Thursday, November 08, 2012

IMMANENTIZE THE ESCHATON AND SACRAMENTALIZE THE SODOMY! I think it was Conan the Barbarian who said that what is best in life is to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the wingnuts. I'm not much on crushing and driving -- a friend to all mankind, me -- and I even sympathize with rightbloggers' post-electoral distress and despair at the turn of the tide, having felt it myself.

But I can admit to enjoying this portrayal by George Weigel of what Obama 2 portends for defiled America:
The American culture war has been markedly intensified, as those who booed God, celebrated an unfettered abortion license, canonized Sandra Fluke, and sacramentalized sodomy at the Democratic National Convention will have been emboldened to advance the cause of lifestyle libertinism through coercive state power, thus deepening the danger of what a noted Bavarian theologian calls the “dictatorship of relativism.”
It's like he knows us, right? I like the "coercive state power" bit, too -- gives it that women-in-prison movie frisson.

UPDATE. "Finally," says Leeds man in comments, "the long-awaited Rivers of Santorum speech." Dex gives thumbs-up to Ilsa, She-Wolf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "the most dreaded analyst of them all!"

47 comments:

  1. I like the "coercive state power" bit, too -- gives it that women-in-prison movie frisson.

    That's the only way I can figure it. You can't exactly hold a gun to someone's head and say, "HAVE SEXY FUN, DAMMIT!" Though that would make for a good dystopian satire.

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  2. "ilsa--she wolf of the bureau of labor statistics: the most dreaded analyst of them all!"

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  3. Leeds man6:33 PM

    Finally, the long-awaited Rivers of Santorum speech.

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  4. Megalon6:33 PM

    Hussain has been emboldened to advance the cause of lifestyle libertinism through the coercive state power to not use state power and coercion to keep certain people from getting married, thus deepening the danger of what a noted historian calls "Liberal Fascism."

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  5. Uncle Kvetch6:34 PM

    to advance the cause of lifestyle libertinism through coercive state power

    For the last fucking time: NO ONE IS GOING TO FORCE YOU TO MARRY A DUDE, no matter how much time you spend thinking, and thinking, and thinking...about how awful that would be.

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  6. BigHank536:34 PM

    I'm still trying to figure out how a dictatorship of relativism is going to work: "Tremble before me! You are guilty of wrongthink! I shall relentlessly oppress you!....until you use your safeword. You do remember your safeword, right?"

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  7. Halloween_Jack6:34 PM

    This is one of those times when I wish my comics collection was more organized (let's not be coy, at all organized) so that I could dig out and scan a sort of underground comics What If? in which Bettie Page converts Kim Il-Sung to a political philosophy based not on Juche but on BDSM. For some a fantasy, for others a nightmare, for a select few, both at the same time.

    P.S. Decided to get off the boat, and immediately wondered if there was some bit of George Weigel's personality--the solitary sane bit--that was trying to subvert his gig at NRO without his being aware of it, all Tyler Durden-like, since he heads his post with a shot of a guy in one of those horse masks from Archie McPhee which almost always makes me laugh (as it did here). And the non-sexy stuff is similarly cray-cray: the Benghazi attack is going to force Israel to nuke Iran, and, oh, "Obama’s reelection was a cataclysm for America similar to Henry VIII’s break with Rome." News to me that the establishment of the Church of England was a cataclysm, unless you want the Pope to rule the world, of course. And, finally, "Republican campaign managers and consultants always seemed afraid of scaring the horses." So, he's blaming it on Ann, I guess?

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  8. John D.6:34 PM

    You're a far better man than I am, Roy. Sympathize with the scum? Heh, heh. Ah, no, I don't think so. Yeah, in theory, I can empathize with fellow human beings who happen to be having a hard time of it, never mind the reasons or issues involved, but considering their well-documented feelings about what they think of us: No, to hell with them. Fuck them all.

    But as ever, the thing that truly astonishes me about all the current, unfolding caterwauling is that it's on account of the current leadership of the Democratic Party, the most timid bunch of "moderates," "centrists" and corporate conservatives you'll ever meet. It would be idiotic enough if Obama really was a liberal, even a tepid one. But given his demonstrable actions over the past 4 years...All this shrieking just comes off as insane. It's impossible to pity this level of sheer, willful self-delusion.

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  9. Zencomix6:35 PM

    "and sacramentalized sodomy at the Democratic National Convention will have been emboldened to advance the cause of lifestyle libertinism through coercive state power" is straight out of the "Yet Another Effort, Frenchmen, If You Would Become Republicans" portion of Justice Scalia, Philosophy in The Lincoln Bedroom and Other writings

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  10. zencomix6:35 PM

    "and sacramentalized sodomy at the Democratic National Convention will have been emboldened to advance the cause of lifestyle libertinism through coercive state power," is straight out of the "Yet Another Effort, Frenchmen, If You Would Become Republicans" portion of

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  11. Haystack6:35 PM

    Any day now, Black Hitler will replace the Pledge Of Allegiance with "whatever, man..."

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  12. "Sacramentalized sodomy"? "Lifestyle libertinism"? Why do so many of these guys sound like Spiro Agnew on bad acid?

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  13. reallyaimai6:36 PM

    Needs more Dude.

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  14. reallyaimai6:36 PM

    Hey, the guy has already been seen with bare feet in the White House and probably even uses the bathroom there. Can there be any greater disrespect? None of our Founders pooped in the White House.

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  15. toastpup6:36 PM

    You can't spell Analyst without Anal.

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  16. fraser6:36 PM

    So the state's going to coerce me into libertinism? Wow! Finally I can be disgusting and immoral and I won't have to blame myself!

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  17. BigHank536:36 PM

    D'you think The Munchuerian Candidate is more likely to appeal to the potheads, or to the lesbians?

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  18. whetstone6:37 PM

    WAR IS PEACE
    FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
    SEXUAL FREEDOM IS FORCED LABOR
    DICTATORSHIP IS RELATIVE
    INCOHERENCE IS STRENGTH

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  19. Yeah, reality is what you make of it, objective numerical analysis is biased, Southern Baptist views on abortion ranged from indifference to pro-choice until the late 1970's when anti-choice became the incontrovertible Biblical position, last year's absolute God-ordained belief that Mormonism is a heathen cult became today's "Vote Mormon for Biblical values," etc. And they even go all 1984 and present it as always having been that way, which is really weird behavior for those who deplore relativism.

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  20. I'm still trying to figure out how a dictatorship of relativism is going to work:


    Simple. Start with a religious institution that mandates obedience to a single earthly leader (at least officially). Then have that institution decide that child molestation is okay as long as it's their priests doing it.

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  21. Even worse. He's going to replace it with "Allahu Akbar" translated into English.

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  22. montag26:37 PM

    It's an old, old meme with them... that secular humanism is a religion, so they're always struggling with ways to impress upon the public their status as the sole defenders of civilization as we know it. The alliteration is simply the best they can manage in the way of literary devices to that end, because they wouldn't know irony if it bit `em on the ass and drew blood, and satire is miles and miles over their heads (cf. "An American Carol"). When their intellectual and rhetorical heroes are Dinesh D'Souza and Jonah Goldberg, Michelle Malkin and Jeff Godlstein, chances are that knowing how to use spell-check and a thesaurus pretty much define the upper bound of their literary talent.

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  23. Scott C.6:37 PM

    Mary Matalin has gone the full Spiro Agnew today.

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  24. Derelict6:37 PM

    What you're seeing in action there is a projection mechanism so massive it could save the Earth from an extinction-level meteor strike.

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  25. Okay, I may finally have to retire "More projection than a multiplex on Fourth-of-July weekend."

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  26. wileywitch6:46 PM

    George, George, George. ...the fake issues (“war on women,” “tax breaks for the rich,” etc.)...


    Poor li'l fella'. Did he actually think that CEO can haz POTUS/Deficit BAD was "the real issue"? I bet this guy could be hypnotized by Mitt's hair.

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  27. I'm with you @BigHank53:disqus . I was thinking, dictatorship of relativism, what is that?


    "You must believe in the power of the State! Unless you have some other idea. Do you? Really our answer isn't better than any other answer. Let's discuss this over a beer. Oh, you don't drink? That's okay."

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  28. AGoodQuestion6:50 PM

    Add mandatory death sentence at 30 and you've got Logan's Run.

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  29. Substance McGravitas7:26 PM

    I am never spelling analyst again.


    OUCH.

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  30. Substance McGravitas7:28 PM

    There's already a Catholic Church and all.

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  31. Substance McGravitas7:36 PM

    Europeans understood this, immediately, even if large swaths of the
    American punditocracy didn’t. One e-mail from Poland, the morning after
    the election, expressed real fear for the future (as well my
    correspondent might, given President Obama’s craven whisperings to
    Dimitry Medvedev that a reelected administration would pull the final
    plug on missile defense in Europe, as Vladimir Putin has long sought).
    Another, from London, suggested that Obama’s reelection was a cataclysm
    for America similar to Henry VIII’s break with Rome: a
    politico-cultural-economic game-changer the effects of which would be
    felt for centuries. A Scottish friend (correctly) foresaw serious
    trouble for the Catholic Church in the United States, to which he had
    long looked for models of leadership in handling aggressive secularism.


    Three emails from Europe prove Europeans are smarty-pantses with Ideas That Matter. This must necessarily prove the opposite.

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  32. bilejones10:15 PM

    Cmon guys, it's not often you see things this well done

    "The American culture war has been markedly intensified, as those who
    booed God, celebrated an unfettered abortion license, canonized Sandra
    Fluke, and sacramentalized sodomy at the Democratic National Convention
    will have been emboldened to advance the cause of lifestyle libertinism
    through coercive state power"

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  33. DocAmazing11:01 PM

    Try to put it behind you.

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  34. "Another, from London, suggested that Obama’s reelection was a cataclysm for America similar to Henry VIII’s break with Rome:"

    Indeed, ask just about any Brit, and ve will say that the worst thing that ever happened to England was the Anglican Church. After Henry VIII was done, Britain never amounted to anything ever again.

    "A Scottish friend (correctly) foresaw serious
    trouble for the Catholic Church in the United States, to which he had
    long looked for models of leadership in handling aggressive secularism."

    Indeed, ask just about any Scot, and ve will say that the worst thing that ever happened to Scotland was the Protestant Reformation. Also, John Knox was a namby-pamby pushover.

    Bloody hell, even Megan McArdle is better at pulling anecdotes out of her ass than this.

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  35. Man, Matalin must've lost a horrifying bet to James Carville. That's just massively wacky.

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  36. M. Krebs2:06 PM

    Yikes. MM is apparently still feeling the sting of her encounter with Krugman. One the other hand, though, she's always like that.

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  37. Noted Bavarian theologian? Well, there's your problem, gentlemen: You've got the Adam Weisshaupt Study Bible instead of the Scofield. Again.

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  38. Sgaile-beairt8:21 PM

    i thought it was out of someone who just discovered the RPF section at fanfiction.net....political slashfics, you can haz em!!

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  39. I'm not entirely sure either, but what it seems to mean in practice is that sincere believers aren't allowed to burn sodomites or adulteresses or heretics or Jews, or to stone their daughters for marrying out of the faith, or to make everybody's children pray in public schools, or deny access to contraception to everybody, or to segregate the races as God intended while still getting tax exemptions for their sectarian academies, or at least to make everybody else segregate the races as God intended. These horrible restrictions (and so many more) infringe their freedom of religion, which to them means the freedom to impose their religion on everyone else. This is not what the Pilgrim Fathers fought for!

    "Relativism" is one of those buzzword epithets that don't mean much (like "postmodernism"), but that is what people like Pope Rat and his minions have in mind: they are denied the freedom to deny freedom to everyone else.

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  40. Looking at the exit polling breakdown by age group, I have to say: Don't tempt me.

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  41. Shorter George Weigel: "I mean, that's what you get when you take *my* plan and globally replace "Jeebus" with "sodomy", so that's GOTTA be the Dem's plan, right?"

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  42. Jeez, I've been to Sacramento, and I never even realized.

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  43. You obviously haven't met my relatives!

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  44. EliRabett11:08 AM

    In here case that might be an improvement

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