popular culture ⁽²⁹⁾

Retweeting and commenting on the last in a series of articles by the Discovery Institute’s Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (CSC)’s Dr. Jonathan McLatchie, a molecular and cell biologist, got me briefly embroiled in some discussions with the disciples of a YouTube “science educator.” Though the “educator” himself contributed the first tweets, the way he conducts himself on Twitter can’t rightly be called “discussion.” The initial interactions with him…

Introductory Remarks: Culture Peace As Possible God, through the Apostle Paul, urges his people to, “as much as lieth” in them (that is, insofar as doing so lies within their control), “live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). For a while now, I’ve found it difficult to square this divine directive with efforts to use the government to win the so-called “culture war.” I’ve also been troubled by how some include abortion…

Welcome to the latest collection of my off-site correspondence, including online discussion posts and, possibly, remarks I opted not to post. As previously noted, all posts on this site are snapshots of my thinking at whatever point in time I wrote them. Since I’m always modifying and improving my thinking — or trying to — my current opinions may not precisely match this set of snapshots. The following materials are snapshots from…

With thanks to Dr. Fauci for helping scare America into its current state,[1] we prepare to move forward. A few items follow. They include: Though these items seem almost random, some closing remarks suggest that they are interconnected. Some end notes, with the usual elaborations and asides, follow these remarks and conclude the post. As noted in my last post, though I wasn’t initially pleased with the Constitution Party’s selection of Don…

Will you weep for the two poor prisoners in their COVID-19 isolation chamber?[1] Pandemic-excused infringements of liberty and a looming presidential election with typically nauseating major-party offerings have focused much of my attention on political matters lately. Fox News remains the Trumpian news network, of late choosing to emphasize its embrace of mass impulse by titling its election-coverage segments “Democracy 2020,” and MSNBC the official anti-Trump network, no doubt taking its lead…

Will you ignore the stern friar warning you to repent?[0] A new prompted letter and some delayed-release items related to the use and meaning of certain terms follow. Also, like the last post and the post before that, this one includes materials dating back a while. As a result, some items may feel dated. Since I’m not greatly concerned about keeping up with the latest news cycle, just about applying eternal principles…

Since most things that occur to me, and to most people, do turn out to have occurred to someone else before (Ecclesiastes 1:9), I fear I must credit this and all my posts to the mystical Akashic records, that storehouse of all that sentient beings have ever thought or done or experienced….[1] Just kidding. It is past time for a new “[things] prompt letters” post, however. Though I doubtless violate rules of…

Some random commentary and other updates follow. Rather than cram all new updates and commentary into a single post, I’ll spread the latest updates over a few posts. I began preparing this post back in early January, but I then set it aside until now; as a result, some items may seem dated, as may items in succeeding posts. Items in this post all relate in some way to English usage or…

The relentless march of time continues, making another update necessary. This post is that update. In the items that follow, I bid a sad farewell to the unpeaceable rhetoric of “culture war,” object to the distasteful secular rhetoric of “sex workers,” affirm the right of the people (individuals) to keep and bear arms, condemn public-venue hosting of transvestite events, and make some closing remarks. On 12 October I sent an item to…

Introduction and Contents A printed letter objecting to a columnist’s conflation of race and religion; An unprinted letter concerning the latest ultra-rich guy’s call for higher taxes; An unprinted U-T “Your Say” submission suggesting a lesson to be drawn from a tried soldier’s conduct; An unprinted letter drawing the same lesson from the same conduct, but with less detail; Am unprinted letter indicating that the politics of racial identity makes racists of…

The mainstream media were briefly abuzz last week over left-liberal Media Matters’ unearthing of some old Tucker Carlson audio. Media Matters’ Madeline Peltz begins her related article (topically organized transcript collection) with a summary of Carlson’s bad behavior, part of which reads as follows: Between 2006 and 2011, Tucker Carlson spent approximately an hour a week calling in to Bubba the Love Sponge [BTLS], a popular shock jock radio program where he…

Item 1: Our Drunken Culture Not long before this I had overheard someone mentioning “getting a beer” with a new acquaintance in what has become the standard way males in our culture interact. Apparently, men today find each other too difficult to tolerate without a little alcohol in their systems. Maybe the fact that most of them have been convinced they are the evolved kindred of monkeys and apes, who must always…