Bill's Notes

Hat tip to Midwest Conservative Journal for this article called The End of a Church by a guy named Philip Turner.

Here are some salient graphs about the general crisis in our culture:

[T]he tradition of liberalism cannot allow for a single notion of good to possess 'the public square.' Liberal society must remain neutral in respect to the good. What one can express in public are not notions of good but preferences. Of course, some way must be found to order preferences both in respect to individual life and to social policy. No rational way can be found to achieve this goal, however, because there is no common notion of good to which appeal can be made when it comes to sorting out conflicting claims. Thus, the way in which one establishes preference in the public arena, if it cannot be done by force, is by bargaining. Everything, both in respect to private and public life becomes a 'trade off.' Social life becomes a sort of free trade zone for preferences. All one needs to be able to play the game is the ability to bargain.

There are two things in particular to be noted about this form of social economy. The first is that theories of justice abound. They must for the following reason. To have one's preferences excluded is to have one's rights denied. Then the question arises of how one person's right to his or her preference is to be balanced against a contrary right claimed by someone else. At this point, some theory of justice must be invoked, but in a liberal social economy of preferences, no one theory can establish itself. Theories of justice simply multiply exponentially and interminably. Given this social reality, one can see easily why supporters of Gay rights hold ordination and the blessing of Gay unions to be matters of justice. One can see also why supporters of Gene Robinson hold that his election was above all 'a justice issue.' [Emphasis mine.]

Exactly. The issue underlying all this is not gay rights — it's about championing the idea of personal preferences over an idea of the common good over and over again in a kind masturbatory way. This is exactly what Allan Bloom spoke of as the "closing of the American mind" in the book by the same name. The shutting down of the mind to any idea of good or morality as anything other than a personal preference. Indeed, any idea of a good other than championing personal preference is bigoted — or at least narrow minded.

In the Christian context, this is heresy. Christianity is about surrendering one's life to God and living in obedience to God's natural law — not imposing one's preferences on God and expecting his blessing in the name of justice.

Turner puts it this way:

[T]he 'socio-logic' that stands behind ECUSA's recent action ... raises the question of whether we inhabit a moral universe with an order we are called upon to understand and to which we are required to conform, or whether the moral universe we inhabit is properly the creation of preference pursuing individuals, selves, and persons who create a social world suited to their self-defined goals through an elaborate process of moral bargaining.

Christianity is the former; apostasy is the latter. This is why the secularists are so opposed to Christians. Because we point out the horrible idea that maybe your preferences are not the end point of morality, but maybe your morality needs to conform to known moral laws revealed by God. And who wants that? Why, if that were true, we might have to change! Better to dismiss anyone who suggests this idea as narrow and rigid.

My curiosity was piqued by several anti-semitic stories in the press, so I decided to do some firsthand research into anti-Semitism myself. I went to some anti-Semitic Web sites and read around for a while. Oh my. Oh my my.

These people are ... sick. These people blame everything on the Jews. To these people, the Jews both provoked the Holocaust [which they say was exaggerated anyway] and caused all the deaths during the expansion of communism. They say the Jews betrayed Germany in WWI, financed and led the Communist revolution, and thus justly provoked Germany's wrath. And somehow they started World War II as well. One conspirator even linked the Jews in Vietnam but even he admitted it was a stretch.

I'm not giving any links. But you know how I felt after reading all that crap? Spiritually dirty. Like I've come into contact with real evil. Like I needed to go for a spiritual bath. That's how repulsive it was.

God save us from these folks.

A thought to add to the post below: The generation that committed this abomination against God, nature and aesthetics sang this song when they were young.

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
and a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And they put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that D.D.T. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Dont it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

.

Talk about too little too late. This New York Times article covers the strip mall-ization of New Jersey.

N.J. Gov. Jim McGreevey vowed to take on "those who profit from the strip malls and McMansions."

At least 15 years too late for this one, big guy. The time to take on Toll Brothers and the other big developers who raped put up a strip mall every 15 feet in New Jersey was about 1985.

As a reporter for a N.J. daily newspaper in the 80s, I recall covering a New Jersey Builders' Association conference. Every lot in New Jersey was already accounted for — either to be set aside or built upon.

I grew up in New Jersey, and have lived in every section of it but the Northwest. There are essentially seven areas:

1. Northwest mountains.
2. New York suburbs.
3. The Shore(s) [including Delaware Bay].
4. Philadelphia suburbs.
5. Pine Barrens.
6. Southern farmlands.
7. Princeton corridor.

Only 17 years ago, six of these areas were beautiful. You could drive around and see beautiful coastal plains, farmlands, small towns, beaches, or mountains. And the seventh, the N.Y. suburbs, had its advantages. Only 30 years ago you could drive to apple orchards in Bergen County. But by 20 years ago all that was gone.

By the late 1980s, the Shore, the Philly suburbs, and especially the Princeton corridor were exploding with growth. By the end of the 1990s, these areas were choked off with overbuilding and traffic.

Now, the Pine Barrens and the Southern farmlands are still pretty empty. I don't know about the Northwest.

Anyway, to talk now about stopping strip malls and McMansions is silly. It is complete denial. It's like an alcoholic who has lost his wife, his kids and his job saying, "You know, I need to cut back on the booze before it affects my relationships with other people."

Dude, you lost your family. And New Jersey, you lose your state. It's now the closest thing to hell I've seen this side of Manila.

Not only that, virtually everything built in that 20-year period is ugly. New Jersey still has its merits, but unless you like to sit at traffic lights behind 800 other people just to get a pack of smokes at a local 7-11, you're probably not going to like it.

Now, New Jersey isn't unique. But it is small. Thus, it filled up fast and shows us what our future will be if we don't do something. This kinds of explosive, cheap growth is breaking out all over. The worse I've seen, outside of northern New Jersey, is the D.C. area where there has been choking growth. Florida has experienced a hell of a lot of Jerseyification, too. But it's happening all over.

The countryside is being torn to pieces. Another reason I'm heading for the Poconos. My hope is that it's got at least 20 or 30 years before it's ruined. My guess is that the growth will continue south and west. I'll brave a cold winter to have a little space. (Of course, talk to me in the Fall.)

Doctor Horsefeathers has a couple of good takes here and here on the Championship series.

They take a light hand with the interfering Cubs fan, whereas I was initially very harsh and have lightened up some. Here's my current position, which I posted over at Horsefeathers.

My own take is that the Cubs fan shifted the momentum and did indeed cost them the game. While he is upset and did make a manly apology as you said, he still made an unbelievable mental error in not thinking first and foremost about the game. I doubt that you would've seen the same interference in NY or Boston.

But there's also a larger truth in your postings here — the Cubs are not a championship caliber team. That's why a stroke of bad luck caused them to become unglued.

A championship team isn't in a position where a bad bounce or fan interference changes the outcome of the game. They're in more control of the game. In boxing, they call it ring generalship. In basketball, during a close game, watch for the first team to look at the clock — they're probably going to lose.

Baseball has the same idea. You could see that the Cubs wanted the game to be over in the eighth inning. That's not how you win. You play hard and concentrate as long as you're on the field and you should even be a little surprised when the game is over. That's how you win.

Let me add this thought:

1. The Cubs fan should be treated charitably. Chicago wants to build up some grace, as opposed to curse? Treat Steve Bartman graciously. Exactly as I didn't in my initial posts, one of which has been partially deleted.