Comments for It’s the Stupid Culture at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 8 out of 8 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Wed, 22 May 2013 02:38:19 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/its-the-stupid-culture.html#comment-15476 When I read Guardini's The Death of the Modern World, which I believe was published in 1948 (or 1946, I forget which), I was stunned to find that he was already declaring culture itself to be dead, in the west. The terrible thing is that human beings must have culture, to remain fully human; otherwise we are only flotsam. - Tony Esolen Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:38:35 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/its-the-stupid-culture.html#comment-15467 Fascinating - and encouraging - essay, Mr. Royal. Thank you. - Mr. Levy Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:29:22 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/its-the-stupid-culture.html#comment-15454 I have always liked Bl JPII's definition of culture which I recently rediscovered thanks to Randall Smith's (1/7/13) TCT suggestion that we all (re)read Centesimus Annus. In #24 he states the following: "At the heart of every culture lies the attitude man takes to the greatest mystery: the mystery of God. Different cultures are basically different ways of facing the question of the meaning of personal existence." The pope also points out in the same section,"When this question is eliminated, the culture and moral life of nations are corrupted." So I guess our job is to do all we can to reintroduce the question (and answer!) into contemporary life. - kristinajohannes Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:23:31 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/its-the-stupid-culture.html#comment-15452 Thank you, Mr. Royal. It seems that you can read Spanish, hoping that Vargas Llosa is soon available in English. Why not translate it yourself? There seems to be a great need for it. - Chrysostom Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:46:13 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/its-the-stupid-culture.html#comment-15447 This essay calls to mind the works by Pitirim Sorokin (1889-1968), a 20th century sociologist who classified societies according to their 'cultural mentality', which can be "ideational" (reality is spiritual), "sensate" (reality is material), or "idealistic" (a synthesis of the two). He suggested that major civilizations evolve from an ideational, to an idealistic, and eventually to a sensate mentality which now characterizes the current Age as follows: -- The defining cultural principle is that true reality is sensory – only the material world is real. There is no other reality or source of values. -- This becomes the ubiquitous organizing principle of society. It permeates every aspect of culture and defines the basic mentality. People are unable to think in any other terms. -- Sensate culture pursues science and technology, but dedicates little creative thought to spirituality or religion. -- Dominant values are wealth, health, bodily comfort, sensual pleasures, power and fame. -- Ethics, politics, and economics are utilitarian and hedonistic. All ethical and legal precepts are considered mere man-made conventions, relative and changeable. -- Art and entertainment emphasize sensory stimulation. In the decadent stages of Sensate culture there is a frenzied emphasis on the new and the shocking (literally, sensationalism). -- Religious institutions are mere relics of previous epochs, stripped of their original substance, and tending to fundamentalism and exaggerated fideism (the view that faith is not compatible with reason). - Grump Mon, 21 Jan 2013 04:12:55 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/its-the-stupid-culture.html#comment-15446 It was the Church -- and specifically the monasteries -- that saved and elevated the best of Roman culture and that developed norms of culture based upon the three supernatural and the four cardinal virtues, which, at their lowest common denominator, find their expression, I suggest, the norms of courtesy -- common and not so common -- that we see passing away at high velocity. The spectacles of the Roman Empire passed away, because they were unsustainable. Literary culture was preserved, and, in the case of the evangelized tribes, invented, because of contact with the Word. This time of darkness shall pass, too, for the reason that all times of darkness have passed: "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." When it does, I believe that those of us who are here to see it will also discover that throughout the world, groups of committed Christians -- now monks, now orthodox laity running orthodox schools and universities -- have retained the best knowledge and will transmit it again, and that we will see the re-creation of a culture that defends and advances all that is good, worth knowing, and worth practicing in life, starting with true religion and irradiating outward. In the meantime, those of us committed to the Faith and to its propagation need to stand firm in the Faith, to go deeper into the Faith, through recourse to prayer, to the sacraments -- especially daily Mass -- to veneration of the saints, especially Our Lady, and to study, of the Faith and of authentic culture. This will be difficult for those of us whose professional and family duties do not admit of the time and the energy necessary for deep study. Perhaps for those of us in that situation, we can start by turning off the television and by making sure our time on the Internet is well-spent in resources available through it that really can help us with this project. Perhaps, too, we can revive a feature of our civilization that seems to have fallen into widespread disuse, the dinner party, whose purposes were to deepen ties of friendship with kith and kin and to converse about worthy things. - Dave Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:41:01 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/its-the-stupid-culture.html#comment-15445 A gladiator in ancient Rome wrote on the wall of his cell in the Coliseum: I am born, I live, I die-I don't know why. Thank you for and excellent column, Dr. Royal. We at our desks every day often reach the same conclusions as Senor Vargas Llosa, but perhaps we do not express them as well. We need to look no further than Lance Armstrong, the sports "heroes" who, it is discovered later, achieved their successes in football or baseball by using illegal steroids, and the celebrities/experts we can see daily on Charlie Rose. Does anyone remember that Pres. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath and subornation of perjury? His appearances assisted Pres. Obama to be reelected in 2012! When a sentient person realizes that some people of whom they have heard nothing are, by the gift from God, lying INCORRUPTED in Catholic shrines, that person has to respond to the grace which says that this world is truly irrelevant and,as Christ Himself said, Satan IS the prince of this world and salvation comes only from above. That is the beginning of the journey toward true conversion. - Manfred Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:27:10 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/its-the-stupid-culture.html#comment-15444 "Perhaps the only thing that rivals this agreement across ideological lines is the utter bewilderment at what to do about the whole sad mess." The unfortunate fact I believe is that there is nothing that can amicably done about two sides of a culture being at intractable loggerheads. History, however, provides an ominous sign as abortion has been compared to slavery as it took several decades before factors deteriorated into an all out shooting war. After the dust settled, approximately 630,000 Americans died at the hands of the other. We've called it a culture war for some time now and at this time, different weapons are being used. Right now, it's the weapons of persuasion through media. Tomorrow, lethal force? Let's hope not but my faith in humankind acting on its own "justified" impulses believing it's doing the right thing gives me pause for concern. It can't happen here you say? I hope you're right but it's also wrong to whistle past the graveyard of history. - Frank Mon, 21 Jan 2013 00:52:04 +0100