THE NEW YEAR is here and that means it’s the time of year to reprimand one of Europe’s most famous arts institutions: the Vienna Philharmonic, known for its famous New Year’s Day concerts.

This year, the philharmonic got hit from two directions: on one side, for long playing a particular arrangement of Johann Strauss’s famous Radetzky March. The arrangement was written by a member of the National Socialist Party. Leopold Weninger wrote it in 1914, decades before the National Socialists existed. Despite the immense, worldwide popularity of the march, which always ended the New Year’s concert, the orchestra’s most famous annual event, the philharmonic for the first time this year replaced it with another, less rousing arrangement. You can see the former version, with all that disgusting, patriotic clapping, in the video above. Unfortunately, I don’t have a clip of the new one.

That the famous orchestra prefer to disassociate itself from Nazism by undermining a jubilant celebration that has nothing to do with Nazism is not unreasonable, I suppose, but then could we have some balance please?

For instance, could the orchestra stop performing the works of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev and other artists who had connections with the Soviet government, under which tens of millions of innocent people were sent to their deaths and killed in deliberate famines? Prokofiev voluntarily returned to Soviet Russia after living in the West for two decades; he wrote music meant to boost the morale of the Soviet army; won Stalin prizes and in 1937 composed a cantata celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, featuring musical settings of texts by Stalin, Marx and Lenin.

Now I don’t believe Prokofiev’s beautiful compositions should be banished, but if musical works are to be judged by the political connections of musicians, then we have to roll up our sleeves and get to work, not just with connections to Nazism, but with connections to Soviet Communism, which killed far more people and is still alive today. (We hear far less about Soviet atrocities. Is that because they were so often committed under Semitic leadership?)

Sergei Prokofiev wrote for the Soviet government and never publicly resisted Marxist Communism.

The Vienna Philharmonic was also scolded, as it has been many times, for having once been an all-male ensemble. The New York Times, to its credit, admits in this year’s critical piece that women were not excluded from performing classical music in the last three centuries.

For the most part, however, women performed in private, not in public, except in all-female ensembles ….

Yes, that’s very true, and one could even say that through their informal role, women performed more than men and did more to promote classical music. However, Farah Nayeri, author of The Times piece, trivializes the reason for the exclusion from orchestras:

Entire sections of the orchestra remained male because their instruments were considered unladylike.

The cello was deemed indecorous because it had to be placed between a player’s legs. Flutes and horns were thought to make a woman’s face look funny; percussion instruments were viewed as exclusively male.

That’s ridiculous. Women do look undignified with a cello between their legs, but professional orchestras were entirely or primarily male because men had the duty to financially support their families, a burden which women did not have to the same degree. The main thing that distinguished the professional orchestras from the private groups in which women played was that the musicians were paid, often enough to support a family.

Women are now part of the Vienna Philharmonic. And we live in a world where the family struggles far more. The point never was that women were inferior musicians. Eventually, the arts decline, as does civilization in general, when the family does. If you read through the lives of famous musicians and composers, you will find that many of them were inspired by mothers who loved music. The burden of proof rests with the believers in equality. No society has produced great art without great sacrifices — and one of those sacrifices is female success in the world, rather than the home.

Yikes! The horror! An all-male Vienna Philharmonic, back in the ages when women were hated even though men spent all their working lives supporting them.

Read More »

SOME excellent analysis of the movie “The Stepford Wives.” (Immodesty warning.)

Read More »

ALAN writes:

It was twenty years ago that my mother spent the last Christmas in her apartment at Maryville Gardens, on the property that had once been the site of Maryville College.

It was twenty years ago that I sat there with her as we talked about Christmas memories, listened to Christmas carols and songs, and watched Christmas movies from the 1940s and 1950s.

It was twenty years ago that it became unbearably clear to me and to her that her memory was beginning to fail.  It was a preview of what has been called “death in slow motion.” What followed was a three-year nightmare of continued loss, worry, frustration, uncertainty, and regrets. If I felt all those things acutely, as I did, then it must have been so much worse for her. But she never talked much about it, and I never encouraged her to do so. The realization that it was happening was bad enough. She knew there was nothing we could do about it. I knew it too, and I hated it.

On that night, we sat there in the comfort and warmth of her apartment, admiring the beauty of the lights on her Christmas tree and the ornaments that she had made and placed upon it and the Christmas village that she had made and placed under it.

It was the penultimate chapter in her life. She still found pleasure in decorating her Christmas tree and the village beneath it, just as she did when I was a boy in the 1950s and when I must have absorbed some of the joy she felt in looking forward to what for us was the happiest time of year. Read More »

HUMAN mutilation looks like mutilation in a backward tribe. For a technologically advanced society, mutilation can be made to look normal.

Three months later, the couple says they are confident their baby will thrive growing up in their hometown of Brighton, with support from both sets of grandparents.

“It’s about having the right kind of community around us so they are able to see different kinds of family set-ups,” Jay tells the outlet. “All we can do is try to be really open from the start with them and other people around us — give them the best chance.” (Source)

Ideas, not technology, determine how advanced a society. We live in a primitive world. But it’s dazzling, and because it’s dazzling people are fooled into thinking that high technology means a healthy, advanced culture that can sustain itself.

In related news:

This month, the first person to obtain a legal “non-binary” sex designation has successfully petitioned the court originally responsible for his “non-binary” status to order that the sex on his birth certificate be restored to “male.” In documents exclusively provided to PJ Media, James Shupe’s petition described his “non-binary” designation as a “psychologically harmful legal fiction.” He told PJ Media he hopes this decision will prevent a woman currently seeking “non-binary” recognition from following the same lies.

“The charade of not being male, the legal fiction, it’s over,” James Shupe told PJ Media on Tuesday. “The lies behind my fictitious sex changes, something I shamefully participated in, first to female, and then to non-binary, have been forever exposed. A truthful accounting of events has replaced the deceit that allowed me to become America’s first legally non-binary person.”

A philosopher seated at his desk may be able to distinguish the natural and supernatural aims of men, but in actual life, this distinction does not exist, and all education is worthless unless it enables a man to attain the end proposed for him by his Creator. What would it benefit an army to equip it with first-rate weapons, if it were left without leaders and without an object, so that each soldier could go wherever he chose? Every good teacher rightly expects his pupils to be grateful to him if they succeed in life. Those, however, who give instruction quite apart from all mention of religion, must expect to hear the children of this world reproach them at the last day, saying: “All that you taught us was vain; you never spoke to us of God; you showed us pictures of all kinds of things, but allowed the image of God to be obliterated in our souls; you made us learn the names of earthly kings in remote ages, but not the name of the King of Heaven, whose reign is everlasting; we know all about minute germs and fungi, and nothing at all about God.”

My Brethren, all creation exists for the glory of God: the earth, sea, and stars extol Him, the spirits in Heaven sing His praise; our lives belong to Him, and therefore we must teach our children to pronounce His Name; all our systems of education ought to be inscribed with it, and it should be written large upon our whole existence.

We ought to do our daily work in God’s name. A mere animal devoid of reason may be satisfied if it can supply the needs of the moment without regarding its existence as a whole; but man sees how events are connected and tries to obtain a comprehensive view of all his actions.

— Hallowed be Thy Name, The Rev. L. Ruland, D.D. (Sermons for the Feast of the Circumcision)

NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS from The Thinking Housewife. May you have great hope and confidence in God during the year ahead. I will keep all the readers of this site in my daily prayers this year — and every year. THANK YOU very much to those who have given to support this blog.

This is a lovely carol based on the poem by Christina Rossetti — and it’s not bleak at all.

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER
—– By Christina Rossetti

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

START your new year right by meditating upon the possibility that this will be your last year — and that it won’t end well. Unpleasant thought, for sure, but it could be just the thing you need.

It is fearful to think upon the union of God’s power, wisdom, and justice in producing this world of punishment, this wonderful, mysterious, and terrific part of creation, which is in its desolate mysteries as much beyond our conception as the joys of heaven are in their resplendency. Nevertheless we will leave the Great Evil, the loss of God, out of view, and all the horrible details of the cruelties of physical torture. Bating all these things, what sort of a life will the life in hell be, after the resurrection?

It will be a life where every act is the most hateful and abominable wickedness.

Read Frederick William Faber’s essay “Heaven and Hell” in his book Spiritual Conferences.

THERE’S lots of free content on the Internet. This site is essentially free too, but you can help keep it online by donating. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much to those who have given.

IN THIS famous interview, Norman Dodd  explains the role of American tax-exempt foundations in preparing the United States to be merged with Communist Russia and create a world government.

IS the Kremlin fomenting race war in the United States? Could the U.S. become as divided as the Middle East?

With people like Rachel Maddow yelling “Russia, Russia, Russia,” American patriots are misdirected and led to believe there is no substance to accusations of Russian subversion. Watch this interesting exposé of figures on the right and left.

CHRISTMAS II
—- George Herbert

The shepherds sing; and shall I silent be?
My God, no hymn for Thee?
My soul’s a shepherd too; a flock it feeds
Of thoughts, and words, and deeds.
The pasture is Thy word: the streams, Thy grace
Enriching all the place.

Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers
Out-sing the daylight hours.
Then will we chide the sun for letting night
Take up his place and right:
We sing one common Lord; wherefore he should
Himself the candle hold.

I will go searching, till I find a sun
Shall stay, till we have done;
A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly,
As frost-nipped suns look sadly.

Then will we sing, and shine all our own day,
And one another pay:
His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine,
Till ev’n His beams sing, and my music shine.

TWICE so far during this Christmas season, Jewish friends have come to our house to share in the happiness of the season, as they have come in past years. I cooked and cleaned in advance, and extended to them all the warm hospitality I consider normal and obligatory at this time of year and whenever they come to visit.

My friends apparently have not gotten the message from the Anti-Defamation League that people like me are to be shunned and treated like criminals. Or maybe they have gotten the message, but they ignore it. I don’t know. I only know that we like each other too much for such things to get in the way. “I will never forget what you did for me,” one of our friends said to me on a previous occasion. What did I do? Nothing really. Her husband lost his job through no fault of his own and I commiserated with her. I did not tire of showing her concern during her depression. And she has never forgotten and has always been warm and kind toward me. She knows about this blog but doesn’t seem to care. Another Jewish friend hugged me on December 23rd, and thanked me in a very heartfelt way for caring for his sick wife, apparently oblivious that I am an “anti-Semite” he should despise.

We cannot share the deepest and most important things in life, at least not yet, but we can share the adventures, hardships and absurdities of everyday living. Many Jews have a finely-tuned sense of humor when it comes to the latter, probably as a result of being outsiders for centuries. We laugh a lot, and part in friendship. But then our friends are not the sort of people for whom politics are a burning religion, so we can truly talk about other things.

I bring this up to make an important point.

I believe it is a moral imperative to criticize the Jewish persecution narrative and Jewish control over society today.  At the same time, I believe it is a moral imperative to show kindness and warmth to Jews — not some kind of calculated or patronizing acceptance, but a natural good will that comes automatically. Read More »

“AT THAT TIME: Joseph, and Mary his mother, were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold, this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted: and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asar; she was far advanced in years, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow until fourscore and four years; who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving day and night. Now she at the same hour coming in, confessed to the Lord; and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel. And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their city Nazareth; and the child grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom, and the grace of God was in him.” (Luke ii. 33 – 40)

THE other day I saw an interesting and bizarre outfit. A girl who was about 19 was wearing her short winter jacket so that it fell dramatically off one shoulder. It was similar to this except the jacket was a little higher on the arm and she was wearing hardly anything underneath so that her entire shoulder, down to the elbow and including the upper chest and back, was bare. And it was cold outside.

This look is a fashion, but it was the first time I had ever seen it. The girl was with her parents, who apparently were totally indifferent to the sin of immodesty and how it would affect their daughter. In that, they were no different from most American parents.

Clothes are a curtain. They protect privacy. At their best (when they truly cover), they elevate personality by distracting from the body. This girl might have many good things in life but there is one thing I believe she will find hard to get. And that is, intimacy. Nakedness empties people. Intimacy is the sharing of depths. Animals are naked and they mate without intimacy. They have nothing to share, nothing hidden.

Many men are not attracted to the immodest clothes women wear today. They make women less mysterious, less intriguing, less beautiful, less of a treasure to seek, less of a prize. But men will never say so.

When women bare their bodies in public, they empty their souls. The more immodest women are, the more impersonal society is and the more people are creatures of the herd. In the servile society, people are unfree in many ways, but they are free to be nude because the animalized human being is easier to control. The inside is empty. And the inner life is the greatest of threats to tyranny.

That said, the potential consequences of immodesty for women in the next life are far more grave than these negative effects in this life.

Shepherd in a Snowy Landscape, George Morland

He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.

––   St. Gregory of Nissa

THE EFFORT to turn Christmas into a celebration of universal peace and brotherhood has been underway for many years. This is the principal, and most successful, attack on Christmas in popular culture. It’s an enchanting concept. For who doesn’t want peace? Christmas as  a celebration of material well-being and Marxist justice is related to this Christmas as Peace Fest. See “Pope” Francis’s Christmas message.

The alluring and utopian concept of “peace on earth” is not, however, consistent with the real Christmas. When the angels appeared to the shepherds, as recounted in the Gospel of Luke, they did not herald an era of non-conflict.

And the angel said to them: Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people… (Luke, 2:10)

The good tidings are universal. They are meant for all, without exception. But what do the angels say of peace?

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying:

Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will. (Luke, 2:14-15)

Here we see the angels praying to God for peace, not predicting universal peace, and petitioning for peace among men of good will, not for everybody.

The Christmas story also involves the gruesome slaughter of babies, hardly a peaceful event. For when King Herod finds out that a child of royal lineage is born in Bethlehem, he is filled with jealousy and orders the death of all male children under two years old, as recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2. The famous English carol, The Coventry Carol, is an imagined lullaby sung by the mothers of the doomed children.

So here we find in the Nativity narrative, mothers mourning their murdered children! It is indescribably sad and painful. Darkness and conflict are inherent in the Christmas story, as G.K. Chesterton noted in his greatest book, The Everlasting Man: Read More »

The Mystical Nativity (detail), Sandro Botticelli; 1500

I SINCERELY WISH all readers of this site a joyous Christmas. May you and your families be filled with confidence and hope today. May the astonishing and beautiful mysteries of the Incarnation, of God born as a helpless child, deepen and grow in splendor for you. “Fear not. for behold, I bring you good tidings of exceeding great joy, that shall be to all people.” Fear not, for God is truly with you.

‘On this the Day which the Lord hath made darkness decreases, light increases, and Night is driven back again. No, brethren, it is not by chance, nor by any created will, that this natural change begins on the day when he shows himself in the brightness of his coming, which is the spiritual Life of the world. It is Nature revealing, under this symbol, a secret to them whose eye is quick enough to see it; to them, I mean, who are able to appreciate this circumstance of our Saviour’s coming. Nature seems to me to say: Know, O Man! that under the things which I show thee Mysteries lie concealed. Hast thou not seen the night, that had grown so long, suddenly checked? Learn hence, that the black night of Sin, which had reached its height by the accumulation of every guilty device, is this day stopped in its course. Yes, from this day forward its duration shall be shortened, until at length there shall be naught but Light. Look, I pray thee, on the Sun; and see how his rays are stronger, and his position higher in the heavens: learn from that how the other Light, the Light of the Gospel, is now shedding itself over the whole earth.’

                         — St. Gregory of Nyssa, Homily On the Nativity

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Thank you to those who have given. May God reward you for your kindness and generosity.

I hope you enjoy this gentle medieval carol, Angelus ad Virginem, performed here by the Sixteen. The most terrible of all the enemies of Satan is a woman whose humility is unbearable to him. We have no cause to despair at the condition of our world. We have her to bring us closer to sublime reality and help us bear difficult truths.

The angel came to the Virgin,
entering secretly into her room;
calming the Virgin’s fear, he said, “Hail!
Hail, queen of virgins:
you will conceive the Lord of heaven and earth
and bear him, still a virgin,
to be the salvation of mankind;
you will be made the gate of heaven,
the cure of sins.”

More of the lyrics are here.