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| Silverfiddle Rant! |
Notre Dame is a warning to Europe: don’t take what you value for granted
From Gilles Gressani, writing in the Guardian...
The sorrow becomes even deeper when you realise that the catastrophe of Notre Dame represents so perfectly the condition of contemporary Europeans: people condemned to live among wonders, taking them for granted, ignorant of the fact that they may disappear– then suddenly finding themselves in a situation they’d never envisioned.
I can take that sorrow at least three levels deeper than the superficial sorrow caused by a smoldering landmark. Can you?
27 A large number of people followed Jesus. Some were women whose hearts were filled with sorrow. They cried loudly because of him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them,
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 The time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the women who can’t have children! Blessed are those who never gave birth or nursed babies!’ 30 It is written,
“ ‘The people will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
They’ll say to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ (Hosea 10:8)
31 People do these things when trees are green. So what will happen when trees are dry?” - Luke 23:27-30
Meanwhile, closer to home, Man with gas cans arrested at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York:
ReplyDeleteBy - Associated Press - Wednesday, April 17, 2019
NEW YORK — A New Jersey man was arrested Wednesday night after entering St. Patrick’s Cathedral carrying two cans of gasoline, lighter fluid and butane lighters, according to the New York Police Department.
The unidentified 37-year-old man had pulled up in a minivan outside the landmark cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, walked around the area, then returned to his vehicle at 7:55 p.m. and retrieved the gasoline and lighter fluid, said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller.
“As he enters the cathedral he’s confronted by a cathedral security officer who asks him where he’s going and informs him he can’t proceed into the cathedral carrying these things,” said Miller. “At that point, some gasoline apparently spills out onto the floor as he’s turned around.”...
Was his name by any chance MOHAMMED?
DeleteI somehow doubt if it was anything like Smith, Johnson, O'Houlihan, Hanson, Jensen, McGuillicuddy, O'Brien, Anderson, Hunsberger, Kaplan, or Schoenstein.
His name is Marc Lamparello and he's an adjunct philosophy professor.
DeleteTough noogies bigot boy.
About Marc Lamparello:
Delete...Lamparello is “known to police"...
Motive still remains unknown.
adjunct philosophy professor.
DeleteOK a leftie not a muslim.
That we know.
Why i a philosophy professor necessarily leftist? He may be a specialist on Aquinas (Boston College grad).
DeleteUse your head. At the moment we have the Louisiana sheriff's son burning three black churches and don't forget the right wing gun loon who shot up the Pittsburgh synagogue.
Yeah, he must be a leftist. Open your eyes once in a while.
Ducky,
DeleteIt's not the right's fault Robespierre made killing people a founding principle of leftism.
Duck,
DeleteWhy i a philosophy professor necessarily leftist?
Not necessarily, but I think probably so.
the Louisiana sheriff's son burning three black churches and...the loon who shot up the Pittsburg synagogue
As far as I've read thus far, both of these murderers are linked to Neo-Nazism.
Duck,
DeleteTHIS INFORMATION about adjunct professors may interest you.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDerogation from his poisoned soul and
DeleteUndernourished intellect provides
Caustic commentary that derides
Keeping private property rights whole, and
Inheritances free from any tax.
Savings and investment he despises
Any gain a success realizes
Should be forfeit to the weak and lax.
Hitting blindly at the strong productive
Institutions that have made us great ––
Tearing down pretending it’s instructive
All the good we’ve done denied by hate
Suckered by red sophistry seductive
Snidely he lives solely to negate.
~ FreeThinke
"And, weirdly, no school is hiring ‘adjunct administrators.’”
DeleteGee, I wonder why...
IMO, the West in general doesn't appreciate what we have. In fact, in surveys, it has been found that most Westerners cannot explicate the meaning of "Western values."
ReplyDeleteThe teaching of Western Civ has been deprecated to make room for learning about other cultures, so ignorance of the subject is a logical result.
DeleteI've been telling you for YEARS that the Cultural Marxist influence on Education, Entertainment, News and Information, Jurisprudence, Christianity and Capitalism has been deliberately and ruthlessly DESTRUCTIVE.
DeleteCultural Marxism has PERMEATED the culture.and more than ninety percent of us are UNAWARE of it.
EVIL does not present itself in a tight fitting red suit with horns, a pointed black beard, a glittering eye, a wanton leer, a swishing tail and a CLOVEN HOOF.
True EVIL masquerades as GOOD.
Our children have been systematicaly MISEDUCATED by EVIL forces for the past fifty years at least.
This os not a "Consspiracy Theory" it is a manifest FACT.
Your complete misunderstanding of cultural Marxism (a largely unsuccessful attempt to substitute Klassenkampf with Kulturkampf ) doesn't really serve its function as a blind for your antisemitism and white supremacy so curl up for a reread of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and reflect that the original cultural Marxists spent much of their theory on the reason fascism gained such support.
DeleteWhen you're ready to listen we can discuss why capitalism is the driver in most of the pop culture you hate.
Listen –– to YOU?
DeletePlease don't make me laugh.
As far as I'm cincerned YOU are ANATHEMA.
A guy named Clark hosted a series called Civilization.
DeleteHe claimed he couldn't define it, but he knew it when he saw it. Then he pointed over his shoulder at Notre Dame.
Yes, Ed. That was the patrician, beautifully spoken Englishman, Kenneth Clarke.
DeleteHis series remains one of the very best things ever presented on television.
Sadly, programming on PBS has done nthing but gravitate toward the Bottom at ever increasing speeds , since its Glory Days early in its existence.
:P
ReplyDeleteTIME OUT FOR SOMETHING OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANTANCE:
ReplyDeleteTHE MUELLER REPORT IS OUT. THE DEMONRATS, OF COURSE, ARE ALREADY ATTEMPTING TO IMPUGN ITS INTEGRITY. THEREFORE, IT'S VITALLY IMPORTANT TO ASK THESE POINTED QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE OF THE DEMONRAT INCURSION ON TRUTH, COMMON SENSE AND COMMON DECENCY:
How Could Anyone Properly Be Charged with "OBSTRUCTION of JUSTICE" if there was NO CRIME to BEGIN with?
ALSO:
Why Should Anyone Who Has Been tne Target of An OBVIOUSLY BASELESS POLITICAL VENDETTA, Be PROSCUTED for Trying to DEFEND Himself?
Timely topic. Why don't you start a discussion at your blog?
DeleteIt looks like the prolix prattler strikes Again!! tRump!
DeleteThat's EXACTLY what I have just done, Silver, omplete with (LLUSTRATIONS but the questions are far too important to be allowed to languish at just one sparsely-attended blog.
Delete[I see The One who has ben making a CAREER out of DENIGRATING ME, has sneaked in again under a typically clumsy, witless pseudonym. This persistent vendetta would be downright comical if it weren't so pathetic.]
One becomes unbalanced when one rushes to the tRump rightwing.
DeleteTROLL ALERT!
DeleteFYI: Trolls never really DISCUSS topics raised or ANSWER questions; all they do is DENIGRATE those who dare to ASK them.
DeleteHaven't you ever noticed that?
I think that is an ILLEGIIMATE use of any interactive communications forum, which is why I keep suggesting that everyone adhere to MY admittedly rigid standard and make it a firm policy to DELETE all BAITING, and insolent PERSONAL remarks.
Franco,
DeleteThe rules here at this blog are not identical to the rules you have for your blog.
We too quickly got away from SilverFiddle's featured topic, which was seeing the recnt tragedy at Notre Dame de Paris as a handy metaphor for what has befallen all of Europe –– and Britain too, I must add..
ReplyDeleteYes. Not appreciating what we've always had in our surroundings is a typical human foible. It reminds me of New Yorkers who NEVER have visited the Statue of Liberty, taken th Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan, never been to the top of the Empire State Building, never go to Jones Beach, never ice skated at Rockefeller Plaza, never avail themselves of the city's libraries and splendid museums, or experience the glamour of the Metropo;itan Opera,.and never go to either the zoo in Central Park, or the much larger zoo in the Bronx.
What I see a sorely lacking in society today is a proper stimulus for developing CURIOSITY.
We're much too immersed and swallowed up in the fake, virtual world made possible by sophisticated hand held elctronic devises.
As s result, we, ourselves, rebeing transformed into brain-dead automata who have become almost ALLERGIC to REALITY.
wenpeer I+ thi=nk of this it remind of th Proles in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-FOur. THEY, as you may remember, lived largely outside the system that so oppressed Winston Smith. They were considered inferior an largly unworthy, but Winston Smith envied them, because he coul see they were still fully ALIVE in their relatively primitive living conditions.
I'll never forge th scene where he sees the Prole Woman hanging her clothes out on the line. What t]uched Wnstin so was that she was SINGING –– something the more adavnced citizens of Oceana either had no inclination to do, –– else had long forgotten how.. A poignant moment which brought home the full tragic impact of Orwell's text.
____________ East Coker IV____________
ReplyDeleteThe wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer’s art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.
Our only health is the disease
If we obey the dying nurse
Whose constant care is not to please
But to remind of our, and Adam’s curse,
And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse.
The whole earth is our hospital
Endowed by the ruined millionaire,
Wherein, if we do well, we shall
Die of the absolute paternal care
That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.
The chill ascends from feet to knees,
The fever sings in mental wires.
If to be warmed, then I must freeze
And quake in frigid purgatorial fires
Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars.
The dripping blood our only drink,
The bloody flesh our only food:
In spite of which we like to think
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.
~ T.S. Eliot - from Four Quartets
__________ CRUCIFIXION __________
ReplyDeleteHe was a man who came to show the way.
It never was for him an easy task.
Sadly, politicians of His day
Cruelly sought His death. They’d never ask
Revealing questions in pursuit of Truth.
Undermining good they sought to hold
Crookedly to Power. Their uncouth
Initiatives to godliness were cold.
Freedom from corruption causes fear
In those who by coercion seek to rule.
Xiphoid, ego kills what should endear,
Instead of letting Self die to renewal.
On tiptoe oft we creep and hold our breath,
Not challenging the ones who cause His death.
~ FreeThinke
______ For Love of Leonardo ______
ReplyDeleteSupper seems a too congenial term.
Eating flesh and blood seems much too grim.
Perhaps symbolic, but contains the germ
Advising us to cannibalize Him
Ritually –– in some rites once a week!
Admittedly insipid where the elders serve
Tepid grape juice to the ones who seek
Expiation hoping for the nerve
Chalice, Host, while Kneeling might provide.
Hiding hypocrisy with pious show
Encourages confidence in a false guide
Creating thus a cheap and tawdry glow.
Keeping sacred tenets deep within
Saves us best from sanctifying sin.
~ FreeThinke
To circle back to the post, and infinitely more importantly, the trees are drying before our eyes and look how fast the old timbers burned......Metaphor? Of course it's metaphorical...I wrote it 10 minutes after hearing about the fire. Obviously, having lived in Paris, this fire tore me up more than I'd have imaged it would. It represents a lot, and the arguing here about who's a lefty and who's on the right, and actually suggesting it's not a huge oddity for a professor to be conservative in this once-great-thinking country which had an open mind until the Left started shutting down all Conservative thought, is INSANE and shows a willingness to ignore some pretty scary stuff. I grieve for our children...the flames are nipping at their heels. And they'll still vote the lies, happily, stupidly, unsuspectingly. "America's the worst," "No heroes are left because they had a slave," "Whites are bad," "Christians are far worse," "We welcome illegals because it's kind!" "All illegals are seeking asylum as they wave the country's flag from which they're seeking asylum..." I could go on, what's the point?
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter....let's think about much more important things, at least this weekend.
Z, Thank you for this response, I know this catastrophe has hit you hard, but thank you for looking beyond the physical destruction.
DeleteHere's what I had in mind when I wrote this:
The waning influence of Christianity in the west, sparked for sure by pharisaical mal-practitioners, but also drowned by the cultural sewage we allowed to proliferate in the name of tolerance and open-mindedness.
A stupid and vapid people ignorantly burning down the Millenia-old culture that has elevated them to their blissful cult-of-self and that has given them the secure luxury to celebrate domestically-produced vulgar trash and worship the worst elements of foreign cultures good American immigrants of all stripes thought they had escaped.
A corrupt Vatican hierarchy burning down their own religion. The loss of a great cathedral is worthy of tears, but millions of souls turning their backs on Christ in places like Ireland and Italy because of Vatican cupidity and corruption and tolerance of horrible on-going sin within the ranks is heartbreaking.
Our demographic dearth is the surest sign of our demise, and who cares? A people ashamed of their patrimony and unwilling to stand for the beliefs their forbears fought for is a people unworthy to endure upon the earth. Indeed biologically they cannot. Heartier people will out-breed them and predators will devour them.
Western Christendom is burning. It's arson. And its an inside job with tens of millions of conspirators.
Leaving the remnant, a theme in the Book.
DeleteEd, Just so you know, I am not criticizing my Catholicism, but rather heaping scorn upon the corporate HQ. The remnant is also an operative philosophy in Catholicism.
Delete"Rightwing Christians" have done similar damage here in the US. All Christian churches would be wise to avoid getting in bed with politicians of any stripe.
Z,
DeleteI grieve for our children...the flames are nipping at their heels. And they'll still vote the lies, happily, stupidly, unsuspectingly.
Part of that is youth stupidity. But I fear that the majority of that is something else that they have imbibed from the education system (particularly the universities), the media, and the churches. Yes, the churches. A mega-church here which used to do the Lord's work is now led by an openly socialist pastor who has driven away the older and wiser members and almost all the military members.
SF,
Delete"Rightwing Christians" have done similar damage here in the US.
Indeed! See my above comment to Z.
AOW,
DeleteParents do not have the undivided attention of their children like in generations past. Thus, our children are inculcated by competing forces.
"open-minded" "liberals" tell us this is a good thing. They scoff at parents transmitting Christian values to their children; they call it brainwashing, but what the hell are they doing in the universities and through pop "culture?"
We are all products of our upbringing, and forces outside the family are drowning out parents and churches.
Rod Dreher writes about this often. He moved from Catholicism to Eastern Orthodox, and he has written a book called "The Benedict Option." Despite the name, it is a book for all Christians, not just Catholics or Orthodox.
Here is a link to a balanced, comprehensive review of the book, apparently by an Evangelical:
Good Ideas, Strange Name
Silver, I was not attacking Catholicism.
DeleteI had to stop a guy from doing that on my show today while we were talking about Notre Dame.
I just realized that nobody (truthers) is conjecturing that Notre Dame was an inside job.
Thanks, Ed. I didn't think you were.
DeleteSF, thanks....I agree. I think you know how much I respect and even love Catholicism but have said frequently that it's the 'business' of the Church I dislike.
DeleteI have a lot to say, but, uncharacteristically, I'm keeping my mouth shut...sometimes blog comments don't capture what's meant. God bless you and your family.