Comments on: Quo Vadis?

By: DarwinCatholic

DarwinCatholic — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:14:54 +0000

Never wondered, have you, how your governments–whether of the supposed “Right” or the supposed “Left”–encourages you to think of yourself as a sort of ever-”consuming” larvae?

Hmmm. No, I never did notice that.

Of course, since I haven’t owned a TV for some time now, it’s a little hard to spend my evening watching the Nightly Business Report.

You could try that…

I’ll admit, it doesn’t free one from all consumerist tendencies. I still seem to buy a lot of books. But then, perhaps that helps with the critical thinking which public education is apparently assaulting. (That and avoiding public education for one’s offspring.)

By: digbydolben

digbydolben — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:30:08 +0000

“Consumerist fascism” is NOT the oxymoron you think it is, Mr. McClarey: it means being brainwashed, programmed or “educated” (i.e. “No Child Left Behind” ERADICATION of critical thinking) to “consume” mindlessly. (Never even wondered, have you, that on the “Nightly Business Report,” they never ask “What’s a citizen to do?” but, instead, “What’s the consumer to do? Never wondered, have you, how your governments–whether of the supposed “Right” or the supposed “Left”–encourages you to think of yourself as a sort of ever-”consuming” larvae?)

By: Donald R. McClarey

Donald R. McClarey — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:22:34 +0000

“Consumerist fascism”? No commentary on my part is needed.

By: arewak

arewak — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:19:09 +0000

dig,

couldn’t have said it better…

By: Carole

Carole — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:21:35 +0000

prophets of doom………

By: digbydolben

digbydolben — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:15:42 +0000

The American empire’s decline is dragging Western civilization into the abyss along with itself. It is obvious that civility, human decency, intellectual integrity and ordinary altruism will only be preserved in small enclaves; Pope Benedict is absolutely right about that, but the Catholic hierarchy so far lacks the courage to say forthrightly that the consumerist barbarism of American culture poses as serious a threat to Judaeo-Christian morality and civilization as communism or nazism ever did.

We know that John Paul II felt so, but mostly kept it to himself. I myself haven’t given up, however, on the “oracle in the Vatican,” and feel fairly confident that it will, eventually, be pushed to the wall by the emergence of consumerist-fascism that is being driven by American politics. What often amazes me about American Catholics, however, is the way their nationalism blinds them to how antithetical are the values of mass culture in America to Catholic spirituality and philosophy (which are as much the product of classical enlightenment as Jewish religion)–and how unwilling they are to notice how the seeds of that virulent culture were sewn by the perversion of Christianity known as Calvinism.