Rod Dreher's Benedict Option™: who put the BOp in the BOp shoo BOp shoo BenOp?
Who was that man?
I'd like to shake his hand.
For, you see, there may be an unanticipated dividend to Rod Dreher's Benedict Option™, or as Prophet Dreher has prescribed it for the faithful, "BenOp" (Google plaintively asks instead, "Did you mean bebop?".
It might be great for getting chicks.
Hit it, Barry:
I'd like to thank the guy
Who wrote the song
That made my baby
Fall in love with me
Who put the bomp
In the bomp bah bomp BenOp?
Who put the ram
In the rama lama ding dong?
Who put the BOp
In the BOp shoo BOp shoo BOp?
Who put the hip
In the hippy dippy BenOp trip?
Who was that man?
I'd like to shake his hand
He made my baby
Fall in love with me (yeah!!)
When my baby heard
"Bomp bah bah bomp "
"Bah bomp bah bomp BenOp"
Every word went right into her heart
And when she heard them singin'
"Rama lama lama lama"
"Rama ding dong"
She said we'd never have to part
So
Who put the bomp
In the bomp bah bomp BenOp?
Who put the ram
In the rama lama ding dong?
Who put the BOp
In the BOp shoo BOp shoo BOp?
Who put the dip
In the hippy dippy BenOp trip?
Who was that man?
I'd like to shake his hand
He made my baby
Fall in love with me (yeah!!)
Each time that we're alone
Boogity boogity boogity
Boogity boogity boogity shoo
Sets my baby's heart all aglow
And everytime we dance to
Hippy dippy BenOp trip
Hippy dippy BenOp trip
She always says she loves me so
So
Who put the bomp
In the bomp bah bomp BenOp?
Who put the ram
In the rama lama ding dong?
Who put the BOp
In the BOp shoo BOp shoo BOp?
Who put the dip
In the hippy dippy BenOp trip?
Who was that man?
I'd like to shake his hand
He made my baby
Fall in love with me (yeah!!)
* * *
And once you've found the BOpper girl of your dreams, use the rest of your charm to sweep her away from that charismatic cult and into a full and more appropriate, real world Christian life, how 'bout.
How about Blitzkrieg BOP by the Ramones?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K56soYl0U1w
ReplyDeleteJonathan Carpenter
Yep, the refrain for a strategic scampering Christian retreat until the coast is clear:
Delete"Hey, ho - let's go!"
As more than one commenter on Dreher's blog takes pains to point out to him, Rod's emperorographic fantasy BO works exactly as long as everyone else is nice to the BOppers and doesn't, for example, just shoot them and take their stuff. Of course, that fate would give him oodles of material to blog about, wouldn't it, so...win-win for him.
Uh ... "chicks" aren't who Dreher is trying to "get," if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteRod posted approximately 11,500 words today.
ReplyDeleteI think he's coming unglued.
11,500 words, with about 10,000 of them pertaining either directly or indirectly to homosexuality, which Rod really, really hates having to think about all day, doncha know. Of the other 1,500 words, 1,250 of them are about what a bitch ... I mean what a *saint* ... his sister was. The remaining 250 words are about either oysters or artisanal cheese.
ReplyDeleteAnon.: "Rod posted approximately 11,500 words today. I think he's coming unglued. "
ReplyDeleteOr it could be that the blog is where the first draft is actually getting worked out, much of which will be later cut and pasted into the upcoming B/O book, which I have no interest in reading.
I can think all sorts of other people I have encountered on the Internet who use it to relentlessly promote themselves, often for plain old money reasons and/or because they need "disciples" for themselves. The Internet just seems to attract this sort of thing.
I can think all sorts of other people I have encountered on the Internet who use it to relentlessly promote themselves, often for plain old money reasons and/or because they need "disciples" for themselves. The Internet just seems to attract this sort of thing.
DeleteOengus, I'm probably repeating myself, but, just the opposite of being a traditional Christian, Rod Dreher in particular is, ironically, the most avant-garde of modern cyber-Christians.
Alienated from family, alienated from community, he is almost exclusively a cyber human being, connected to others by fiber optic cable, connections he opens - and, as we see with our commenter Roland de Chanson and others - closes as his completely autonomous individual ego decides. His is the dollhouse community of the child: he plays only with those dolls that please him today.
His personal grasp of Christian culture, rather than being anything actually lived by a human being, is only snuffled out the way a pig roots acorns, from half-read books and the quarter-thought mental breezes they inspire: he needs others to crowd source his BO for him precisely because his own mind, a wandering, cyberspatial ghost bereft of actual community, is simply incapable of that task itself. In this sense we can think of Dreher as a vampire with respect to the beating pulse of the BO he so desperately wants to be known for; he needs the life blood of others simply to conceive it.
So, because, in this penumbral shadow world of the Internet there can never be enough content to fill the fiber optic tubes, any notion at all - the sudden inspiration of a garden mole in Kansas as it collides with a tasty root - can ricochet around the web long enough to gain its own fleeting gravitas.
If I can haz cheeseburger, why can I not just as easily haz Benedict Option, whether truly Benedict or Optional or just something a respondent makes up?
Alienated from family, alienated from community, he is almost exclusively a cyber human being, connected to others by fiber optic cable....
DeleteWhich should make him more an object of prayers than ridicule, as unnatural as that might feel.
That's one of the annoying things about his lived-on-line life. You can see straight through his actions to the fundamental flaws and habits out of which he acts. You kind of know exactly what to pray for.
Which should make him more an object of prayers than ridicule, as unnatural as that might feel.
DeleteGiven the way a passive-aggressive, by definition, uses his weaknesses as weapons with which to disarm others ("If you disagree with me, you're a hater, and have I told you about my latest suffering?"), I'm obviously more than happy instead to pray for him while I'm ridiculing and criticizing him. More efficient that way.
We are a both/and people.
DeleteLol, Tom.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to my kids about this last night. How do we deal with really unpleasant people -- especially bullies and mean, nasty people? Pray for them. From a safe distance. Nothing in our Faith says you have to subject yourself to toxicity if you don't absolutely have to.
In some cases, a variation of the "Broadway Prayer" -- "for use when a person or situation in your life weighs heavily on your heart" -- may be appropriate.
Delete1. Thank God for the person.
2. Ask God to change the person in some perceivable way.
3. Thank God for changing the person.
http://disputations.blogspot.com/2002/09/putting-their-names-up-in-lights-fr.html
That's a good one! Thanks!
DeleteThis song is the perfect theme song for the Benedict Option. In the same that the bomp-putter didn't really make a girl fall in love with the guy, so the Benedict Option doesn't really have anything to do with getting closer to God.
ReplyDeleteI think a good Hank Hill/Bobby internet meme for the Benedict Option would be "Don't you understand? You aren't making monasticism better, you're making prepping worse!"
That's perfect for Dante, Pauli, but, as I was thinking, the BO is really a brand franchise, so an appropriately run home poodle clipping studio, for example, is just as eligible for official BO branding as a monastery.
DeleteTo to be an officially recognized BO franchise, it needs to be awarded a badge.
This just popped into my head for some reason as a starting point, probably for the simplicity of it rather than the content, but we need to come up with an official BO logo/graphic we can award to those like Eve Tushnet, Father Longenecker, Ed's Bait Shop, the lunchroom ladies at Phipps Elementary, and all others who claim to endorse the BO as their Option of Choice when officially option choosing.
There are a lot of really good ideas here. I think you guys should be careful -- if Nimb-Rod Dreher reads this blog, he might coopt your stuff like he expropriated Dante and Benedict. If I were you I would put a copyright on all posts and comments.
DeleteI mean, you just know that he's letting the peanut gallery write his book for him, doncha? :-)
Errr -- of course I meant the peanut gallery at amconmag.
DeleteWe're the walnut gallery.
DeleteThis blog is free... like the wind, man. It's all groovy.
Of all the cockamamie absurdity he has cooked up this "Birthright Israel for Christians" bit has to be the silliest idea yet. And he is begging for your feedback, but mind you, he won't hear one bad word about it!
ReplyDeleteIt shows just how checked out from reality he and many of his disciples are, though. Sure, sure, if you take a bunch of yuppy 19 year olds on a free trip to Paris and Rome and Prague they'll be focused on developing their personal holiness through architectural sightseeing, not enjoying the lower drinking age and all the profane pleasures offered in those highly secular European nations. Seems legit.
Lol!!! Reminds me of my undergraduate semester in Italy. In fact, it did have its spiritual side. But yeah, just as much its wine and nightlife side.
DeleteFollowing Keith's post showing the alleged source material for the Be-BOp, we have now been treated to the selfiest Dreher selfie of all time.
ReplyDeletePretentious glasses? Check. Important book? Check. Trendy craft beer? Check. While slyly giving readers a finger (if not the finger) for bonus points.
But the trained seals respond in the desired manner. Best one is from "James C" who begins his comment (whether intentionally or not) with the appropriate honorific for a cult leader:
My Lord, Rod.
Yes, with a period. Take heed, minions, on how to get your comment published over there.
P.S. Sorry for the repetitive deletions -- I wanted to fix a little something in the first one but broke it worse in the second.
Phallic selfie, check....
DeletePauli: "Phallic selfie, check...."
DeleteRemember, before all else, the number one thing that RD is selling is RD.
I guess there is a niche market for this kind of thing.
See, if I was reading a book with a beer between my knees (which BTW I wouldn't be doing) and one of my kids came up and took a goofy picture of me peering over the top of the book I'd make him delete it. There's nothing wrong with a little self-deprecation, as I hope I make clear in my writings, but if you beg for ridicule don't be surprised if you get some.
DeleteThat's a self-taken selfie, IMO. He's taking the picture with his right hand and he's looking at the camera. Besides, I really really hope someone else didn't take it because it would be a really awkward submissive position for that someone to be in, and those dynamics don't compute with me.
DeleteP.S. Can't believe I didn't catch the phallic angle, so to speak. Can't see the forest for the trees, I guess.
". . . if you beg for ridicule don't be surprised if you get some."
ReplyDeleteHater. ;-)
I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to re-arrange and re-direct their family's whole life based on the prophecies and crowdsourced stenography of the distinguised sage depicted in the fine portrait under discussion.
Yeah, just really bad... "BenOptics".
Delete*distinguished
Delete