June 11, 2015
W.O. writes:
I read a letter to “Dear Abby” from a troubled man who thought he was a woman. This man’s wife couldn’t accept the fact that she was married to a man who had declared himself a woman, and was considering divorce if she could retain custody of their children. Guess which one “Dear Abby” suggested should get counseling and which one should retain legal counsel. Read More »
June 11, 2015
DON VINCENZO writes:
I recently returned from a one-month trip to Japan where, among the major components that constitute the Japanese mindset, I noted a strong societal affirmation that Japan must remain … Japanese. One does not see many other racial or ethnic groups in Japan; in fact, a walk in any major – or minor – town or city in Japan will confirm the noticeable absence of foreigners, except Chinese and American tourists, all of whom can remain in the country for only 45 days. This island nation is at least 95 percent homogeneous, and to the Japanese that is not a problem. But too many “gai-jin,” or foreigners, believe the Japanese national uniformity is a violation of multicultural ethos, and that this mindset must be changed. Enter Ariana Miyamoto.
June 10, 2015
A Nobel-winning British biochemist has come under fire for expressing his views about the integration of men and women in science labs. According to The Guardian, Tim Hunt was speaking to a conference of science journalists in Korea, when he fantastically argued in favor of single-sex labs. He made the following insensitive and dehumanizing comments:
“Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.”
Hunt did not criticize the performance or work of female scientists. Read More »
June 9, 2015
SVEN writes from Alaska:
Music from the ′60s is often remembered as the anti-music of rock and roll as made by the Rolling Stones, Beatles, etc., but there is this song (albeit a little kitschy) that was a huge hit across the boards in ’66, staying at the number one spot for five weeks, even though they never play it on the radio anymore.
It celebrates the manly virtues of honor, courage, perseverance, and loyalty. Those aren’t themes found in music since then, except occasionally in country songs. I think people are still receptive to the good and beautiful, but there has been a concerted effort to starve people of it. When the cultural ship is righted, I think we will find that the hunger for true art is unabated. Read More »
June 9, 2015
HERE is the latest installment in the ongoing series, “Tales of Chester,” a first-hand account of my husband’s childhood in the industrial — and strategically-vital — town of Chester, Pennsylvania.
The End of the World
We were not surprised to learn that the living Satan himself had added the strategically-vital town of Chester, Pennsylvania, to his itinerary. Chester was home to one of the world’s great shipyards and would be a magnet for Russian atomic bombs. So it only made sense that the great conqueror and oppressor and hater of all that was holy, Nikita Khrushchev, would want to see this inviting target firsthand when he visited the United States.
The buildup to Khrushchev’s visit to America evoked images as threatening as a gathering of thunderheads along a storm front, the way we imagined the sky might look when Gabriel sounded the trumpet to wake the dead at the end of world. Normally, the Chester Times devoted its pages to Iocal Republican politics (the only kind we had) or the exploits of fullbacks at St. James and the basketball superstars at Chester High, the only kind of kids worth a damn in this town. These were extreme times, however. In the summer of 1959, on the eve of Khrushchev’s visit, the paper rolled out an extensive series under the headline, “We Will Bury You!” It was described as the Communist “Blueprint for the Future,” and we had every reason to believe the Russians could execute to the letter their plans for world domination.
June 9, 2015
JOHN G. writes:
There is a manga from China called “Cheating Craft” about a boy who spent all his time learning to cheat at casinos, but now he has to pass the entrance exam, and so he uses all his skills for that purpose. When he gets to the test, all the other students are cheating as well in various ways.
Although this is fiction, it reflects the culture from which it arises, in which test-cheating abilities are like a new form of martial arts. Read More »
June 9, 2015
KARL D. writes:
If you want to see how stark-raving mad the Church of England has gone, I recommend this article from the Guardian. A group called “Women and the church” want to start referring to God as “She” due to the election of the first female bishop.
June 8, 2015
A WOMAN describes the Brave New World of gestational surrogacy at the website for the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network.
June 5, 2015
ASHE SCHOW writes in The Washington Examiner:
The California state senate just passed S.B. 695, which adds affirmative consent instruction to high school health courses. The bill passed by a vote of 39-0 and had bipartisan support.
“As it stands, we are not doing nearly enough. We can and must educate the youth of our state, especially our young men, about affirmative consent and healthy relationships,” [State Senator Kevin] de Leon said in a press release about the new bill. “This bill represents the next step in the fight to change behavior toward young women.” Read More »
June 5, 2015
AFTER years of personal torment, the blogger Mike King has decided to make known to the world that he is really a mouse. Inspired by the noble example of Bruce Jenner, he writes:
The first step in the species-reassignment process will be eye-ball reddening, whisker-insertion surgery and rodent-dental implants. After I have recovered from that, the injection of fur growth hormones and the attachment of a prosthetic tail will be next. And finally, if all goes well, I will have the painful ear-sharpening and nasal-snout extension surgeries a month or so afterwards.
The most painful part of this process will not be the physical transformation. That much I can handle. But having to get rid of my cat, Sugar, is something I dread. With me becoming a mouse and all, well, it just ain’t gonna work out. Good bye my little feline friend. Read More »
June 5, 2015
HOW does a self-respecting feminist bow to a “transgender” idol such as Bruce Jenner? The “transgender” celebrity must be celebrated and adored. The “transgendered” are the vanguard. At the same time, in his latest publicity stunts as “Caitlyn” Jenner, the former Olympic athlete resembles a high-class call girl. In other words, he represents female oppression and the classic objectification of women.
Rhonda Garelick, a visiting professor at Princeton, tries to skate through this serious ideological dilemma. Princeton professors always tackle the most important issues of the day. In an editorial for The New York Times, she writes:
We have known for months that Bruce Jenner was becoming a woman, and we rejoice if this brings her happiness. But were we prepared for this woman? Read More »
June 4, 2015
USS Wyoming
FOUR U.S. NAVY SAILORS have been sentenced to prison for secretly recording videos on cell phones of female crew members in the shower. One petty officer received a prison term of two years and a dishonorable discharge. Another received a term of 18 months and a bad-conduct discharge, reports the Associated Press. Two others were given relatively minor sentences and several other crew members of the USS Wyoming await court martials.
So let’s get this straight.
The Navy deliberately creates conditions in which young, healthy men and young, healthy women are confined together in extremely close quarters in the middle of the sea. Then when the men show interest in the women as women, their careers are destroyed. They are not simply reprimanded for doing something improper, and of course it was improper, but their careers are demolished.
Such incidences must create a chill. There must be constant tension on coed ships. And for what military purpose? None. While the Navy severely penalizes men for minor male pranks, it relies on one thing above all else for its very existence — masculinity. Read More »
June 3, 2015
GERMANY reportedly now has the lowest birthrate in the world. Instead of having children, German women have low-level jobs.
June 3, 2015
Paul K. writes from Houston:
I very much enjoy your writing and point of view on so many important elements of our culture and faith. I am not Catholic, but share your concern about the general falling away from Christianity of our nation and so many families. I thought you’d enjoy this cartoon from the Investor Business Daily (of all things) regarding what “the pope” might say to Moses if he parted the Red Sea today. Read More »
June 3, 2015
From Introibo Ad Altare Dei:
Fox Television is getting ready to air a new television show called Lucifer, which actually portrays Satan as a good and helpful being. We are told “the TV series centers on Lucifer who, bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the gorgeous, shimmering insanity of Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals.” [cont.]
June 3, 2015
DONALD writes:
Here is an article in the Wall Street Journal about how 8,000 Chinese students are expelled from American universities annually, many allegedly for cheating. I have read many of Anti-Globalist Expatriate’s submissions here regarding how cheating is culturally condoned by Asians. Until now, I didn’t understand the scale at which academic cheating takes place among this cohort. Read More »
June 2, 2015
Booker T. Washington
IF Booker T. Washington were alive today, he’d almost certainly be deeply shaken and saddened by the state of American black culture. For Washington, the former slave and first leader of the Tuskegee Institute, civil duties came before civil rights. The main focus of the civil rights movement was not his idea and not to his liking. It instead reflected the ideology of his main adversary, the black leader W.E.B. Dubois, whose thinking was congenial to the white Marxist revolutionaries who started the NAACP and who strove to translate the Marxist dialectic of class struggle into matters of race. (Yes, the early leadership of NAACP was overwhelmingly white.)
For an excellent essay on the contrasts between these two black leaders, I recommend Ellis Washington’s 2001 article at Issues and Views, the now-defunct website which was run by Elizabeth Wright, another eloquent black American who died several years ago from cancer and with whom I corresponded occasionally in the last years before her death.
Compare these two quotes noted by Ellis Washington:
We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a free American, political, civil and social, and until we get these rights we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of America.
— W.E.B. Du Bois
The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.
— Booker T. Washington
In 2012, a commenter at View from the Right described how the contrast between Washington and Dubois lingers in black thinking to this day. Read More »