Thursday, November 22, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Dystopia: Introduction
Dystopia: Introduction
Excerpt:
A biography of Blessed Titus Brandsma tells us that, 'in 1935, Blessed Titus Brandsma wrote against anti-Jewish marriage laws, which brought him to the attention of the Nazis. Titus later wrote that no Catholic publication could publish Nazi propaganda and still call itself Catholic; this led to more attention. Continually followed by the Gestapo, the Nazi attention led to his arrest on 19 January 1942. For several weeks he was shuttled from jail to jail, abused, and punished for ministering to other prisoners.
Titus Brandsma was deported to the Dachau concentration camp in April 1942. There he was overworked, underfed, and beaten daily; he asked fellow prisoners to pray for the salvation of the guards. When he could no longer work, he was used for medical experiments. When he was no longer any use for experimentation, he was murdered. He died July, 26, 1942 by injection with a deadly drug that, ten minutes later, took his life at Dachau concentration camp; his executioner was a nurse who had been raised Catholic, but left the Church.'
It struck me recently that The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma, of which I am a member, has in its patron, the perfect intercessor and model for those using their talent for writing and, insodoing, playing a part in the evangelisation of 21st century Western man and woman.
Many in the US, UK and Europe have been taken aback by President Obama's audacious and unconstitutional attack on the religious liberty of the Catholic Church in the USA. At the time of writing, we do not know where it will all end. However, while we do not know where it will all end, we cannot say that we have never been here before, and our patron happens to be just one heroic testament to that historical fact.
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has made various speeches, notably in Germany and in the United Kingdom, on the dictatorship of relativism and the dangers that become apparent when efforts are made at State and societal levels to 'erase God from the public sphere'. We should not be surprised if His Holiness's words are considered prophetic even within the time of his own Pontificate.
The economic crises affecting the West present Governments with numerous difficulties. How will the State respond to such economic turmoil when already respect for human dignity has been undermined by over forty years of abortion provided by our own legislatures? How will States whose moral foundations, built upon Christianity, have suffered and continue to suffer dramatic erosion, respond to the challenging times in which we now live? We see that in the United States, the Executive branch of Government has initiated an unprecedented attack on a fundamental principle of human freedom - religious liberty. It is tempting for this essay to focus on the USA because it is there that the Church is under greatest attack in the West, but it is clear that the forces of liberalism at work in the US are also at work in the United Kingdom and indeed Europe.
This essay will steer clear of drawing upon conspiracy theories and will also steer clear of examining liberalism at a pan-European governmental level, but will examine the case of one country and one country alone: the United Kingdom. The aim of this essay is to highlight the many areas in which liberalism is the huge threat to human freedom, all genuine human freedom, that the Holy Father has said that it is and why its path must inexorably end in tyranny. It does not intend to be alarmist, this essay only aims to point out why those democratic freedoms cherished by Western civilisation are now at such great risk. It aims to examine those trends and forces already at work in Western government and society and, using these trends, to offer projections of a future which can only be described as belonging to a dystopia.
What's at the End of the Road?
In 1932, a young man... by the name of Aldous Huxley, who looks in this picture remarkably like our Blessed hero and patron, wrote a book that became recognised as one of the greatest and most important of the 20th century. That book was called 'Brave New World'.
Despite the fact that the novel was a work of fiction, it has inspired many, since its publication, especially those in the Press who recognise in the rise of the State and the history of the 20th century, the inherent danger of the property of the human person passing from the One Whom we, as a country, once believed to be the Source and Origin of all life - Almighty God - to an all-powerful and over-reaching government who usurps His role in human affairs. And, despite the fact that the book was a work of fiction, it is credited, alongside George Orwell's '1984' as being uniquely inspired and even 'prophetic'.
Excerpt:
A biography of Blessed Titus Brandsma tells us that, 'in 1935, Blessed Titus Brandsma wrote against anti-Jewish marriage laws, which brought him to the attention of the Nazis. Titus later wrote that no Catholic publication could publish Nazi propaganda and still call itself Catholic; this led to more attention. Continually followed by the Gestapo, the Nazi attention led to his arrest on 19 January 1942. For several weeks he was shuttled from jail to jail, abused, and punished for ministering to other prisoners.
Titus Brandsma was deported to the Dachau concentration camp in April 1942. There he was overworked, underfed, and beaten daily; he asked fellow prisoners to pray for the salvation of the guards. When he could no longer work, he was used for medical experiments. When he was no longer any use for experimentation, he was murdered. He died July, 26, 1942 by injection with a deadly drug that, ten minutes later, took his life at Dachau concentration camp; his executioner was a nurse who had been raised Catholic, but left the Church.'
 |
| The cell of Blessed Titus Brandsma |
It struck me recently that The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma, of which I am a member, has in its patron, the perfect intercessor and model for those using their talent for writing and, insodoing, playing a part in the evangelisation of 21st century Western man and woman.
Many in the US, UK and Europe have been taken aback by President Obama's audacious and unconstitutional attack on the religious liberty of the Catholic Church in the USA. At the time of writing, we do not know where it will all end. However, while we do not know where it will all end, we cannot say that we have never been here before, and our patron happens to be just one heroic testament to that historical fact.
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has made various speeches, notably in Germany and in the United Kingdom, on the dictatorship of relativism and the dangers that become apparent when efforts are made at State and societal levels to 'erase God from the public sphere'. We should not be surprised if His Holiness's words are considered prophetic even within the time of his own Pontificate.
The economic crises affecting the West present Governments with numerous difficulties. How will the State respond to such economic turmoil when already respect for human dignity has been undermined by over forty years of abortion provided by our own legislatures? How will States whose moral foundations, built upon Christianity, have suffered and continue to suffer dramatic erosion, respond to the challenging times in which we now live? We see that in the United States, the Executive branch of Government has initiated an unprecedented attack on a fundamental principle of human freedom - religious liberty. It is tempting for this essay to focus on the USA because it is there that the Church is under greatest attack in the West, but it is clear that the forces of liberalism at work in the US are also at work in the United Kingdom and indeed Europe.
This essay will steer clear of drawing upon conspiracy theories and will also steer clear of examining liberalism at a pan-European governmental level, but will examine the case of one country and one country alone: the United Kingdom. The aim of this essay is to highlight the many areas in which liberalism is the huge threat to human freedom, all genuine human freedom, that the Holy Father has said that it is and why its path must inexorably end in tyranny. It does not intend to be alarmist, this essay only aims to point out why those democratic freedoms cherished by Western civilisation are now at such great risk. It aims to examine those trends and forces already at work in Western government and society and, using these trends, to offer projections of a future which can only be described as belonging to a dystopia.
What's at the End of the Road?
Despite the fact that the novel was a work of fiction, it has inspired many, since its publication, especially those in the Press who recognise in the rise of the State and the history of the 20th century, the inherent danger of the property of the human person passing from the One Whom we, as a country, once believed to be the Source and Origin of all life - Almighty God - to an all-powerful and over-reaching government who usurps His role in human affairs. And, despite the fact that the book was a work of fiction, it is credited, alongside George Orwell's '1984' as being uniquely inspired and even 'prophetic'.
Anecdotal Evidence: `The Objects of My Ardent Interest'
Anecdotal Evidence: `The Objects of My Ardent Interest'
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
It’s from the story “Cinnamon Shops” and suggests how Schulz revels in the arcane and exotic in the midst of mundane reality. You might find such a scene in a story by Steven Millhauser:
“These truly noble shops, open late at night, have always been the objects of my ardent interest. Dimly lit, their dark and solemn interiors were redolent of the smell of paint, varnish, and incense; of the aroma of distant countries and rare commodities. You could find in them Bengal lights, magic boxes, the stamps of long-forgotten countries, Chinese decals, indigo, calaphony from Malabar, the eggs of exotic insects, parrots, toucans, live salamanders and basilisks, mandrake roots, mechanical toys from Nuremberg, homunculi in jars, microscopes, binoculars, and, most especially, strange and rare books, old folio volumes full of astonishing engravings and amazing stories.”
On the same shelf as the Schulz volumes are Cynthia Ozick’s, including The Messiah of Stockholm (1987), about a Swede convinced he is Schulz’s son and has found a copy of Schulz’s final lost manuscript, The Messiah. Ozick signed the book when I met her, the day I also met Raul Hilberg and Aharon Appelfeld. On this date seventy years ago, on Nov. 19, 1942, in his home town of Drohobych, while walking home with a loaf of bread, Schulz was murdered by a Gestapo officer.
Addendum:
Razglednicas:Postcard 4
by Miklós Radnóti -loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I fell beside him — his body taut,
tight as a string just before it snaps,
shot in the back of the head.
"This is how you’ll end too; just lie quietly here,"
I whispered to myself, patience blossoming into death.
"Der springt noch auf," the voice above me said
through caked mud and blood congealing in my ear.
"Der springt noch auf" means something like "That one is still 'twitching'."
After writing his fourth and final "Postcard," Radnóti was badly beaten
by a soldier
annoyed by his scribblings. Soon thereafter, the weakened poet was shot
to death, on November 9, 1944, along with 21 other prisoners who unable
to walk. Their mass grave was exhumed after the war and Radnóti's poems
were found on his body by his wife, inscribed in pencil in a small
Serbian exercise book. Radnóti's posthumous collection, Tajtékos ég (Clouded
Sky, or Foaming Sky) contains odes to his wife, letters,
poetic fragments and his final Postcards. Unlike his murderers, Miklós
Radnóti never lost his humanity, and his empathy continues to live on
and shine through his work.
Addendum:
Razglednicas:Postcard 4
by Miklós Radnóti -loose translation by Michael R. Burch
I fell beside him — his body taut,
tight as a string just before it snaps,
shot in the back of the head.
"This is how you’ll end too; just lie quietly here,"
I whispered to myself, patience blossoming into death.
"Der springt noch auf," the voice above me said
through caked mud and blood congealing in my ear.
"Der springt noch auf" means something like "That one is still 'twitching'."
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
We Are One: One story
We Are One: One story
Excerpt:
...Another book that I read, The Law of the Garbage Truck goes into greater detail of how to stop dumping garbage on each other. http://weareone-ruth.blogspot.com/2010/10/garbage-truck-experience.html I can't control someone else but I can control myself and how I interact with others. I can check in with my own behavior....
Excerpt:
...Another book that I read, The Law of the Garbage Truck goes into greater detail of how to stop dumping garbage on each other. http://weareone-ruth.blogspot.com/2010/10/garbage-truck-experience.html I can't control someone else but I can control myself and how I interact with others. I can check in with my own behavior....
Monday, November 12, 2012
We Are One: Self-esteem doesn't bleed
We Are One: Self-esteem doesn't bleed
Excerpt:
The height of cruelty reaches its peak by about middle school, around 11 - 13 years old but for some it doesn't diminish in high school. Teachers can get involved in the name calling and put downs. Tell an adult - are you kidding me? Then tragedy hits, suicide, murder, a killing spree.....Oh my what happened that this terrible thing occurred? Self-esteem doesn't bleed but people still die.
Note: All violence begins with 'words' which come from within the heart: our own thoughts. I once was chosen to teach a class for couples and found a simple, short program that I too could follow. It's called:
BLESS
1. Bless each other.
2. Love each other.
3. Encourage each other.
4. Share with each other.
5. Support each other.
That is how we are to treat 'everyone' who comes into our lives. "Love one another as I have loved you."
[cf. Corinthians 13.] Speak the truth 'in love'.
Excerpt:
The height of cruelty reaches its peak by about middle school, around 11 - 13 years old but for some it doesn't diminish in high school. Teachers can get involved in the name calling and put downs. Tell an adult - are you kidding me? Then tragedy hits, suicide, murder, a killing spree.....Oh my what happened that this terrible thing occurred? Self-esteem doesn't bleed but people still die.
Note: All violence begins with 'words' which come from within the heart: our own thoughts. I once was chosen to teach a class for couples and found a simple, short program that I too could follow. It's called:
BLESS
1. Bless each other.
2. Love each other.
3. Encourage each other.
4. Share with each other.
5. Support each other.
That is how we are to treat 'everyone' who comes into our lives. "Love one another as I have loved you."
[cf. Corinthians 13.] Speak the truth 'in love'.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Anecdotal Evidence: `I Never Remembers a Dream'
Anecdotal Evidence: `I Never Remembers a Dream'
Excerpt:
Twenty-five years ago this month, while researching a series on homelessness for my newspaper in Albany, N.Y., I spent a night in a shelter in that city. I remember two events: watching The Cosby Show with a group of the shelter’s guests, and being woken in the middle of the night when the man in the next bunk had a seizure and the EMTs took him away...
Excerpt:
Twenty-five years ago this month, while researching a series on homelessness for my newspaper in Albany, N.Y., I spent a night in a shelter in that city. I remember two events: watching The Cosby Show with a group of the shelter’s guests, and being woken in the middle of the night when the man in the next bunk had a seizure and the EMTs took him away...