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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The Thinking Housewife: Pretending To Be Apolitical


Dear Fred,

Thanks for your email.

I was unaware of ascribing a specifically political agenda to "The Thinking Housewife" and therefore find myself blindsided by your interpretation.

That said, other people often see us more clearly than we see ourselves. 

For example, the "secular press" broke the story of priestly pederasty whereas the lickspittle "Catholic press" - fully aware of the Church's sexual monstrosity - held their tongues as ecclesial authorities wished.

Concerning politics...

The word "political" derives from polis meaning "city" and is one component of the basic "city/country" dichotomy that construes "civilization" (from civis meaning "city") as essentially "urban," and "heathenism" (heathen meaning "of the heath") as essentially "rural." (As an aside... The word "pagan" derives from "paganus" meaning "country dweller.")

Not surprisingly, this "town-and-country" dichotomy is on display in every polity, with cities being "liberal" and the countryside "conservative."

It is hard to avoid politics since avoidance itself is political. 




Laura writes:
McIntyre’s argument is lost on me. I can’t get beyond his shocking support for government aid to single-parent households, which throws such doubt on his judgment, and his statement that each family is owed a living wage and meaningful work by government. I haven’t read his full essay, but he seems to be advocating socialismhttp://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2012/10/neither-romney-nor-obama/
Aristotle Quote Quotes  Picture #27062
Chesterton defines "liberalism" as "the ability to imagine your enemy." 

Laura lacks this liberality of imagination and deals with her conservative enemies by consigning them to Hell. Without qualm, it being "God's Will."

Liberalism: "Satanic Rebellion Against God?" (The Thinking Housewife)


Laura's God-damning view (which conjoins politics, sociology and ecclesiasticism) positions her smack in the middle of Jesuit Tom Weston's observation: "You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out God hates all the same people you do." 
http://www.jrclosaltos.org/archive/person/fr-thomas-weston-s-j/

If Weston is "onto something," what are we to make of Laura's self-apotheosis and correlative eagerness to pontificate more infallibly than the pope himself, a "papal impostor" whom she has demoted to her own advantage?

Methinks the Lady doth protest too much.

Compendium Of "Pax" Posts On "The Thinking Housewife," Laura Wood
Pax tecum

Alan


PS Although Laura does not comment on her correspondent's views (detailed below), she did choose to publish them - in their entirety. By my lights, this editorial decision is emphatically political. (Don't get me started on the content of "15 Specific Proofs"... or the meaning of "America" as direct outgrowth of our predominantly Deist founders. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/deism-and-founding-father-links.html)

15 Specific Proofs of Obama’s Detestation of America



PPS As for the pope diminishing his stature by "being all things to all people," I disagree. The pope is not trying to be "all things to all people." He is, in fact, leveling the "ecclesiastical playing field" so that all Catholic "voices" have a berth aboard St. Peter's Bark. Plus, it is inevitable that human beings offer opinions on a wide variety of subjects just as Laura's papal darling, Pope Paul IV, opined that Jews should be ghettoized, obliging them to wear distinctive uniforms, practices which made Paul IV the ideological patron of cradle Catholic, Adolf Hitler. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_IV
"In 1555 Pope Paul IV issued a canon (papal law), Cum Nimis Absurdum, by which the Roman Ghetto was created. Jews were then forced to live in seclusion in a specified area of the rione Sant'Angelo, locked in at night, and he decreed that Jews should wear a distinctive sign, yellow hats for men, and veils or shawls for women.[6] 
Jewish ghettos existed in Europe for the next 315 years."
As it is completely absurd and improper in the utmost that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal servitude, can under the pretext that pious Christians must accept them and sustain their habitation, are so ungrateful to Christians, as, instead of thanks for gracious treatment, they return contumely, and among themselves, instead of the slavery, which they deserve... — Paul IV, Cum nimis absurdum, 1555
Will Laura publish modification of her obsequious admiration for Paul IV?

Do not hold your breath: Once "The Official Lies" have been circulated, conservatives never retract, recant or modify since any crack in The Wall of Absolutism represents an existential threat to the whole system.  

Besides, there is tremendous political advantage in refusing to "un-ring bells," however tinny their timbre.

Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die


On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 11:41 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

Laura is not remotely political and never claims to be political, so there is little reason to point that out. You may just as well say that your local model train club is not political.
As for Pope Francis -- he has become an expert on everything, including climate change.... This new direction diminishes his stature in my view.... He cannot be all things to all people.
A homily on kindness to animals might be well -received, but anything approaching learnedness on climate science is not good.
Bill Sheehan still has his Vatican Library email address, although he is retired from that position


Fred Owens
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