, for hours, “. . . crosses, crosses . . .” In this single instance, the Nazis surrendered. They returned the crosses to the diocese. In almost every other place, they were victorious, for almost nowhere else did they meet with opposition.”
— School for Barbarians: Education Under the Nazis (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science) by Erika Mann
https://a.co/dOlyR7G
The net result of 1933 will be the same in 2023.
“The German schools, then, highly respected throughout the world, until 1933, for their thoroughness, their responsibility, and their progressiveness—the schools that held so much hope for the future cannot now be compared with any other educational institutions. Graduates of Gymnasien used to receive an education which brought them to the level of the sophomore or junior year of an American college; today they are beneath the intellectual standard of the young Americans who have just passed College Entrance Examinations. Graduates of French Lycées or Swiss Grammar Schools are justified in their contempt for German students who can do nothing but march.”
— School for Barbarians: Education Under the Nazis (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science) by Erika Mann
https://a.co/aL7b50M
The exception is that the degradation will not be limited to Germany, but the West.
We must protest “ murmuring the word: “Crosses, crosses, crosses . . . ” without interruption, for hours, “. . . crosses, crosses . . .”
I just read Erika Mann's School for Barbarians, and it's excellent.
NATO should have disbanded in the 90s.
And DeSantis should have made his point about Disney and moved on. At this point the continued obsession is starting to make him look as weird as Trump.
History is no where near over (contra Mr. Fukuyama!)
The myopia of America's foreign policy people in the 90s joins a whole gaggle of should've-beens, could've-beens in history: the past is littered with such lost opportunities. And courtesy of Mr. Putin's haste to assert Russian power rather than leave it to a successor to reap the fruit of the promising strategy the nation had hitherto been pursuing, Russia too now has a colossal lost opportunity to regret in a generation.
China has its own problems: it's getting old before it's getting rich. The sclerotic fate of Japan points the way to China's future. Someday China, Korea and Japan will be known as the Three Ancients of Asia.
All of which goes to my belief that humankind is a pack of fools. Though they're the only fools we have.
We should have listened to George Kennan, the old wise man.
China will probably be the number one power in the world in 2100 but America will still probably be strong in 2100 with our agriculture and economy. We'll be number two. I can't see India by-passing us. Morally decrepit empires can muddle through history for a long time. Look at Rome, west and east. Even the Hapsburgs. Remnants of the Spanish Empire remained until after the death of Franco.
Re: This is the perfect time for China to shame the US out of the Pacific, which is now easily the most vital part of the world.
China lacks the power to do any such thing. China is also surrounded by nations which are deeply suspicious of its motives: Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Mongolia. And while it's all nicey-nice with Russia at the moment I don't think either nation trusts the other one out of its sight.
We are headed for a multi-polar world, which is the more normal situation across history. I don't know that China will be the "strongest", more likely there will be several "strongest" each relative to their own sphere and areas of concern.
The moral nature of cultures is something that swings like a pendulum, from periods of libertinism to periods of puritanism. And look to Chinese history to see how a civilization goes through ups and downs over the centuries.
“High IQ China is watching the US implode and soon will inherit the world by default. “
Right and wrong. DeSantis will win this one.
Maybe, but this is making him look like a one-note obsessive Johnny. If you want to see DeSantis win either the GOP nomination or the presidency he needs to be something more than a one-trick pony. The more he focuses on this to the exclusion of all else the less genera;l appeal he has. What he really should do, IMO, at this point is broaden this far, far beyond the specifics of Disney in Florida and start attacking corporatism and globalism to gain cred with the Trumpist base (the core of which is really not on the SoCon bandwagon). Trump did not win in 2016 by relitigating the 80s or 90s culture wars stuff. He won by addressing a bunch of working and middle class concerns that were being ignored otherwise.
These are wise words. However, I would remind you that he is governor of Florida, and not even a declared candidate. He won last time by 20 points. Give it time.
Yes, but Florida is its own unique place. And other governors who wracked up impressive statewide election numbers sank like lead bricks when they tried to take their show national. Scott Walker...Bobby Jindal...
He might make it, true. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both won the presidency while serving as governor. But neither were up against Trump, who will (as we all know from previous experience) will say anything, do anything to win, and has absolutely no boundaries. I'm not sure that DeSantis is prepared for how nasty it's going to get. But I do recommend a lot of popcorn: it's going to be quite a show.
DeSantis must declare that he accepts the Trumpian mantle without the baggage that Trump's vulgar personality brings. He should explain that MAGA gets you to 46 %. To get to 50%, a Republican needs to expand the vote to moderate women who find Trump personally revolting. Trump will attempt to ridicule and bludgeon DeSantis at every opportunity.
And Trump will lie - he's already accused DeSantis of being a pedophile. As I said, I don't think DeSantis hasn't grasped how nasty this fight is going to get.
DeSantis also needs to fully disavow the sort of glibertarian 1%er, worker-hostile policy that he's been associated with in the past. He is very vulnerable there and Trump has already hit him with his one-time votes and opinions unfavorable to Social Security etc.
European NATO members never trusted Russia. Too much bad blood, invasions, imposed governments, for too long. And Europeans have long memories. (My grandfather, God rest his soul, was born and raised in Constantinople, which he NEVER called Istanbul.)
Plus NATO's decisions are not dependent on America. We don't run NATO, much as some would like to.
Rod, what is Orthodoxy's (big 'O') take on Revelations chapter 10? (if you please)
Hey, if a Lutheran may butt in -- for the Orthodox take, you could look up Bishop Averky's book Apoclaypse, from the St. Herman of Alaska press.
Hi Dale.
I mean, I read through about a week ago, in one sitting. The angel talked about in chapter 10... Kinda reminds me of some things going on in the Present Day. Kinda also reminds me of Dreher's typical article these days.
Yes, Rod Dreher has from time to time written about our time as apocalyptic, without committing himself a specific end-time scenario. In at least a general sense, it seems evident that ours is an apocalyptic time. But I hold to the view that ever since the ministry of Christ, we have been living in the "last day." A book that makes sense to me on such things is John Stephenson's Eschatology. I have read Brighton's long Concordia commentary on Revelation with much satisfaction, too.
RE: "But I hold to the view that ever since the ministry of Christ, we have been living in the "last day." "
That was my view too for a long time. Kept me from getting swept away in sects that did countdown games. But consider: An angel with (a) a rainbow over its head (okaaaaaaay), (b) legs made out of fire (destroys things along its path), (c) has one foot on land and one in the sea (like he's going somewhere. He gives the Apostle John a scroll (representing our media), but doesn't let him talk about it (forbidden subjects today: buyer's remorse for people once caught up in homosex and hisdicklopoffame; mental illness, which would explain the rainbow situated above the angel's head).
Also has sunlight imagery. The so-called 'Rainbow-Flag' assigns meaning to each of its lurid colors. Yellow stands for sunlight. It also has a color for Magic.
There is just so much that I can't unsee.
The LBGT rainbow flag is stolen and misused from the sign God established for the covenant with Noah. (Talk about "cultural appropriation" -- ! It's enough to make a cat laugh.) I would never see a rainbow in Holy Scripture as a sign of sin.
The angel in Revelation 10 is a servant of the living God, not the Zeitgeist. (Like Bob Dylan almost sang, "It may be the Zeitgeist, or it may be the Logos, but you gotta serve somebody.")
A number of nations use the cross, or also the St. Andrews cross, on their flags. Should we complain about that too?
Regarding Disney's decision not to proceed with their plans, it really might just be financial problems within the company and not a strike at Meatball Ron.
Here's a link to their earnings for the last few years. Net income for 2022 was roughly a quarter of what it was in 2018 even though their gross revenue was about a third higher in 2022 than it was in 2018.
Of course the media and all of DeSantis's enemies (but I repeat myself) would spin this as some sort of blow to him and his electoral prospects, but it really might just be about the money.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/DIS/disney/financial-statements
I'd be willing to bet that this is exactly the case. As a matter of fact; I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't more corporations that are feeling some sort of hit from their woke initiatives. They are simply working overtime to hide the impact. Disney and Budweiser are just two of the highest profile
I refer you to yesterday's Journal and a crackerjack column by Dan Henninger.
Not to mention there streaming service is failing causing them to have to cut the number of shows by something like half. There model is losing and it's losing because they tried grooming and indoctrinating the base customer.