When in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the avant-garde was given diverse powerful platforms to announce that traditional art forms were passé, and art galleries exchanged space for the mystic likes of Picasso, Surrealism, and, in some degree, Andy Warhol, etc., they arguably prepared the way for the denial of natural gender distinctions and the… Read More From Rembrandt to Picasso
When a friend called me this morning with the news that Susan Sontag had died at the age 71, just about the first thing I thought was, “well, we’ll have a huge, hagiographical, front-page obituary tomorrow in The New York Times.” Check to see if I am correct. In the meantime, as you prepare yourself… Read More Susan Sontag: a Prediction by Roger Kimball. 2004
“Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream”—John Lennon Perhaps it is one of those curious fearful symmetries that the words of John Lennon quoted above are found in the Beatles’ album titled ‘Revolver’…and that he was finally gunned down, shot multiple times in the back by a “fan”. I grew up reading Kerouac… Read More John Lennon and The Seductions of Beautiful Nothing
By Solange Hertz. The world is showing all the signs normally associated with old age. If it appears to be going mad, there is every reason to believe its madness is the senile dementia of the superannuated rather than the crazed exuberance of youth. Compared with the children of adamic times and the patriarchal progeny… Read More Life Among the [Moral] Ruins
“For the scientist who has lived by faith in the power of his reason, the story ends like a bad dream” —Robert Jastrow, American NASA astronomer, physicist and cosmologist. “Around every circle another circle can be drawn, under every deep another deep opens” —Ralph Waldo Emerson “Someone said, “A little philosophy and science will take… Read More The Mystery That Dwarfs
“God is dead but given the way of men there may be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown. And we will have to vanquish his shadow, too.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, # 109 At the very dawn of the 20th century, on 25 August in the year… Read More “Straying, as through infinite nothingness”: The Collapse of Nietzsche
“We’ll get you through your children.” —Allen Ginsberg, 1958 The core of the heresy of the Free Spirit lay in the adept’s attitude towards himself: he believed that he had attained a perfection so absolute that he was incapable of sin. Disclaiming book-learning and theological subtleties, they rejoiced in direct knowledge of God- indeed, they… Read More The Beat Generation… cultural catastrophe. By Roger Kimball
Stock on the related American jurisprudence: “it is bizarre to treat pornography as speech. It is a legal fiction“. “Philosopher and UnHerd writer Kathleen Stock joins Freddie Sayers to discuss one of the strangest and most revealing cultural moments of the year: the rise of ‘Bonnie Blue,’ the OnlyFans “pornstar” at the heart of a… Read More Kathleen Stock on Wall to Wall Decadence and Roger Scruton
Note: Mary Daly died in January 2010. It is good to be tolerant, even of incoherent things, we are told today. The devil himself ought to be given a seat at the table. So the courts have ruled. But that can’t stop us from noticing that Mary Daly represents the meltdown of the dissident transgressive… Read More Mary Daly: The Witch of Boston College
Trump joins other world leaders at “reopening” of Notre Dame Cathedral. What burned in that fire and what is possibly being reborn? Antichristic Uncertainties. 12/7/24 + March 2025. Christians reportedly suffering increasing persecution in Syria + UN ignores Persecution of Christians + “…more than two Christian monuments are targeted EVERY day in France” + At… Read More Antichristic Uncertainties
“Dickens must have known it would have worked on the consciences of the Parliamentarians too, as it did!” At least for a time. “By advocating that population should be controlled voluntarily through birth control, abstinence, or delayed marriage – or involuntarily, and through the scourges “of war, famine, and disease,” [Thomas] Malthus was derided by his peers… Read More Scrooge and Thomas Malthus
By Norman Podhoretz. Sex, drugs, America, the middle class, and “poetry power”: reflections on a literary entanglement of 50 years’ duration. by Norman Podhoretz, 1997. “Allen Ginsberg, Master Poet of Beat Generation, Dies at 70,” proclaimed the headline on the front page of the New York Times for April 6, 1997. Reading it, I was moved more deeply… Read More My War With Allen Ginsberg
The Battle for Britain and Beyond Jacob Rees-Mogg hosts John Anderson in his home for this Conversation. They discuss the roots and future of conservatism, British politics and economics, the role of the West in global affairs such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Chinese Communist Party, as well as diving into what motivates Jacob… Read More More Rees-Mogg. “The Family Precedes The State”.
Who didn’t see this coming? And it’s not lowering the legal age for sacramental marriage they’re planning. “Children over the age of 14 have the right to develop sexual relationships and choose to have a sexual relationship’ with adults”. And proposed as a human “right,” parental authority here is radically undermined. “On 9 August, despite the pride… Read More The paedophile party advances at the UN, thanks to the EU and USA
“To be an Olympian is to be entangled in a complex dialectic involving elitism and egalitarianism. The foundational elitism of the Olympian lies in self ascribed rationality, generally picked up on an academic campus. Egalitarianism involves a formal adherence to democracy as a rejection of all forms of traditional authority, but with no commitment to… Read More “Christophobia” and the West
“Sexual expression, whether visual or written,” he speciously says, “can be a legitimate form of artistic expression,” proving he’s no better or more conservative than the rest of them, despite how giddy with pride he makes many conservatives feel, especially those who wrap their egoism in blockbuster podcasts touting American Patriotism and righteousness. Even Catholic… Read More Elon Musk’s X Deploys American “Liberty” for More Sex
“Whittaker Chambers is best known today as the veteran Soviet spy who became, in William F. Buckley Jr.’s words, “the most important American defector from Communism” when he testified against members of his underground Communist cell in the 1930s. Yet Chambers did more than reject Communism: He revealed a key problem with modern liberalism. In… Read More Mark Groubert On the Whittaker Chamber – Alger Hiss Case
The Compassionate Paradise of Antichrist. Jesus said, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” — Mt. 24:12 Dark, ghoulish films, television, news and “entertainment” with heavy does of sexual content accent increasing loneliness. —First, Ross Douthat. What Euthanasia Has Done to Canada. And Elsewhere: State suicide for depressed now normal… Apr.… Read More Why is Canada euthanising the poor?
1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life… Read More CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 2nd. Ed. On Perdition
81% of Enlightenment Americans approve. Divorce in America Gets a glow Up.Axios. Jan 27, 2024. Divorce has become a major life milestone replete with specialized parties, large support networks and a whole industry ready to capitalize on the big change — just like weddings. Why it matters: Cultural attitudes toward ending a marriage have become… Read More Divorce in America Gets a Glow Up
Thousands Of Minors Abused By German Protestant Church: Study AFP News. “The German Protestant Church on Thursday acknowledged it did not do enough to protect children after an independent study revealed thousands of cases of sexual abuse within the organisation. The study estimated that the number of minors who fell victim to church ministers and… Read More Report on sex abuse in Germany’s Protestant Church documents at least 2,225 victims
The Woke Reductionist trashing of ‘Sound of Freedom‘. “This year’s Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom is turning heads due to it becoming a surprise Independence Day hit. Over a million tickets have been sold ahead of its July 4 release, raking in more than $10 million in pre-sales, per Deadline. The PG-13 film is based on the true… Read More Just Another ‘White Man Savior’ Film? Jason Whitlock Analyses This Trope.
Updated. Nancy Pelosi vowed to reverse the end of Roe v. Wade ‘one way or another’ By Anders Hagstrom | Fox News Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urged her fellow Democrats to put the abortion issue front and center in their 2024 campaigns, arguing Republicans will lose big on the issue across the country. Pelosi appeared… Read More Pelosi says abortion is Democrats’ ticket to victory in 2024, accuses Republicans of ‘disrespect for women’
Bends over backwards to save ubiquitous travesties. “A few months ago, I visited Lourdes for the first time, and when I saw the mosaics, I groaned out loud. Father Rupnik’s style is immediately recognizable, and my first thought was that the art would forever be tainted… Three years ago, he was even briefly excommunicated …… Read More America Magazine Compares Rupnik Cartoons to Caravaggio.
“The issue [of the week] is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.”–Students for a Democratic Society, Marxist SDS. Revolutionary Con Man Saul Alinsky. Inciting “Power Responses”: No boys, no girls, no mothers, no fathers, no religion…“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for‘ (Apropos of the above hymn to Obama, ironically, Black… Read More Always the Revolution
… but what are we becoming if not a “culture of Death” … ?” Depression can be treated, but some “professionals” would rather not be bothered. Legalizing Assisted Suicide By WESLEY J. SMITH November 15, 2022 Another study — actually, a study of other studies — has concluded that legalizing euthanasia and/or assisted suicide leads to… Read More Liberals Didn’t Like John Paul II Saying it
FBI whistleblowers say pro-life groups, Catholics and others were ‘target of the government‘ “The FBI targeted pro-life groups, Catholics, and parents attending school board meetings with investigations in an effort to “inflate” the sense that they were a domestic terrorism threat, according to new whistleblower reports. “House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, detailed the reports in a… Read More News Conference on FBI Malfeasance. FBI Whistlerblowers Come Forward
I “asked” Bing AI about those who see the traditional family as “a social structure of oppression” and who suggest that the dissolution of the traditional family might or would be a good thing for the world. I asked about those who say boys and girls, men and women, are becoming obsolete categories making room… Read More Catholic “Chat” with Bing AI About the Future, Family and Gender
“Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy scolded Democrats at a Tuesday hearing, in particular Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, for reportedly threatening Supreme Court Justices in 2022. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Tuesday to examine ethics rules for the Supreme Court after Democrats accused Justice Clarence Thomas of accepting trips from a wealthy friend. Kennedy turned… Read More Schumer Called Out For His Anti-Life, Anti-Constitution Viciousness
Kills Babies, Injures Women The Supreme Court is allowing continued sales of the dangerous abortion pill that kills babies and has killed and injured women. The vote was 7-2, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. The nation’s highest court ruled [April 21] in an unsigned order that the abortion drug mifepristone can continue… Read More Supreme Court Allows Continued Sales of Abortion Pill
“Do you know that we are tremendously powerful already? … I’ve reckoned them all up: a teacher who laughs with children at their God and at their cradle is on our side. The lawyer who defends an educated murderer because he is more cultured than his victims … is one of us…. The juries who… Read More Dostoevski on the Revolutionaries
“One of the most famous and most evil techniques of Maoist Marxism is the “struggle session” (dòuzhēng, 鬥爭; or pīpàn dòuzhēng, 批判鬥爭, “critical struggle”; or sometimes just pīdòu, 批鬥; also called “denunciation” sessions). “They were made famous during Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), but they were utilized in the Chinese thought-reform (xǐnǎo, 洗脑, lit. “wash brain”… Read More Surviving A Modern “Struggle Session”. James Lindsay.
Adam and Christ Romans 5: 12 Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned— 13 sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to… Read More One Race, One Blood
The “Global Development Initiative” and “Global Security Initiative” are vague proposals spearheaded by Xi in which China pressures other countries to abandon the “excessive pursuit of self-interest” and instead pool their resources to allegedly promote world peace and eradication of poverty. The “Global Security Initiative” is of particular concern to free countries as it does… Read More Xi Jinping: China Will Be ‘Active’ in Reforming ‘Global Governance’
Never more timely. Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979). A formidable scholar, prolific author, and Catholic University professor for 23 years, Archbishop Sheen was also a pioneer of the new evangelization. A charismatic radio and television personality and a zealous preacher of the Gospel, his whole-hearted embrace of modern means of communication gave him access… Read More Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on False Compassion
Bill Gates’ Global Agenda and How We Can Resist His War on Life. — Vandana Shiva. By Vandana Shiva, originally published. by Independent Science News. The following excerpt is from Vandana Shiva’s new book Oneness vs. the 1% (Chelsea Green Publishing, August 31, 2020) and is reprinted with permission from the publisher. In March 2015, Bill Gates showed… Read More Bill Gates: His Know-how of Future Markets
“Karl Marx was intent on fomenting war between economic classes; Cultural Marxists have expanded the scope of his target to races, genders, and religious Christians. Identity Politics, or Cultural Marxism, has been the core curriculum of American public and private schools for several generations now. “To distance themselves from the Communist atrocities they made possible,… Read More Fake and Dangerous “Social Justice”
Francis X. Maier writes. , “… We live in unsettled times. Elites in the developed world have been shedding Christianity like dead skin for decades. Their grip on our popular entertainment, news content, and emerging technologies has dragged many millions of otherwise good people along with them. Big corporations wield inordinate political power. Unelected government… Read More Not Comfortable but Free
I knew the Internet was talking a lot about ChatGPT. I knew that Buzzfeed was replacing its writers with this AI demon. And I knew it was dangerous. But I wasn’t sure about the specifics. So, I asked ChatGPT to write “600 words about the dangers of chatGPT,” because, you know, I don’t want to do a… Read More The Dangers of ChatGPT? As Explained by ChatGPT
Oscar Wilde the would-be saint and Oscar Wilde the woeful sinner were in deadly conflict, one with the other… By Joseph Pearce|Liberal Learning, Literature. Oscar Wilde’s life is more scandalous today than it was during the Decadence of the 1890s. In fact, it is so scandalous that a current exhibition of his life and legacy… Read More Oscar Wilde’s Scandalous Secret
Catholic Critique 