We all need music in our lives

Pax et bonum

Trump is impacting my life!

I have to admit it: President Donald Trump is having a negative impact on my life.

No, it's not because his orders are giving me visa problems. Nor have I been a target of any of his tweets.

Technically, it's not because of anything he has done that is directly affecting me.

It's because people who hate him and his policies are so passionate about their views.

If you dare say anything positive about him, they often go on the attack and question your morals or your sanity. Or they avoid you.

And then many otherwise nice people are now spouting or posting such intemperate - and sometimes grossly inaccurate - comments about him. Normally rational people have become reactionary, some resorting to insults and foul language.

Mind you, I didn't support him or vote for him. I am opposed to some of the things he has done or has proposed. I have no problem with criticism of his words and actions, but I do with intemperate castigation of them, or with personal attacks.

What all this has done is cause me regularly to back off commenting when I'm tempted to do so. And I've had to bite my tongue (or typing fingers) when I see or hear unfair and inaccurate comments from others. This is hard, because I tend to be an outspoken sort. I enjoy a healthy give-and-take.

I've even unfriended or unfollowed some people on social media because of the nature of their remarks, or to avoid becoming uncharitable in my responses and losing friends.

Further, this has led me to avoid gatherings where I know certain topics will come up. When I think about going to an event, a folk concert or coffee house or music swap just to name a few, I weigh the risks of having the event ruined because others must vent, and so I choose not to attend or tune in.  The same goes for some of the public affairs programs I often watch. I now don't tune in, or change the channel.

I'm discovering there are some great shows of the Food Channel.

Or maybe they just seem great these days.

I don't mind political humor or friendly debates. There are some people - Rob Cullivan, for example - who can carry on debates in a respectful and entertaining manner.

Part of the problem is that so many of my friends are of a liberal or artistic ilk. The painters and poets and musicians and social activists and educators I number among my friends tend to oppose him. And the passion that inspires them in their creativity seems to be focused on him now.

Maybe this is for the best. I waste too much time on politics. I should spend more on prayer, or school work, or good reading.

These days it IS a curse to live in interesting times!

Pax et bonum

Pro-lifers are only pro-birth? Hardly

Anyone who is outspokenly pro-life has encountered some variation of the argument, "You prolifers are only concerned about the baby being born, but don't care about the child after."

It's an argument designed to insult prolifers  - an ad hominem attack - and to steer the discussion away for the central issue: Abortion kills a human being.

Through ChurchPop I encountered one good response to this argument, "Seven Arguments to the 'Pro-lifers" are just Pro-birth' argument," by Joe Heschmeyer.

Joe's seven points:

1. Even if the argument were true, it would be ridiculous.
2. The argument is logically fallacious.
3. The argument is unspeakably melodramatic.
4. The argument is hypocritical.
5. The argument is more than a little condescending.
6. The argument is demonstrably false.
7. The real debate is about the means, not the ends.

Read the rest over at Shameless Popery.

Pax et bonum

Silence

I haven't see the movie Silence yet. I will eventually - though I may wait until it comes out on DVD.

But I am reading the book on which the movie is based, Silence, by Shusaku Endo. Endo is sometimes likened to Graham Greene, and in this novel about a hunted priest captured by the government I do see similarities to The Power and the Glory.

I'd heard about  the novel before the movie came out. I'd seen it on several "Greatest Catholic Novels" lists, so I'd bought a copy and had it on my bookshelf for a while. The movie just prompted me to finally read it. 

I'm about half way through. I'm enjoying it so far. The depiction of what is going through the priest's mind as he sneaks into Japan during the 17th Century when the Japanese government tried to crush Catholicism in Japan is believable. He is optimistic, heroic, then afraid, and when captured struggling not to betray his faith. I don't know what will happen in the end, but given what I've read so far I suspect the character will apostatize.

The "Silence" of the title has come up so far in terms of the supposed silence of God in response to the priest's prayers. I'm reminded of so many saints and mystics who talk about periods when they seemed to feel no sense of God, and seem to encounter only "silence."
  
Endo is such a good writer I want to continue to find out what does happen.

Pax et bonum

Most Viewed Inauguration? Well ...

Sean Spicer's claim that this was the biggest inauguration in terms of the number of people attending and watching is under attack and being mocked in the media and on social media.

 

At the time he said it, it struck me as  a foolish thing to say - but quite typical of President Trump's hyperbolic style.

 

But is it an outright lie many Trump opponents are claiming?

 

There were certainly fewer people there in person that compared to President Obama's 2009 inauguration. And the reported television numbers were down this year compared to 2009 (though I don't know what the final numbers are).

 

So if we just consider those, Spicer's claim is clearly not true.

 

BUT ...

 

I know a number of people who watched the inaugural on the internet this time around - on their phones and on computers - while they were at work, or even because that's their preferred way to view. My daughters, for example, rarely watch television; everything is online.

 

This kind of viewing was far less common in 2009. I know I was not able to watch that inauguration then because I was at work and had no such access.

 

And, that kind of  internet viewing is now far more common around the world as well. Moreover, Trump is an international celebrity.

 

So, it's possible while the actually attendance and television  viewership were down, the overall viewership was actually as large, if not larger.

 

Spicer still might be wrong, but he could also be right. Given the uncertainty, calling him a liar doesn't seem justified at the moment.

 

Pax et bonum

The Meat of the Women's March

Imagine a meat cake.

Made of liver, or maybe head cheese. Something most would find unpleasant. Minced and mixed with whatever is needed to hold it together, maybe an egg or two and some breading. Then baked in round cake pans, and cooled once solid. And after that frosted with all the frills and flowers and candies and so on so that it looks lovely.

Then imagine people looking at and admiring and praising this beautiful cake.

But then they cut in and find the meat.

That's how I view the Women's March.

They've coated it with all sorts of issues - Trump's vulgar comments and actions, his insults, his statements about Muslims and immigrants, as well as respect for women, health care for the poor, and so on. Issues that many people care about.

But when you go beneath all those issues that attract people you find the vile meat - the reality of the march.

Abortion. 

That's what this march is really about.

That's why the organizers have not responded to overtures by prolife feminist groups to be sponsors or to help with organizing. And more recently, when March organizers found out that one feminist group that they had accepted was prolife they removed the group from the list of sponsors. As one of the people pushing the prolife group out tweeted:

"Intersectional feminism does not include a pro-life agenda. That's not how it works! The right to choose is a fundamental part of feminism."

Another person tweeted: "Horrified that the @womensmarch has partnered w/an anti-choice org. Plse reconsider - inclusivity is not about bolstering those who harm us."

Finally, the organizers issued a statement declaring "The Women's March's platform is pro-choice and that has been our stance from day one." And they apologized for letting a pro-life group in, and said the prolifers had been removed..

I know many caring people, including many Catholic people, who plan to take part in the March in Washington or one of the local marches not realizing that what they are really do is marching to defend abortion.

But if you try to tell them, they cite all those other issues.

The frosting the abortion advocates used to disguise their purpose.

They have a long track record of doing that.

And so far, they've gotten away with it.

Pax et bonum

St. Jerome Clerihew

Irascible St. Jerome
was justly noted for his biblical tome,
but he was upset that no one would look
at his vegetarian cookbook.

Pax et bonum