Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Open Comment Thread (2015-10)

by Pauli

A little late on posting this. Have at it.



Wow, I said "have at it" last time. What an old, predictable coot I'm becoming.

("Becoming!?" said his kids....)


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Posted by Pauli at 10/07/2015 09:01:00 AM

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109 comments:

  1. KeithOctober 7, 2015 at 6:07 PM

    Cut it off, Rod.

    No, not Li'l Rodlet

    Modernity:

    If the problems necessitating the Benedict Option stem from modernity,

    [NFR: SoCons may blame it on liberalism, but in that they’re only half right. It’s more accurate to blame it on the Enlightenment, or even modernity. Conservatives who think the root of our problems started in the 1960s are blind. — RD]

    why are you continuing to wallow in modernity like a hog in slops?

    #CutItOffRod

    You're name is only known at all because of the Internet, the global river of modernity.

    #CutItOffRod

    You repeatedly fly to Europe like a jet-setter.

    #CutItOffRod

    Your entire Benedict Option book contract hustle is nothing more than an Internet Ponzi scheme. Even your supporters admit as much: you want to sell them a book for a program they cannot possibly follow, after which you'll be back jet-setting to Capri while they're still paying off the credit card.

    #CutItOffRod

    Practice what you preach, Rod. Cut the modernity cord. Get a warehouse job. Put your wife to work as a cashier at a local Walmart. Thin your modern Internet diet to zero and thicken your Christianity the way you're urging your disciples to do while sneering at those you feel are caviling as "MTDers".

    Man up, self-appointed bearded man o' manliness, and make this the last passive-aggressive post you field trolling for pity from those who might otherwise call you to account.

    #CutItOffRod

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. pikkumattiOctober 7, 2015 at 10:53 PM

      My favorite part:

      A couple of days ago, Julie asked me to clean up a dusty corner in which I had stacked piles and piles of books (pointing to the messy mountain, I told her, “That’s how my mind looks”). After ten minutes of work, I sneezed once, then had a massive allergic reaction, and had to sleep for four hours.

      I guess Julie wasn't buying that excuse, at least not without him trying to sell it to the readers ...

      I also picture her winging one of those damn books at his head right after hearing "That's how my mind works."

      Delete
    2. KeithOctober 7, 2015 at 11:49 PM

      After this BO tour as the Lena Dunham of American Christianity, what does Dreher really have? He can continue to chop cotton for Wick Allison on Allison's terms as long as Allison decides he wants to screw around with TAC, but that's not a growing asset for Allison; at best, only an indulgent hobby.

      Dreher's best play is to try to keep speaking about the BO as long as possible without ever writing a book, ideally worming some paid gigs out of it, because once he writes the book and people realize the contribution has only been from the would-be thickeners to Dreher, not vice versa, that whole play will be where Crunchy Cons is right now.

      Dreher's only got so many self-reinventions/reincarnations left at his age before devolving into the fiercely loved favorite of at least 500 - 600 people in some obscure corner of the Internet.

      Mama may end up getting that job as a cashier at the Walmart after all.

      Delete
    3. pikkumattiOctober 8, 2015 at 7:35 AM

      BTW, we've all been warned now (from that same passive-aggressive post):

      My fear is that something will tip me over into Whitney Dafoe territory one day.

      So give him what he wants, or he'll get sick and blame you. Just as he blamed his family for it in the Dante book (with the lagniappe that this illness THEY BROUGHT ON means he's at a higher risk of CANCER).

      Delete
  2. Somenonymous or otherOctober 7, 2015 at 6:21 PM

    So, among Rod's most recent posts are a FAQ on the BO and a post on "pink Christianity," which is, long story short, where Christians who don't meet Rod's standards go to apostasize. So much could be said about the straw-mannery of the former and the presumption and fear-mongering of the latter, but never mind. My point is, look at what he posts sandwiched between these two posts: a post that he himself calls "excellent Dreherbait," recounting a story of some woman's experience with mediums. And astrology. And communicating with her dead husband. Published in Elle. Really, Elle. Rod twitches back and forth between "this is so believable!" and "don't mess with this stuff, kids! It's dangerous!" And between "Don't open doors you can't close with this spiritualism stuff! It's demonic!" and "This is so tempting. Don't do it! Unless you do, because it's so tempting! It's bad! But tempting! Maybe it's real . . . But it's bad!" And just goes on and on examining it for how fascinating he thinks it is, even as he warns of its dangers.

    Then he posts the "pink Christianity" post, in which he talks about how we'll all have to deepen our conversion and take on asceticism more seriously.

    Rod claims (he reiterates this in his "FAQ") that his BO is grounded in Alasdair MacIntyre's work. Reading MacIntyre is a good idea, but don't anyone blame MacIntyre for what Rod may do with his work. Claiming his direction comes from MacIntyre won't make Rod's show go any more smoothly. I remind everyone of this excellent critique of that claim, which I wish would get more exposure among Rod's fans:

    http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/4027/would_alasdair_macintyre_live_in_a_benedict_option_community.aspx

    I mean, really. I read that "medium" post, and then the "pink" one, and saw Rod's little sermonette about how much more serious we have to be about following Christ in the "pink" post, and yet, there sat the post about mediums and astrology, for everyone's . . . edification?

    I really worry about young people who put much stock in Dreher's brand.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. KeithOctober 7, 2015 at 6:29 PM

      I really worry about young people who put much stock in Dreher's brand.

      One can tell by the commenters that, like the Pied Piper, that's who he's trolling for now. His prior conservative peers still far higher up on the status list, particularly those his age and older, have largely seen what an unserious vaudevillian he is and have abandoned him.

      But college age kids with anomie - come to Poppa.

      Delete
  3. KeithOctober 8, 2015 at 7:25 AM

    The two-edged sword that is cynical hipster branding:

    Dreher: Come out to Georgetown and meet your fellow Ben Oppers.

    "Pleased to meet you. I'm Jeff, and this is my wife Susan. We've been..."

    "You're Ben Oppers."

    "Um, well..."

    "That's what you call yourselves, right? Ben Oppers?"

    "Well, we..."

    "Well, that's what Rod Dreher calls you. Ben Oppers."

    "Well, I don't suppose we had much choice...yes...I guess you could call us..."

    "Ben Oppers."

    "Well..."

    "Well, what would you call yourselves?"

    "I really don't know. We do try to follow Rod's Benedict Option. That's what everyone calls us on his blog."

    "So...Ben Oppers."

    "Yes, I suppose so."

    "And these little ones. Your little Ben Oppers?"

    "Our children? Yes. Jacob and John and Hannah."

    "They're beautiful. Ben Oppers."

    "Um, please don't call them that..."

    "Ben Oppers? Why not?"

    "I don't know...just..."

    ReplyDelete
  4. KeithOctober 8, 2015 at 7:44 AM

    BTW, Benny - The Benedict Post - the fake Catholic newsletter sockpuppeted by Rod Dreher to stealth-push his Benedict Option onto potentially wavering Catholics - is still dead. a few post-mortem reflexive retweets which current, genuine Catholics can vet for themselves.

    Let's review Benny:

    - slick, overnight blog launch out of nowhere with accompanying Twitter campaign

    - completely anonymous. A completely anonymous ostensible celebration of Catholicism.

    - every issue contained a homily on the Benedict Option

    - immediately picked up by Dreher's close friends at the Federalist and others

    - then, when suspicion that Benny might be a Dreher sock puppet arose, Benny, having just launched a major competing Catholic newsletter, "went on vacation" for a week

    - and, shortly thereafter, ceased publication entirely, except for those few retweets at the end of September

    - did I mention completely anonymous? A completely anonymous ostensible celebration of Catholicism.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Somenonymous or otherOctober 8, 2015 at 6:52 PM

      I suppose it's possible that some Rod devotee did the Benny blog, with or without Rod's direction.

      Either way, it sure fizzled fast, dinnit?

      Delete
    2. KeithOctober 8, 2015 at 7:51 PM

      I suppose it's possible that some Rod devotee did the Benny blog, with or without Rod's direction.

      If it was a Rod devotee and not Rod, they went on indefinite hiatus precisely as Rod's father went into decline and died, as Rod, as he himself has declared, dropped everything for his father's bedside death watch.

      The only activity Benny has resumed at all - but he has now resumed minimal activity - has been those effortless retweets at the end of September - as Rod at the same time has been on multiple speaking tours.

      But Rod already has multiple online friends, Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox, all openly promoting his Benedict Option. Benny, to the contrary, remains anonymous for some reason - all while ostensibly wanting to do nothing more than promote the overwhelming good news about Catholicism. An anonymous witness to Catholicism.

      I suppose there very well might be an alternate avian creature with broad, webbed feet, waterproof feathers, a flat, orange bill, a tail which wiggles from side to side, which quacks in a distinctive way. What should we call it?

      Delete
  5. AnonymousOctober 8, 2015 at 4:11 PM

    Benny's been occupied elsewhere ... http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000243700/polls_wuzObsessed4_4549_774531_answer_3_xlarge.jpeg

    ReplyDelete
  6. KeithOctober 9, 2015 at 12:56 AM

    With respect to Dreher and his BO, we may very well be privileged to have front row seats to a base jump into madness. Not actually being received as Jean d'Arc could be quite the letdown.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. KeithOctober 9, 2015 at 7:34 AM

      I found a more sophisticated explanation for what I was intuiting with respect to Dreher's heady cluelessness about the high probabilities of the BO disappearing down the same Crunchy Cons rat hole: the Dunning-Kreuger effect, but especially Anosognosia.

      I predict we'll see an increasing intolerance from Dreher toward any individual, group, or faith that doesn't immediately grasp the divine mandate behind his BO.

      Delete
  7. AnonymousOctober 9, 2015 at 10:56 AM

    "The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein relatively unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate."

    Also know as the "LSU Philosophy Minor Effect" where individuals who sat through five undergraduate classes (two upper level) at an SEC party school believe they can pick up any philosophical text; give it a quick one time reading, then discuss the ideas intelligently.

    -A practitioner of Moralistic Therapeutic Anonymity

    ReplyDelete
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    1. DianeOctober 9, 2015 at 12:07 PM

      LOL!!

      But hey, don't knock SEC Party Schools! Roll Tide...Beat Arkansas!!

      Delete
    2. KeithOctober 12, 2015 at 7:55 PM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. KeithOctober 12, 2015 at 7:57 PM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. KeithOctober 12, 2015 at 8:01 PM

      Yep. Remember this?

      Now our little Jackson-Pollock-of-the-religious-consciousness is going to try to turn his Christianity-as-Tupperware-party book branding brain fart into into Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz come to life for romantically mooning, spiritually needy Millennials like Jake Meador.

      Muslim Millennials are flocking to Syria to shoot AK-47 for Jihad and have many babies for Jihad. Our Millennials are inspired by Rod Dreher.

      (Sorry about the two misfires, Pauli)

      Delete
    5. pikkumattiOctober 13, 2015 at 11:42 AM

      And don't forget the carefully staged stack-o-books with pretentious spectacles and prayer beads, all such books carefully selected to show depth of his quick one time reading, as our MTA commenter notes:

      Last night at bedtime, I settled in with a new copy of the leading Reformed theologian James K.A. Smith’s influential book Imagining The Kingdom: How Worship Works....

      Of course, Dreher did let slip a bit of his reading technique:

      Here’s an excerpt from a review of the book:

      and

      I didn’t know this at all last night when I opened the book; I just looked this up online, in fact.

      Oh, I see. But wait, there's more:

      Too tired to start the book from the beginning last night, I opened it up to a random page, and serendipitously found Smith’s discussion of habitus. Here’s an excerpt from Imagining The Kingdom: ...

      Oh well, let's give him time to read more. One month later, we get this:

      It calls to mind the work of the contemporary Reformed theologian James K.A. Smith, which I’m just starting to read....

      I see. I guess there are only so many hours in the day and days in the week to read randomly selected pages from all those books. Further searching of the Dreher blog turns up some later name-dropping, a paragraph from what could be the same random page ("Habitus!" "Excelsior!!") and an excerpt from other essays etc.

      LSU Philosophy Minor Effect, indeed.

      Delete
  8. KeithOctober 13, 2015 at 7:47 AM

    It's not been that long ago in dog years since Rod Dreher was actually awarded a Templeton-Cambridge Fellowship and, between eating and drinking, wrote a dissertation in Cambridge, England on something-something Eastern Asian mashup-Western-fusion bangers and mash, in short, some multi-car mental pileup so bad it has never seen the light of day, even while Dreher had the high ground of being the edito who launched Templeton's Big Questions Online blog.

    This is the musty-dusty book corner mind previously brought to bear on Dante and which is now bearing down on anyone trying to preserve their own Christianity, systematically relabeling and incorporating those efforts into the BO Borg.

    Meanwhile, in his most recent D.C.-Charlottesville posts, the hills are alive, to Dreher's ears at least, with the sound of BO music singing, "Yes, Rod, you're back in the big time! You're one of us! Come organize our chaos under your BO banner and lead us!". I wonder what will happen if and when other voices in those hills try to take back their original ownership of their individual efforts.

    I've got a post in the back of my head on the perils of such artificial branding as "The Benedict Option", a golem assembled from previously religious components but, once fully forged, purely artificial.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousOctober 13, 2015 at 1:04 PM

    It would be unkind to wheels and too kind to Rod Dreher to call the Benedict Option a reinvention of the wheel. It's more like Dreher never having heard of a wheel, started musing about the need for something like a wheel, called that something "The Benedict Option," started looking around, promptly discovered that there are wheels aplenty already, and then started furiously labeling those wheels "The Benedict Option" and trying to take credit for them. Trouble is, Rod was the last one to discover the wheel, not the person who invented it. The wheel in this metaphor represents ordinary Christian commitment of a kind that Dreher himself has never exhibited and that he has never noticed actual Christians exhibiting, because he spends so little time with them, as opposed to time online with the homosexuals and atheists who read his blog.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. KeithOctober 13, 2015 at 3:03 PM

      Bam! Brilliant.

      And surely there will be perceptive wheels unwilling to take that sort of narcissistic appropriation standing still. Or unwilling to have their deep, genuinely felt Christianity rebranded with a perky, fun bed-head designation like "Ben Op".

      Delete
    2. DianeOctober 13, 2015 at 3:28 PM

      I agree. Brilliant.

      There are wheels within wheels, as Bertie Wooster would say. OK, I'm getting carried away....

      Delete
    3. PauliOctober 13, 2015 at 5:09 PM

      The wheel in this metaphor represents ordinary Christian commitment of a kind that Dreher himself has never exhibited and that he has never noticed actual Christians exhibiting, because he spends so little time with them, as opposed to time online with the homosexuals and atheists who read his blog.

      Yes; very well put. Thank you. I've noted in the past that there is an enormous disconnect between Dreher's characterization of Catholics or any Christians and the actual people I know, both in thoughts and actions that one must call these imaginary creatures of his strawmen. John Zmirak effectively employs the "said no one ever" to Dreher's whole drum-beat of Christians-outsourced-morality-to-the-GOP-in-the-80s and other such silliness.

      Delete
    4. pikkumattiOctober 13, 2015 at 5:32 PM

      I've noted in the past that there is an enormous disconnect between Dreher's characterization of Catholics or any Christians and the actual people I know, both in thoughts and actions that one must call these imaginary creatures of his strawmen.

      Excellent point. It would seem from his blog that the Catholics and other Christians that Dreher listens to are either those who comment on his blog, or those in the intellectual community, particularly those who contact him or vice versa.

      But I'd think that is very much a closed if not self-selecting community, don't you? One might think that he'd drive down the street to the local Catholic parish, or the Baptists, et al., to see how the world around him works, and how the actual people (that all of us know from our parishes and churches) think and act in their daily lives. I don't see any indication that he does any of that, tho.

      Of course he is in close contact with his own Orthodox mission, which is all well and good. But that is an extremely small sample size.

      So little surprise that there is such a disconnect, at least working from Dreher's writings, such as they are.

      Delete
    5. DianeOctober 13, 2015 at 8:26 PM

      In this respect, Dreher reminds me do some of the online ultra-rad-trads I've encountered. Maybe they have attended the occasional Ordinary Catholic Mass -- just long enough to p*ss and moan about -- but they have never bothered getting to know the priest and parishioners, the nerve center of the parish. If they had, they would have had a far harder time looking down their snooty noses at all these complex individuals, some of whom exhibit saintliness during suffering and adversity that would put their rad-trad online critics to shame.

      Delete
    6. DianeOctober 13, 2015 at 8:28 PM

      Gaaa, sorry for typos. Should have proofread.

      Delete
  10. UnknownOctober 15, 2015 at 12:22 AM

    Did you hear about this act of sacrilege at a Cambridge Massachusetts Church?http://www.mediaite.com/tv/man-dresses-as-priest-performs-sexual-act-on-church-altar/

    ReplyDelete
  11. pikkumattiOctober 27, 2015 at 11:41 AM

    Those Cleveland people crack me up:

    Cleveland Fan Makes "Browns Quarterback Graveyard" Display for Halloween.

    ReplyDelete
  12. pikkumattiOctober 29, 2015 at 6:22 PM

    In which our Hero passive-aggressively shows how thin is his skin.

    P.S. The foo-fraw arises from Dreher's long-distance defense of his one-way pen pal Ross Douthat in light of a disagreement with a group of theologians (on which Dreher has spilled a tanker-ful of virtual ink in recent days).

    One can only wonder why Dreher is all up in arms about a fight not his own regarding the teachings of a church that he left. A good guess would be that he's currying favor somehow.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. AnonymousOctober 29, 2015 at 6:49 PM

      I cannot believe how long that post is. Did anyone actually read the whole thing? I couldn't stand it. Well, I guess I could have soldiered on, but saw no reason to waste time on it.

      Douthat is linked into the club of cool Catholic kids with book deals and Dreher wants to stay in their clique, no doubt, because it's not like there's an Orthodox equivalent with equal exposure and clout. Same reason he's been kissing up to Leah Libresco lately.

      Delete
    2. KeithOctober 29, 2015 at 8:24 PM

      From some posts back:

      I have come to hate politics. And to think that there was a time when I wanted politics to be my life, when I saw it as something exciting and hopeful and worth doing.

      How wonderful that Rod is so sensitive to have rejected all that political crassness.

      Or maybe not. Rod has simply long ago taken to injecting his sophomoric, catfight and hair-pulling gossipy style of politicizing blog writing into the religions of others, most recently the Catholics and their Synod. He loves the politics of the Catholic Church, for example, can't get enough of their infighting, such as it even may be.

      There's a basic existential disagreement about Dreher that separates Pauli and me to this day. As I understand it, Pauli sees Dreher as once a Catholic, always a Catholic, now marooned in a can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em relationship with his former Church.

      I see something very different: a lazy, not very good LSU student permanently arrested within the Introductory Thinking About Stuff 201 (hence, sophomoric) course that forever imprinted him, whose approach to religion is seriously cleft between assuaging whatever spiritual demons eternally haunt him (sexual purity) and really doing nothing more than working religion as his rice bowl, as just another journalistic "beat".

      Thus, Dreher can become Catholic on the basis of nothing more than a Golly, Gee! at the sight of Chartres Cathedral and just as easily unbecome Catholic because (pick one) a) he became very, very angry (but in a special, soul-angry sort of way, not your pedestrian common angry way) at the Church over the Scandal; b)ugly churches; or c) (my pick) Mama decided no more babies, and a moralizer can't have his wife's birth control prescription surface unexpectedly.

      But since real politics is much harder, far more dependent on the mastery of empirical things like economics and warfare, Dreher took his midnight bull session stoner thinking and his true gift for facile prose out to the frontiers where the competition was far thinner and interpretations, emotive turns of phrases, and the blogging standard of thinking and writing worked best for him: he became the Hollywood Variety of Religion tabloid beat blogger.

      And, if you can invent your own beat in the form of "It was Dante, no really, no really I wasn't mentally ill, that would be the kiss of death" or the Benedict Option to report on, so much the better

      Rod unmixed Channel A: forever a spiritual seeker, peculiarly haunted by sex.

      Rod unmixed Channel B: the Hedda Hopper of religion.

      Delete
    3. KeithOctober 30, 2015 at 12:36 AM

      There's a ruthlessly brilliant Putin-in-Syria opportunism in Dreher's out and out usage of Ross Douthat after having inveigled himself into the Douthat letter affair.

      For one thing, if you Google Dreher over the past 24 hours you get more than one Catholic blogger saying the Douthat letter brouhaha was "first broken by Rod Dreher" or "first brought to my attention by Rod Dreher", evincing a tacit gratitude that beyond-Catholicism Dreher magnanimously clued them in to doings in their own communion.

      This is, as I mentioned, where go-to-guy-for-your-religious-needs Dreher desperately wants to see himself positioned.

      But beneath this there's can even more elegant payload.

      The whole Douthat letter pushback narrative is "how dare they say Ross Douthat isn't qualified to criticize the Catholic Church because he's only an uncredentialed layman", the implicit corollary of which, particularly when coupled with the Catholic gratitude for Dreher's newsbreaking I mentioned is, yes, you guessed it:

      How dare anyone claim similarly uncredentialed ex-Catholic Dreher himself has no business criticizing the Catholic Church.

      See also: Stockholm Syndrome.

      Delete
    4. TomOctober 30, 2015 at 9:24 AM

      Rod has long been a zealous defender of the rights and privileges of professional journalists.The only way for this topic to more perfectly fit into his wheelhouse would be if Bruce Jenner had signed the letter.

      Which makes me wonder who Rod's primary Catholic amplifiers are. Forwarding a link to one of his "The Awful THEM" pieces is understandable, but there must be some people who read his TAC blog regularly and more or less in full, who are the first-round linkers. They must at least notice the other sorts of things Rod blogs about, which must at least suggest the quality of his character to them. And yet they persist in fishing out these pieces, and keeping his name alive in the Catholic blogosphere. I get that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and that you can take it to the bank that Rod will write early and often on anything to do with the Catholic Church, but still.

      Delete
    5. AnonymousOctober 30, 2015 at 10:36 AM

      The entire series of "Catholic theologians v. Douthat" posts - morphing into the "OMG did you realized that academic theologians at major universities aren't espousing the party line of The Society of Saint Pius X" posts raises the same series of questions that come to mind whenever I go on a Dreher reading bender:

      1. Is he really that oblivious to the way the world really is, or is his naivety a carefully constructed act to curry favor with his naïve audience?

      2. Is he really that bad at what he does for a living (writing on impulse while full of righteous indignation rather than thinking through a post); or is he really good at something that is, by it's nature, very bad (impulse concern trolling)? I suspect the latter.

      Anonymous Maximus

      Delete
    6. TomOctober 30, 2015 at 11:38 AM

      AM:

      Re your question 2, can we say both/and? Writing on impulse while full of righteous indignation is what he does, and he keeps doing it because it pays the bills.

      Delete
  13. DianeOctober 30, 2015 at 12:45 PM

    They must at least notice the other sorts of things Rod blogs about, which must at least suggest the quality of his character to them. And yet they persist in fishing out these pieces, and keeping his name alive in the Catholic blogosphere.<=

    I have noticed the same phenomenon, and I too find it mystifying. Yes, he is a malicious concern troll WRT the Catholic Church, and yes, a lot of Catholics enable this. I don't know whether they gullibly buy into the faux concern (the guy is a master manipulator), or whether the poison laced through his posts just whooshes right over their heads, or what.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. KeithOctober 30, 2015 at 6:59 PM

      It seems the New Benedict Option Order can't live without its own gossipy tabloid culture.

      Instead of the Naughty Woodchucks of Punxsutawney, it's the Naughty and Outrageous Academics of Catholic Academe.

      At least the woodchucks are safe for the time being.

      Delete
  14. KeithNovember 3, 2015 at 12:44 PM

    Today in Rod Dreher chickenshitness: Rod publishes the company and company title of an emailer who disagrees with him. See the update.

    Must be a bad quarter for the BO; Rod's been on a nasty streak lately.

    BTW, does anyone know who bought that house at 12025 Indigo Street, St. Francisville, LA, 70775 back on July 1 of last year? I should write to them and let them know they have a famous neighbor in the area.

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    1. AnonymousNovember 3, 2015 at 1:14 PM

      And he'd buy dinner for a cop who threw his "smartass daughter" across the room. Isn't his daughter like, NINE? And an obedient little church girl usually photographed prostrating herself before the cross while wearing a veil? Good gravy, Rod, what is your damage? Why is that where his mind immediately goes when he sees that video? "Oh yeah, my 4th grade daughter could use a beating too, this is awesome!" I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's not a normal reaction or connection to make. Disturbing. This aggression is more than can be explained by his usual manopause symptoms, I think he's starting to crack.

      In all seriousness, as a homeschool family we periodically encounter a family in one of our groups with a dad like Rod. Once I have sized up the situation, we tend to avoid them, since the kids are miserable and the dad is insufferable--paranoid, arrogant, wants to get in the middle of every activity and tell us what to do while not lifting a finger. There's one family I recall in particular where I was this close to calling the authorities because the dad seemed so close to coming completely unhinged, he made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He was always angry, his kids showed obvious signs of distress. He was the same type: a wimp in love with the idea of authority. They disappeared when he decided our group was not ideologically pure enough for his tastes.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousNovember 3, 2015 at 3:11 PM

      Just remembered, the creepy homeschool dad was also a denomination hopper! He passed through our church on his way from a strict Protestant sect to who knows where. We weren't extreme enough for him, just a bunch of sinners trying to be decent Catholics, ho hum.

      Delete
    3. KeithNovember 3, 2015 at 7:49 PM

      As much as I'm willing to believe Rod may need to call up Dante to have his meds adjusted, I'm equally willing to believe this is just another periodic exercise in Rod making the bank happy, i.e., Rod cynically throwing some red meat out he knows the seals will find outrageous and top up Wick Allison's click totals in the process.

      Remember, for an epi-Christian like Rod, Christianity is merely a feed stock substrate its commercial fruiting bodies root in like mushroom compost, spring out of, and feed from.

      Delete
    4. AnonymousNovember 4, 2015 at 2:02 AM

      Oh I am sure his boss is thrilled. And probably knows how to push the buttons to start this kind of meltdown, actually. But from the emotional tone and the sheer length of his posts today, I get the impression Rod cannot control himself. He literally has Dreherrhea.

      Delete
    5. KeithNovember 4, 2015 at 6:30 AM

      Yeah, Caille, I'm also perfectly willing to believe that, like a dog barking uncontrollably at a passing stranger, Rod can often get caught up in his own self-generated feedback loop, where he becomes an ever-more intense consumer of his own production.

      Delete
  15. UnknownDecember 25, 2015 at 10:20 PM

    The Catholic League reported on the overturning of the conviction of Msgr. William Lynn by the Appeals Court. Dreher nor any of his fellow "Advocates" have yet to offer an apology. Proof that these Media Elitists are nothing more than a Glorified Lynch Mobs. http://www.catholicleague.org/msgr-lynns-conviction-overturned//

    ReplyDelete
  16. pikkumattiJanuary 5, 2016 at 10:57 AM

    Nothing identifies one as "The" "American" "Conservative" like a piece quoting large passages from Seymour Hersh(!) as provided by an (alleged) Iranian reader, and how that should inform selection of a US president. To wit (emphasis added):

    It would appear that a Clinton or Rubio presidency would mean continued war in the Middle East and hostility with Russia, even at the expense of US national security interests.

    P.S. Why the architect of the "Reset Button" would in fact mean hostility with Russia is more than somewhat baffling.

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    Replies
    1. KeithJanuary 5, 2016 at 2:37 PM

      Pik, maybe it's just best to think of TAC as a Role-Playing Game, similar to the Benedict Option, the game where, if there were to be a Benedict Option, even a book about it, what role would you play, Jake Meador, Richard Beck, and others? Because if you're not hipster enough to have a role in the Benedict Options Game, what sort of Online Christian Profile do you really have, anyway?

      Here's how the alleged BO Book is handled in the BOG (Benedict Options Game):

      Exhibit A:

      The working title of my forthcoming book is The Benedict Option: Resistance, Resilience, and Resurrection in a Post-Christian Age.

      Exhibit B (my emphases):

      Irenist says:
      January 5, 2016 at 1:55 pm

      All this is still fairly sketchy for me, and I will be putting lots of meat on the bones in the coming months (which means I will be blogging far less about it here; I don’t want to write the whole book in public).

      No dedicated BenOp blog, then? Fair enough.

      I’m very excited for how the book seems to be coming together! (Superb title, for one thing.)

      [NFR: Maybe when the book comes out I can have a dedicated Ben Op blog. Publishers who have been talking to my agent about the book have indicated (reasonably) that they don’t want me to give away the thing for free online before it’s published. — RD]

      So, Pik, if TAC subjunctively were to be American and Conservative, how might it be American and Conservative?

      If Rod were to have a publisher for a BO book, who might that publisher be?

      If the Emperor were to have new clothes, what would they be made of and what color would they be?

      While Muslim Mohammed is building an Islamic Caliphate State - with real RPGs - fey, dream-guided, pseudo-Christian Rod and his online pen pals are building an imaginary Christian RPG world to play in.

      Delete
    2. DianeJanuary 5, 2016 at 2:44 PM

      While Muslim Mohammed is building an Islamic Caliphate State - with real RPGs - fey, dream-guided, pseudo-Christian Rod and his online pen pals are building an imaginary Christian RPG world to play in.

      LOL. Jonathan Carpenter made that exact point in one of the other recent threads. Bears repeating!

      Delete
    3. pikkumattiJanuary 5, 2016 at 4:05 PM

      I see, Keith. The only way to think about the BenOp is indeed as an RPG. Otherwise it would make no sense whatsoever that a thing Dreher has been referring to as "strategic withdrawal" all these months is now rebranded, for purposes of a book-written-for-money, as "Resistance".

      P.S. Nor would it make any sense that a thing largely conceived in response to the same-sex marriage agenda can now be considered as including a progressive wing.

      Delete
    4. KeithJanuary 5, 2016 at 7:02 PM

      It's not a destination, Pik. It's a journey, a never ending process! One the whole family can play.

      Can't wait for the Jugendbopperkorps.

      Delete
    5. KeithJanuary 5, 2016 at 7:08 PM

      Maybe Beck heard me refer to a fictitious Castro Street Snoodling Club and decided he didn't want to get shut out.

      As I mentioned then, how does Dreher police the door to his Mickey Mouse Club? How does he keep whomever wants to RPG under the BO for Web hits out? It's not as if the BO were defined.

      Delete
    6. AnonymousJanuary 5, 2016 at 7:20 PM

      they don’t want me to give away the thing for free online before it’s published. — RD

      Let's see...the BO is a way to save Christianity from the ravages of modernism by:

      1. Strategic withdrawl and abandoning the Great Commission

      2. Putting your own oxygen mask on first thereby caring about yourself more than others

      3. Mammon

      In my best Inigo Montoya voice: "Christianity, you keep using that word, I don't think it means what you think it means."

      Delete
    7. KeithJanuary 6, 2016 at 12:00 AM

      Naive Christians of good heart want to believe the BO is a means to an end, a means to renew a Christianity lost or diluted in the world, perhaps. And that need to believe is the bait.

      But it's not. The BO's completely fulfilled as an end in itself, an endless subject of blog posts, comments, books, and conversation. The end of the road.

      Delete
  17. pikkumattiJanuary 6, 2016 at 12:51 PM

    Today Our Hero is feeling his oats, as we have the first pitch for a sequel to his upcoming best-seller on the BenOpt:

    This is why the Benedict Option is at some point going to have to have an economic aspect. It is too much for me to cover in this first book, but if the book becomes a best-seller, that is a good sequel. Or maybe somebody else (Caleb Bernacchio?) can write it.

    The false modesty is a nice touch.

    Beyond that the post is far TL/DR for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2016 at 12:53 PM

      RD today:

      "I will be traveling next month to Norcia for a short retreat with the Benedictines, on which I will be interviewing some of them for the Benedict Option book"

      God bless the U.S. tax code and the business expense deduction.

      Delete
    2. DianeJanuary 9, 2016 at 2:03 PM

      Those poor monks!!!!

      Delete
    3. PauliJanuary 11, 2016 at 12:37 AM

      Those poor monks!!!!

      Well they did take a vow of poverty, lol.

      Maybe some of the monks will set him straight on the silliness of "BenOpping".

      My first thought: here is another great example of Dreher going back to Catholicism for inspiration, or whatever. There are Orthodox Benedictines, and I know from cursory study that ROCOR has Benedictine communities in the states. This is the kind of thing that he does which gives evidence to (1) my belief that he is still basically a dissenting Catholic rather than a serious Orthodox and (2) our theory that he is always trying to find an excuse to visit Italy.

      Delete
    4. TomJanuary 11, 2016 at 7:28 AM

      The Benedictines do have a charism of hospitality. The Rule states, "Let everyone that comes be received as Christ." If you've got the scratch to get to Norcia, the monks there will be happy to welcome you.

      Other Benedictine charisms, the Internet informs me, include stewardship, obedience, and stability. Sound like any book proposal we know?

      My impression is that the only thing Rod Dreher's Benedict Option has in common with the Benedictine Order are some of the letters. The only constant in descriptions of the BenOp is, "No, we aren't saying you need to join a monastery."

      But then, if Rod cared about Benedictine spirituality, he wouldn't be going to Norcia. He'd just visit some of the dozens of Benedictine abbeys in the United States, whose monks are just as capable of teaching him as those at Norcia (an abbey that, in its present incarnation, is all of sixteen years old).

      My expectation is the solder that joins the chapter on Norcia to the rest of the BenOp book is going to be pretty weak, though I don't expect many readers to test that join.

      Delete
    5. DianeJanuary 11, 2016 at 11:14 AM

      But then, if Rod cared about Benedictine spirituality, he wouldn't be going to Norcia. He'd just visit some of the dozens of Benedictine abbeys in the United States, whose monks are just as capable of teaching him as those at Norcia....

      Ay, there's the rub.

      Delete
    6. PauliJanuary 11, 2016 at 12:59 PM

      Other Benedictine charisms, the Internet informs me, include stewardship, obedience, and stability. Sound like any book proposal we know?

      This is a really good thing to remind us about, Tom. The "do as I say, not as I do" was noticed 9 years ago.

      Delete
    7. KeithJanuary 11, 2016 at 1:44 PM

      To this point, Pauli, your quote o' the day from

      jaybird says:
      January 11, 2016 at 12:11 pm

      I always find it odd when Rod gets all sentimental over an artist like David Bowie, who was arguably one of the most corrosively influential people who lead the way in degrading and subverting just about every cultural touchstone people like Rod otherwise hold dear. Is there anyone who did more to acclimatize middle America to the sort of androgynous trans-sexual gender-swapping that Rod regularly claims will ultimately destroy Western civilization? I mean, what’s the point of having a Benedict Option to withdraw from the supposedly toxic mainstream culture if you’re just gonna hand your kids records by the Stones and Bowie, who more or less epitomize the sort of hedonistic nihilism that you’re supposedly trying to defend against? Seems like you’re deliberately sabotaging your own plans there, but that’s just me.

      Delete
    8. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2016 at 2:38 PM

      Rod's constant reminders that he listens to Bowie & Lou Reed, or watches True Detective & Downton Abbey or loves himself some Parisian oysters is just his version of the virtue signaling that he supposedly distains.

      He's just reminding the media elites that he's not like his beloved dead saintly sister; that he doesn't just subsist on chicken fried steak, domestic beer & country music ... he's a sophisticate and available to be their house n%$$#r, err I mean their house "conservative" when they need someone to whip out 1,000 words on a recent Supreme Court decision for Time.

      Sounds like he's raising quite the brood of stoic young men down there too.

      -Anonymous Maximus

      Delete
    9. pikkumattiJanuary 11, 2016 at 2:38 PM

      Nothing says "thickening" Christian culture in the Benedict Option way like gathering the kids together in the living room together for a sing-along of Diamond Dogs. Here's the first verse:

      As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent
      You asked for the latest party
      With your silicone hump and your ten inch stump
      Dressed like a priest you was
      Tod Browning's freak you was

      "Daddy, who's Tod Browning?" "Well, my darling daughter, he's the director of that old movie Freaks".

      P.S. I had to look up Tod Browning.

      P.P.S. For those unfamiliar with Freaks, just do a Youtube search of "gooble gobble one of us we accept her". But I'd rather not post the link to it.

      Delete
    10. KeithJanuary 11, 2016 at 4:08 PM

      And nothing says that it's all about the Benjamins more than Dreher - completely clueless to the fact that his own Benedict Option slides off of him himself, traction-free, as if he were made of Teflon - slobbering over Bowie, the Stones, etc.

      See, folks, it's like this: the BO is the crucial, pivotal program to save Christianity and ourselves from the ravaging culture - except for all those hall passes everybody gets for the really important exceptions.

      Yeah, thass right, uh-huh, we're ancient, we're authentic, we be thick, yo.

      Delete
    11. DianeJanuary 11, 2016 at 4:43 PM

      Because finally it's all about getting to sit at the Cool Kids' Table.

      Pik, I saw Freaks when I was in college. One of those free campus movie showings. A lifetime's worth of brain bleach would not be sufficient to wipe that scene from my memory banks. I can truly say I wish I'd never seen it. Ever, ever, ever. But hey, some aspiring Cool Kids told me it was classic or something.

      Delete
    12. pikkumattiJanuary 12, 2016 at 11:24 AM

      It's getting ugly over on the Dreher Bowie combox. One polite commenter named Joshua Reagan poses:

      Polite commenters ask reasonable questions about how to square consumption of transgressive pop culture with a lifestyle of Christian Orthodoxy. Instead of substantive responses, they get petty insults (“long walk, short pier, pal”, “closed-minded dullard automatons”).

      I suppose that’s one way to make clear that the Dreher-Benedict Option excludes fundamentalism!

      To which the creator of the "Dreher-Benedict Option" responds:

      [NFR: You go jump off the same pier into the Puddle of Glum, fella. — RD]

      Oooh, someone's skin is a little thin over that nerve. But not to worry, the faithful trained seals are coming to the rescue. One of those seals pulls the curtain back a little farther than intended, cutting directly to the point:

      I can only speak for myself, but I’ve always considered it completely logical that the Inquisitor be able to enjoy things that he might want to keep away from the sheep. Indeed, his ability to properly sift the tares and wheat can often also grant a higher appreciation for the talent, or nuance or whatever while the regulars only pick up on the bestial or banal message.

      And that's just it, isn't it? Dreher is to be entitled to enjoy the very things that we unwashed won't understand or appreciate anyway.* This is the very thing that Thomas Sowell refers to in Intellectuals and Society(summarized here -- I highly recommend the entire book) and elsewhere as "the vision of the anointed" -- where the self-appointed elites produce ideas as their only product (ala Dreher's "life of the mind"), but do not subject those ideas to accountability in the real world. Their ideas only have accountability among others in the elite, which results in a community of the like-minded congratulating one another but having no responsibility for actual results.

      IMO, that is the Benedict Option in a nutshell. With the variation that Dreher has been crowdsourcing his idea-product, and will be borrowing from those who are actually living the idea (so long as they're in a pretty place with great food like Italy). Sort of a poor man's Vision of the Anointed, but with all of the other trappings.

      *I could go all Godwin's Law here and draw an analogy with Goebbels destroying Western art works but keeping the really good stuff for himself, but I won't.

      Delete
    13. KeithJanuary 12, 2016 at 1:02 PM

      Pik, I agree with everything you say, completely, in both form and substance.

      Earlier today I was putting together the words "Dungeons & Dragons for boutique Christianity", but you have elaborated it completely.

      The greatest irony of the Benjamins Option is that it could not have been born before the advent of that novel modern cultural form, the Internet. Members and patrons of the boutique can only find one another among the chaff via this revolutionary form of human communication and reorganization.

      Thus, the Benedict Option is as radically modern with respect to Christianity as Caitlyn Jenner is to human sexuality - that is precisely its appeal to its consumers.

      Go to church, go home and eat fried chicken and potato salad - who does that anymore other than lower caste MTD commoners?

      Delete
    14. DianeJanuary 12, 2016 at 1:18 PM

      Indeed, his ability to properly sift the tares and wheat can often also grant a higher appreciation for the talent, or nuance or whatever while the regulars only pick up on the bestial or banal message.

      If Rod eats the apple, he will be like God, knowing both good and evil.

      Sounds positively satanic.

      Delete
    15. PauliJanuary 12, 2016 at 1:33 PM

      Now, now, Diane. Let's not go all David Brooks on Drump.

      Delete
    16. pikkumattiJanuary 12, 2016 at 3:17 PM

      UPDATE: Commenter Joshua Reagan responds to the "jump in the Puddle of Glum" snark from Dreher with a version of the "vision of the anointed" idea:

      Not all of us can be social butterflies who get into all the best cocktail parties!

      To which we are treated with Dreher's touchy response:

      [NFR: That’s all you got? The Georgetown Cocktail Party thing? For a guy who lives in a town of 1,700 in the rural South? You need to find you another blog to read. — RD]

      Direct hit, Joshua! Nice work! If you want to take Dreher's invitation to read another blog, you're welcome over here.

      Delete
    17. DianeJanuary 12, 2016 at 4:26 PM

      Oops, sorry, Pauli. I should have said "Sounds positively diabolical." That sounds more Dantean. Plus, in Rod's case, the apple would have to be baked with the proper liqueur drizzle.

      Delete
    18. KeithJanuary 12, 2016 at 4:38 PM

      [NFR: That’s all you got? The Georgetown Cocktail Party thing? For a guy who lives in a town of 1,700 in the rural South? You need to find you another blog to read. — RD]

      The moral leadership of the Benjamins Option: a petulant Web bully, unable to stand up for or defend himself in the real world of his town of 1,700 in the rural South where he is currently lunching and planning his Walker Percy Weekend between driving his big rig, luring passersby into his safe space online to run the gauntlet of the curator's knife.

      For this Christ died for our sins, but now all His churches need Benjamins Option fixing.

      It's too bad there's not another spot where we could invite commenters "curated out" from Rod's blog to EQE.

      Delete
  18. TomJanuary 7, 2016 at 7:11 AM

    Surely someone has already called this whole gig Rod's Benjamins Option.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KeithJanuary 11, 2016 at 2:21 PM

      Man, I must have read transparently right through this the first time.

      Pure gold.

      "Rod Dreher's Benjamins Option" is my new go-to phrase.

      Delete
  19. KeithJanuary 9, 2016 at 7:35 PM

    "Benedict Option" is now a poster on forums.catholic.com:

    http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?p=13565453

    "Benedict Option"'s profile:

    http://forums.catholic.com/member.php?s=4ac1821f74857d294c19932ee21fcb60&u=488090

    Only been up since August, about the time Benny went into decline.

    Well, I suppose that's one way to shovel your marketing uphill.

    Maybe "Drink More of Keith's Favorite Beer" should become a poster on forums.catholic.com. It wouldn't really matter what I said; actually, given Drumpist logic, the worse would be better. All that matters is that my slogan get circulated, never mind that there isn't even any content behind it.

    I'm beginning to think that Dreher's gullible or starf*cking enablers (not necessarily forums.catholic.com, by any means) may actually be worse than he is and deserve my schadenfreude more. Little leg-humping parlor dogs like Dreher can't help himself, it's long been burned into his DNA at this point.

    But there are statistically quite enough others who can see quite easily how Dreher's shamelessly using Christianity to hustle for his own venal ends actually accelerates the historical trend away from a Christianity increasingly perceived as corrupt to the core and toward a secularizing liberalism.

    But, like the dentist who drills tiny holes in your child's teeth and packs them full of carbs and caries bacteria, that's how you promote the greater good.

    ReplyDelete
  20. KeithJanuary 12, 2016 at 10:02 PM

    The lowest-priced book in this collection is $2.97. Can you find it amid its competitors? What alternatives would cost you more?

    Does this help explain why Rod Dreher is dissembling with his readers about actually having a contract with a publisher for his Benjamins Option book only being speculatively pursued currently? Remember, at last notice from Dreher recently his agent was only in discussions; no publisher has been named.

    Perhaps this is how Dreher intends to thicken Chistianity: a strategic Benedict Option al-Taqiyya.

    ReplyDelete
  21. pikkumattiJanuary 19, 2016 at 4:37 PM

    In which the BenOpt now merges into Crunchy Con with a foodie angle, with no mention whatsoever of "thickening" or otherwise preserving Christian culture.

    ReplyDelete
  22. pikkumattiJanuary 22, 2016 at 9:03 AM

    When you're a professional blogger, this is the sort of thing you post to show that it's really all about you.

    There is exactly no other point to that post. Yet some are still compelled to comment there ("what a telling story"; "that is a very chilling story ..."; etc.).

    ReplyDelete
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    1. PauliJanuary 22, 2016 at 11:31 AM

      To be wed in an Elma Fudd voice, title: How my sista almost got WAPED!

      Delete
    2. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2016 at 12:42 PM

      It's disturbing how much he seemed to relish that possibility.

      Delete
    3. KeithJanuary 22, 2016 at 4:53 PM

      There is little more vast than the suggestive possibilities inherent in a literary foil: the anonymous emailer who supports one's position but cannot be examined, the family ghost only privately encountered, the unseen bogey-man beyond the door.

      These sorts of attempted seductions make vampires look positively ascetic by comparison, and, as Pik notes, there is never a shortage of brides-to-be.

      Delete
  23. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2016 at 2:11 PM

    A public service announcement. Scroll down to no. 4.

    http://tinyurl.com/zbuv3wo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PauliJanuary 29, 2016 at 3:41 PM

      I guess those poisoning experts just don't understand the importance of the sacraments.

      Delete
  24. pikkumattiFebruary 9, 2016 at 12:54 PM

    BREAKING NEWS: Dreher is off the Trump bandwagon. Because waterboarding. And despite Trump picking on Dreher's hate target of Ted Cruz.

    P.S. In the first linked post, Dreher explains why he was a closet Trumpkin to begin with:

    I’ve enjoyed the Trump show. I’ve enjoyed the way he’s shaken up the Republican Party, frazzled Conservatism, Inc., and put the state of the beleaguered white working class into the political conversation. I liked him when he was a threat to established interests.

    That's funny -- it is hard to come up with a more "established interest" than Donald Trump himself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. pikkumattiFebruary 16, 2016 at 11:38 AM

      And Dreher climbs back on the Trump bandwagon. In Dreher fashion, of course, meaning with enough of a disclaimer that the Cool Kids don't completely dissociate from him (emphasis in original):

      Donald J. Trump, who is probably the least Berryan figure in the country, is the only one of the GOP candidates who is talking to and for Republican voters who are living in the maelstrom. Don’t misunderstand me: Trump is absolutely not the standard-bearer of Berryan politics! (And that’s the understatement of the year.) But how incredibly weird is it that in 2016, the candidate that speaks most to the condition of those conservatives displaced by the economics and the wars of the Establishment is the loudmouth New York billionaire? Whether or not he has solutions to their condition is a secondary issue. He’s the one who sees, or who at least intuits, that something very wrong has happened, and that the neoliberal order built by the Republican and Democratic Establishment has broken some fundamental things.

      Yeah, Trump hates the Republican party, so he's Dreher's guy. IOW, Dreher's saying screw the country, as long as the GOP fat cats get screwed.

      Delete
    2. pikkumattiFebruary 17, 2016 at 5:47 PM

      More support for Trump from Dreher today. This time it's how a social conservative can favor Trump over the other Republican candidates. In short:

      1) Trump is pro-choice, but a pro-choice president doesn't matter because abortion is legal, and if Roe is overturned, it would go back to the states. (The same could be said to support Hillary Clinton for president.)

      2) Obergefell is the law of the land so it doesn't matter who is president. (The same could be said for Hillary Clinton.)

      3) And here's the howler on religious liberty (Dreher's own words this time, not a quote from someone else he can hide behind):

      [Trump] has said publicly that he will make protecting religious liberty a priority. Does he mean it? I have no idea, and you don’t either. He is no religious conservative. But he is a populist who doesn’t care what the donor class thinks, because he is not indebted to them. It is reasonable to think that religious liberty stands a better chance with Trump in the White House than any other Republican. Mind you, that’s the soft bigotry of low expectations, but that just goes to show you how weak the position of us religious and social conservatives has become within the Republican Party.

      Shallow and sophomoric analysis. He could just as well as said "because".

      Delete
    3. KeithFebruary 18, 2016 at 7:49 AM

      Rod Dreher really has only two discernible tropisms, a psychological rather than moral aversion to the ickiness of human sex and a compulsion to sample the universe orally (but not sexually). In other words, he's this two-dimensional guy.

      Beyond that, he's little more than a whorehouse of values position possibilities with many, many rooms, the only ones to conceivably be foreclosed being those which gain him no attention. Like Ross Douthat, writing generously not only about that in addition to writing about this but also about the other is the overflowing bucket of sardines he offers his seals in lieu of anything resembling true thoughtfulness.

      A writer is just that and only that: an extruder of words, like a machine that spits out an endless turd of moist kibble.

      Delete
    4. pikkumattiFebruary 18, 2016 at 9:40 AM

      And right on cue, Keith, Dreher publishes the other side of that faux argument.

      An overflowing bucket of sardines indeed.

      Delete
  25. pikkumattiFebruary 12, 2016 at 6:43 AM

    In which Dreher is micro-aggressed by the parlor at Monticello.

    Oh, and there's this:

    I wondered: Had I been alive during the Revolution, would I have been a Loyalist to the Crown, for the same reasons that being in Jefferson’s house and being confronted in his art by his Enlightened sensibilities made me feel so surprisingly alien.

    Well of course he would. He'd follow the strong man, especially if that man is fighting against the founding principles of the Nation.

    The post also includes a lovely UPDATE in which Dreher renders the appropriate disavowal of Jefferson's owning of slaves.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. AnonymousFebruary 12, 2016 at 9:45 AM

      The Nascent Benedict Option...Episode 16

      Whilst visiting Thomas Jefferson's estate, our hero is conflicted when he suddenly realizes that his protean anti-enlightenment, anti-modern, medieval role playing idea to save Christianity stands in conflict with most, if not all, of the founding principles of his nation.

      In desperation he flees Monticello in search of a Gothic Cathedral, only to also learn that, during the high and late medieval period, there were no Christians building Gothic cathedral in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

      He really needs to just bite the bullet and move to Belarus

      -Anonymous Maximus

      Delete
    2. PauliFebruary 12, 2016 at 10:35 AM

      It's about time he pulls a Whoopie Goldberg and leaves the country over Thomas Jefferson who, after all, is just a precursor to Donald Trump.

      But Belarus? I think he'd rather choose Italy. Place is swarming with non-Benedict Option Catholics, tho'.

      Delete
    3. AnonymousFebruary 12, 2016 at 11:04 AM

      But Belarus? I think he'd rather choose Italy.

      It's perfect - it's non-western, orthodox, overlooked by the enlightenment, certainly not too modern, ruled by a strong man, but not one with the negatives of Putin. It's the "thinking" man's Russia

      -Anonymous Maximus

      Delete
    4. KeithFebruary 12, 2016 at 3:10 PM

      Here is the great mind even now in the process of curating Your Benedict Option:

      [NFR: My guess is that I would have sided with the British (though as a patriot, I hope not!) because the ideas of the Enlightenment would have struck me as a threat to the organic order. — RD]

      Would that be the organic order, organically the natural order of things since our days in the Rift Valley, where the victorious tribe kills all the males of the defeated tribe, rapes and subjugates its surviving women, and then sells those it doesn't want as vessels to pass on its genes into slavery? That organic order?

      The organic order that placed the Medieval peasant naturally and permanently at the base of the social order because in the organic order it was his "proper place"? That organic order?

      Would that threat to the organic order include such a declarative punch in the nose to it that, to the contrary of the organic order under which Laurus was content to live, "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..."? That sort of threat to the organic order?

      Would that threat to the organic order ultimately manifest itself in the Emancipation Proclamation? That sort of threat?

      Listen, it's hard to come to any other conclusion: if you're a Christian and you're still buying what Rod Dreher's peddling, you are demonstrably among the most stupid of incorrigibly mindless herd animals, and the argument that your proper destiny in life has always been to be the food stock of a higher predator like Dreher may not be entirely without merit.

      Delete
    5. pikkumattiFebruary 12, 2016 at 5:38 PM

      Exactly so, Keith.

      A larger question for those tempted to follow Dreher down this path to intellectual ruin: Exactly what part of this:

      We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

      is inconsistent with human nature as instilled in each of us by God Himself, in His own image? Or, to put it another way, is a threat to the true "organic order"?

      P.S. The comments in the Dreher Monticello thread are frightening in their revisionism. One example here, and another.

      In other comments, Jefferson's flaws as a man outweigh his contributions. Prime example here, with another and still another. With ignorance like that, we'll be renaming Jefferson High Schools and pulling down Jefferson statues before long.

      "The" "American" "Conservative" indeed.

      Delete
  26. DianeFebruary 16, 2016 at 6:05 PM

    there were no Christians building Gothic cathedral in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.>

    Well, hey, maybe not during the High Middle Ages, but a little later....

    Ever see the chapel at Duke? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  27. DianeFebruary 16, 2016 at 6:10 PM

    BTW, for yet another instructive example of What Happens to Self-Appointed Leaders of Intentionally Communities Made Up Out of Whole Cloth, see here:

    http://www.washingtonian.com/2016/02/14/the-sex-scandal-that-devastated-a-suburban-megachurch-sovereign-grace-ministries/

    Yeah, I know--megachurches, Dreherrian betes noires. But this particular cult was founded by two ex-Catholics who thought they could do it all better than the Church. Sound familiar?

    Thank goodness there will never actually be any BenOp communities!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DianeFebruary 17, 2016 at 8:34 AM

      Should read "Intentional," not "Intentionally." Ack. I would blame it on AutoCorrect, but I don't think this site has AutoCorrect. ;)

      Delete
  28. DianeFebruary 19, 2016 at 12:01 PM

    So, has our Working Boy weighed in on the Trump-Pope Fracas? [shudder]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. pikkumattiFebruary 19, 2016 at 1:09 PM

      Need you even ask? Of course he has. Here's Dreher's oh-so-learned take:

      Me, I think being called “not a Christian” by this Pope, however conditionally, can only help Trump. Chances are that American Catholics of the political right who are inclined to support Trump will see his denunciation by Francis as a sign that he (Trump) is on the right path....

      It is interesting to consider that Francis is all “who am I to judge?” when it comes to gays and lesbians, but is willing to read people out of Christianity for opposing open borders to immigration.

      Here's a saner take. And the correct one, IMO.

      Delete
    2. DianeFebruary 19, 2016 at 2:25 PM

      LOL, thanks, Pik.

      This is my shocked face. :o

      Yes, that is indeed a saner take. Thank you!!

      Delete
    3. KeithFebruary 19, 2016 at 5:11 PM

      As more than one person has pointed out, a number of current presidential candidates have flogged their keep-the-illegals-out creds in recent months.

      But Trump, being Trump, wanted the conversation to be about him.

      And Drump, being Drump, and having exhausted underage teen sexting as a strategic Christian withdrawal for the time being, wanted the conversation to be about Drump about Trump.

      Delete
    4. PauliFebruary 19, 2016 at 5:46 PM

      As Donohue has point out twice, here and here, this whole thing is really about the media.

      Trump even pointed this out to A. Cooper in that interview last night.

      Dreher is part of the media, so he isn't going to note that the Pope's remark "...I give the benefit of the doubt..." is basically a restatement of who am I to judge.

      I wish the Pope had just said "KISS MY ROYAL ASS!" to the press, but I think we're at least a century away from an Irish Pope.

      Delete
  29. DianeFebruary 29, 2016 at 1:52 PM

    I hesitate to ask....

    OK, so *Spotlight* won Best Picture. Has Dreher jumped right on this as a pretext for yet more whinging about how the Catholic Church betrayed his trust and drove him away in utter disgust and contempt, blahdeblah, whereas Orthodox monks importing Ukrainian novices for the express purpose of molesting them at will somehow failed to arouse his ire, Because Pretty Icons?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. pikkumattiMarch 1, 2016 at 10:35 AM

      Surprisingly, not yet.

      P.S. On that topic, Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review had good things to say about the movie.

      Delete
    2. DianeMarch 1, 2016 at 10:55 AM

      Thanks, Pik.

      Yeah, I kinda want to see the movie, actually. Especially since I'm from Boston.

      Delete
    3. pikkumattiMarch 1, 2016 at 4:22 PM

      And right on cue, Dreher chimes in with his experience on watching Spotlight. TLDR, but it is noticeable that the piece is far more about Dreher (incl. his martyrdom for his dogged investigative reporting) than it is about the movie.

      On his Orthodoxy experience, we get this:

      I formally left Catholicism for Orthodoxy a decade ago, and before long fell right back into the same kind of mess, fighting battles within the Church among bishops and insiders, a war I was no longer equipped emotionally or spiritually to wage. I don’t do that anymore, not because there aren’t important issues at stake, but because I can’t handle it, to be honest. I tell people that once you’ve stared into that Palantir, it does something to you, and you’re not the same anymore.

      Y'all are more in the know than I on his heroic struggles with Orthodox hierarchy, so I'll look for your comments.

      Delete
    4. UnknownMarch 2, 2016 at 12:09 AM

      Dr. Donohue had some comments about Dreher's feigned outrage"Bill Donohue comments on the sexual abuse of minors:

      Most Americans are truly outraged over the sexual abuse of minors, but there are many who feign anger. Take Mark Ruffalo, star of “Spotlight”: he held a protest outside a Cathedral—almost no one showed up—before the Oscars. Upon receiving his award, the movie’s screenwriter, Josh Singer, took the occasion to lecture Pope Francis. He’s a little late: most of the homosexual abuse in the Church took place between 1965 and 1985. If these people were sincere, they would focus on all abusers, not just priests. For example, the following recent cases elicited no protests.
      ◦In January, a Saint Paul, Minnesota man was sentenced to 270 days in jail for molesting two girls under the age of 15
      ◦In January, a Schenectady, New York man who had previously raped a disabled woman was sentenced to six months in jail for abusing two girls: one was 7 and the other was 9
      ◦In January, a rabbi from East Brunswick, New Jersey was convicted of indecent assault of a child under the age of 13; he was sentenced to 11-23 months
      ◦In February, a Phoenix man was placed on probation for sexually abusing a teenage girl
      ◦In February, a West Linn, Oregon man was sentenced to two months in jail for sexually molesting male students
      ◦In February, a Cheyenne, Wyoming man was given 5 years probation for having sex with a 14-year-old girl
      ◦In February, a Brooklyn rabbi was sentenced to 60 days in jail for groping four boys, forcing two of them to perform oral sex on him
      [Only one New York newspaper, the Daily News, did a story]

      Priests, of course, are treated differently. To wit: a Missouri priest who possessed child pornography, Fr. Shawn Ratigan, was sentenced to 50 years in prison, even though he never abused anyone. And Fr. Gordon MacRae was sentenced to 67 years for a crime that most independent observers agree he never committed. But there will be no “Spotlight” movie about MacRae’s ordeal. Bet on it.

      Delete
  30. pikkumattiMarch 2, 2016 at 3:08 PM

    And the attacks on the Church keep coming.

    I had seen ads for an upcoming ABC sitcom entitled "The Real O'Neals", and feared it might be one of the usual attacks on Christians. But it is aimed directly at Catholics, and appears to be even worse than I'd feared.

    From that review:

    And the jokes keep coming: There’s even a statue of the Virgin Mary positioned above the O’Neals’ toilet bowl.

    It’s easy to see where this sitcom is going — using Kenny’s story of gay liberation as a vehicle for co-creator and former sex columnist Dan Savage to work out some hard feelings he has against his parents, his upbringing and a world that didn’t understand him. But besides being heavy-handed, the humor is bitter — depriving the audience of any opportunity to see the characters as individuals, let alone like them. One wonders how network programmers would react if the offensive jokes heard here were used against another religious group.

    But Catholics are fair game.

    That’s the message of “The Real O’Neals.”

    If you haven't heard of the vile Dan Savage, here's a start.

    H/T Wall Street Journal op/ed page for the NY Post review.

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    Replies
    1. TomMarch 5, 2016 at 9:13 AM

      People should really be forced to answer questions about this one. Th Disney executive who said, "Dan Savage wants to do a sitcom about Irish Catholics? Hand me that contract!" The marketing VPs who said, "Disney wants to sell us advertising time on a Dan Savage sitcom about Irish Catholics? Hand me that contract!"

      Nothing barbed or gotcha. Just, "Talk me through your thought process."

      I expect, though, that the show will be canceled by the time the interviews could be scheduled.

      Delete

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