Anglican Distress

Given my experience with the Anglican church and the fact that several good friends of mine identify as members, I am particularly saddened by the current difficulties it is going through  and I hope that they can work things out in a fashion amenable to everyone at the upcoming Lambeth Conference.

Unfortunately, I’m not terribly optimistic, especially given the following description of the new discussion format to be applied this year:

Unlike the previous thirteen meetings, this year’s Lambeth conference will not feature large sessions ordered toward producing resolutions. It will instead consist of small discussion groups (called indaba, a Zulu term for “gathering”) aimed toward the eventual production of a communal “Reflections” document.

Some have been skeptical of the intent and effect of the new design. There may well be sound reasons for the change; it can be difficult for all voices to be heard in enormous parliamentary sessions. But some are concerned that the new design will actually have the effect of preventing any outcomes such as the ones at the 1998 meeting, where the numerical strength of Global South bishops led to the passage of resolutions that were unpalatable to Northern liberals.

Perhaps I’m being too uncharitably cynical, but when compared to what I’ve seen in the RC neighborhood regarding innovations (very) allegedly dictated by Vatican II, I’m not surprised to see this kind of thing happen when you let the Lib…er, religious progressives get their foot in the door.

I owe to Instapundit the following link to the book, All Known Metal Bands. Check out the product description:

Product Description

This volume contains the names of over 50,000 metal bands. Presuming that each of these bands had an average of four members, and multipling that by the number of bands, one might figure that at least a quarter of a million humans have pledged allegiance to one of them at some point is his or her lifetime. Never has a genre of music relegated to the underground of a civilization had so many devotees; no radio needs to transmit the power of this music, for it is sought out fiercely and freely by the doomed and the dispossessed, whose ears are never soiled by songs of love and weakness.

These names are invisible tokens to be spoken aloud, each representing a human quest for superhuman spectacle: shaking floorboards and quivering walls, split ears leaking blood, with faces painted and ornaments pointy, voices uttering eternal truths shunned by woman and man alike.

Is it redundant that this book is hardcover?

…and why does that passage remind me of the following:

Theognis is the only writer represented in this volume whose poetry has come down to us by a regular manuscript tradition.  His works are to be found, in whole or in part, in more than forty manuscripts, the oldest and best of which belongs to the early 10th century.  We have almost 1400 lines of elegiacs, which are variously divided to form between 300 and 400 poems, most of them single couples, the longest two poems of 30 lines.  At last, the novice might think, the critic’s task is straightforward: he is dealing with compete poems instead of stray fragments and he can ply his trade in peace.  But alas!  the field of Theognidean studies is battle-scarred, strewn with theories dead or dying, the scene of bitter passions and blind partisanship. Welcker in1826 divided the poems into a small corpus of ‘genuine Theognis’ and a large mass of poetry by other writers, earlier and later.  Separatists of various shades of opinion held the field till 1902, when Harrison published a vigorous defence of the unity of the  corpus, and since then combat has been continuous, except for interruptions due to real wars. (emph. mine)

-D. A. Campbell, Greek Lyric Poetry. 343-344.

File under: “Yeah, well YOU didn’t think of it either…”

Why don’t I have a record contract?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvkHIZg_954

A little too close to home

I was pretty stupid and insecure in college.  I think this fairly sums up my experience on both ends of the spectrum.

Logorrhea

There’s a vague irony to writing a brief blog post on this article, but I’m going to do it anyway.

About halfway through Stein’s piece, I noticed something curious about my act of reading it, namely, that the article was veering away from where I assumed it was going and instead moving on to a completely different, although entirely valid point. Stein seems to be operating off the notion that current web technology operates as an honest to goodness “marketplace of ideas” that efficiently sifts creative output such that it gets expressed and primarily consumed in a form appropriate to its maximum degree of development–hence, the Rob Schneider/YouTube connection, which of course brings to mind the legion of SNL-sketch-influenced movies that really should have remained sketches. Insofar as this argument holds water, I do think he has a point (e.g., Little Nicky really should never have been made), but there nevertheless is plenty of market-based evidence to undermine his thesis (e.g., the comments page for the previous link).

The more sinister implication I initially thought he was aiming at, however, is that the proliferation of tools by which, and forums in which one may opine on a whim generally devalues the formation of complex opinions because technology has enabled the satisfaction of merely saying something to outpace the incentives for coming up with things that are worth saying. In other words, why should I invest more time and effort developing my thoughts into a blog post that A) few people will read, B) will probably not be very good, C) I’ll probably end up forgetting about or changing my mind about later, and D) I may actually abort halfway through when I realize I don’t have anything I really want to say, when I can dash off a quick one-liner on Twitter or make up a clever status for myself at Facebook and feel a few seconds’ gratification at having made my mark of free expression on the networks? Is the internet becoming one giant bathroom wall for our soundbyte culture?

I’m generally of the opinion that it’s good for people to put a fair bit of thought into self-presentation, be it physical or intellectual, if only out of respect for the public spaces they intend to inhabit. You don’t shit where you eat, as the vulgar expression would have it. Whither, then, the culture that would redefine defecation?

“I call it the nouveau tag.”

Um…while reading this piece, I honestly had a difficult time convincing myself it wasn’t from The Onion.

Freespeak & Newspeak

This post was brought on in part by some of the recent political debates about certain statements being “over the line” etc.

To piggyback on a point I once read regarding the contemporary loss of distinction between Patriotism and Nationalism and/Jingoism, I’ve been thinking on and off about what ever happened to the social category of “Taste”.  I suppose it’s kind of a pre-90’s mentality–you know, back when The Simpsons was considered edgy–but it seems to me that the realm of social meaning and valuation that “Taste” used to occupy has been carved up between radical Free Speech advocacy and PC Speech Restrictions, and that conceptually we’re a far poorer society as a result.

Briefly, as a working definition I understand the “Taste” to encompass the degree to which an actor frames his actions/utterances in accordance with the accepted social norms of the particular context of the action/utterance.  Radical Free Speech attacks this by claiming that social context should never impinge upon one’s right to express oneself however one wants wherever and whenever one wants, and PC Speech declares certain expressions and opinions as off-limits in any context.

Jive Iliad

Courtesy of Gizoogle, this ought to be worth a weekend of fun.  Check out “bootylicious Achilles“, which I’m sure is what Patroclus thought…

No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to…

…lather, rinse, repeat?

Look, but don’t touch…

While reading this article on bordom (thanks to Works and Days!), my eyes wandered over to the sidebar leading to further pieces on the site.  Much to my bemusement, the advertisement had stacked the story “Eliot Spitzer not alone in high profile apologies” right on top of the story “Images from the Patriots’ cheerleader tryouts”.  Interesting…