Friday, April 22, 2016

A sad day in Benedict Option history

Goodnight, sweet Benedict Option Prince

Prince Rogers Nelson - "Prince" - has died, supposedly of complications from the flu, at his home in Minneapolis. He was 57.

As the creator of the Benedict Option tries to cope with the loss of this keystone of his Benedict Option life he had this to say, "He was 57 years old, but really, he was ageless", clearly one of the immortals in the cultural foundation upon which the Benedict Option is built (did I just mix architectural metaphors? I believe I did.)

The death of Prince follows upon the death earlier this year, also at age 57, of his spirited protege, Vanity, famous for the Benedict Option cultural staple, "Nasty Girl".

One of the Benedict Option creator's commenters, a Sam M. cautions its Prophet about the influence of his icon:

Once we’re done grieving, we will of course have to have an intervention with Rod to make sure he doesn’t bring his record collection to BenOp Acres. Little Red Corvette has to be at least as bad for kids as Grand Theft Auto.

But it was so damn good! Which has to count for something.

To which the Bishop of the BenOp tartly responds,

[NFR: Heard “Kiss” lately? It’s as smokin’ hot as the first time you heard it. Not many people can pull that off. — RD]

Not many indeed, no doubt.

But the tragedy doesn't just stop at its impact on the BenOp magisterium. What about the cultural thickening of the children in the ways of the Prince?

[NFR: That’s a question we deal with all the time. My kids don’t know any Prince, but I want to play some for them. Thing is, how can I expose them to the greatness of “Kiss” without making them sit through the awful “Darling Nikki”? One feels one’s way through this carefully. The only total solutions is play NONE of it for them, or let them listen to ALL of it. Neither of those solutions is acceptable to me. — RD]

And so it is abundantly clear that the Benedict Option will be anything but a simple retreat into the wilderness to quietly seek the wisdom and the Grace of God, made even more complicated with the falling of such a shining star from its cultural firmament.

(A disclaimer: because I've never actually heard Prince, I cannot possibly grasp the depth and profundity of loss the Benedict Option community is now suffering from. The best I can do is report what I read from the epistles of its founder.)

GRATUITOUSLY ADDED: The Benedict Option, because you can't offer an alternative that's not the same old, same old, can you.

I'm actually a fan of this type of argument. Take for example, Keith's World Famous Di-Hydrogen Oxide Pills, crucial to staving off Alzheimer's and death in one's later years. Sure, you can criticize, maybe even mock, maybe, if you're really reckless enough, not even buy them. But what's your alternative? So be forewarned: the consequences of non-acquiescence are on you, and God help you if you attempt to sway minors to your foolish ways.

12 comments:

  1. Wait, the Dreher kids have sing-alongs of Diamond Dogs yet Dreher is having problems curating Prince songs for them?

    I'm so confused .....

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    1. Forget it, Jake. The Benedict Option contains multitudes.

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  2. Any love for Lonnie Mack? Or is he not relevant enough to the 1980s culture the Benedict Option must preserve?

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  3. Indeed so, Keith. To wit, a Dreher trained seal nominates Prince for posthumous Benedict Option status:

    In some places [Prince] sounds very much in tune with elements of the Benedict Option: practicing personal virtues of an ascetic sort (though admittedly with a more Protestant sectarian strain of asceticism), developing a family-centered lifestyle, and strategically disengaging from political entanglements.

    And in this post, Dreher brings G.K. Chesterton under the BenOpt wing.

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    1. Yeah, this is DIY religious (Dreher himself tacitly cites Muslims, e.g., his commenter "Jones", as examples of correct orientation) virtue posturing enabled by the creative taxonomy that made Crunchy Cons that - was it a Buick? - whatever it was that zoomed past to take up permanent residence in the rearview mirror.

      First Rule of Benedict Option: talk about Benedict Option, approvingly, crediting Rod Dreher.

      Second Rule of Benedict Option: see First Rule of Benedict Option.

      Third Rule of Benedict Option: if you've gotten this far, whatever you like is cool, so long as you don't do it in the street and frighten the horses. See also the First and Second Rules of Benedict Option.

      This is posthistoric McLuhanesque shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, gesture without motion at its finest.

      One simply cannot over-beat this cheerful, sand-weighted Bozo clown.

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  4. Care to look at the Benop theme song? It is Prince's song "Let's go Crazy."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XMgtqS2clw

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  5. Re: GRATUITOUSLY ADDED

    That's priceless. Dreher setting the terms by which one may criticize the idea he's pimping. Of course, I'm sure he's been doing this all along by his "moderating" of the comments -- this time he screwed up and did it out in the open.

    So take note, world: Unless you have a provably (to Dreher) superior way to Save Christendom than the BenOpt, you are to keep your yap shut.

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    1. Straight out of the Liberal/Obama beg-the-question/assume-his-conclusion playbook. After all, if you have a better way of nationalizing health care than Obamacare, Pik, let's hear it.

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    2. Ah, but the purpose of the Benedict Option is not to Save Christendom. It is, always has always been, and only ever will be to save Rod from his self-described "fear -- terror, actually -- of anarchy."

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    3. I haven't yet put together enough material for a post on it (hint: "Dark Age" Christianity is just the opposite of what Rod claims it to be), but let me tease the concept anyway with this: the Benedict Option is Christianity's tinfoil hat.

      That's it in a nutshell. The BO is that talisman you slap on whatever Christian resources and actions you already have available and either are or are not using adequately or fully - if Penguin Sentinel were to ship a sheet of Reynold's Wrap with Rod's book you could actually form a real, personally tailored cap for your skull - and it will create a magic barrier between you and the ecology of hysteria Rod farms in your head daily rent-free.

      I rather doubt Jesus would sport one, but, really, what does any of this have to do with Him?

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  6. Cleveland's conservative talk AM1420 now gets Larry Elder's show between 7pm and 9pm and he has been RIPPING Prince up and down since his sudden death for (a) being into tin-foil hat garbage (starts around 2:30pm) and (b) being a prescription drug addict. These 2 things often go together, in my experience.

    Prince is a perfect martyr for the BenOp. Maybe his body will be found incorrupt at some point.

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    1. Whoops, meant 2:30 as in 2 minutes 30 seconds, not 2:30pm.

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