Conversation of Our Generation

I hope you are having a Merry Christmas! Today, I want to remember what this day is about and take a moment to read the stories given to us about the birth of Jesus. So, I will read the stories of the Nativity in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. It's important to go back to these stories, which is why today's episode will do just that. Instead of telling people to "keep the Christ in Christmas," I want to do that. If you agree, join me in reading these stories, and take time to reflect on what they teach.

Obviously, the birth of Jesus is the major celebration today. But, how should we celebrate Him? Well, as a Catholic I have an easy answer - the Mass. More than any other form of worship, the Holy Mass fulfills what we owe to God on this day. So, I say keep the Christ in Christmas, as well as the Mass in Christmas.

2020 has been a hard year, and I won't try to deny that or dwell on it. However, as we see in the Christmas story, there is cause for joy. Furthermore, we are called to be joyful - even when it isn't easy to do so. Let us celebrate today with those that we love, and remember that this is the celebration of the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

In our society, politics has jumped to the front of most everyone's mind. Despite its prominence in our lives, it seems that many people don't know how to talk about it. But, that doesn't have to be the case. A while ago, I sat down to talk with the guys from the Vital Masculinity Podcast about virtues, and how to discuss politics. Since I've been revisiting some of the great conversations I've had, I thought I'd revisit this conversation about justice, reading, and talking politics. That way, I can pull out some new insights and elaborate on an amazing conversation. So, after you listen to this, it would be good to check out the original interview.

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"Virtue is harmony."

-PYTHAGORAS

You Can't Fix Injustice with Injustice

While it may seem like revenge can right wrongs, it really can't. In fact, injustice cannot be dealt with by committing further injustices. Instead, justice has to be done to rectify the damage, and while some may not feel as though they've been made whole, they may need to accept that. As politicians today call for things like reparations and "equitable treatment," we ought to be wary of their solutions.

Although the American Revolution worked out well, it is an outlier, not the rule. More often than not, revolution leads to chaos and a worse state of things. Tyranny of a dictator is, at the very least, predictable. However, mob rule and the chaos of revolutions like the Communist Revolution or French Revolution leaves a society in desperate need of order. And, this often comes from a strong-willed leader who generally leads back to the tyranny the revolt reacted to in the first place.

Man, is it hard to have a good political discussion. It seems like anytime we talk about politics either we talk past each other or it turns to shouting and name-calling. But, that doesn't have to be the case. There are ways of talking politics that can be productive. Doing this requires virtues of patience, prudence, and courage - as well as some tact and knowledge. So, if it's possible, how can it be done? Listen to find out.

So, I'm now back in the office for recording, and if you can't see it you should check out my YouTube Channel. You'll be able to watch the book reviews and see the new office. But, to get to the topic for this episode, I'll be discussing a book by Scott Yenor. The Recovery of Family Life is an insightful look into the attack on the family, and how to push back. I learned about this book because someone reached out to me about it. After reading most of it, I can say this is a crucial read for everyone in our culture today.

Unlike other reviews I've done, this is one that someone reached out to me to review. And, I'm glad she did. If it weren't for her reaching out, I wouldn't have found this book that has really intrigued me. I must say that this has really changed how I approach some of the cultural-political problems we face.

"This revolution is a 'sexual revolution' in the large and proper sense. I call it the rolling revolution because its principles are such that they will only with great difficulty, if ever, be achieved and they can call for a continuous transformation of marriage and family life."

-Scott Yenor

In this incredibly well-researched book, Yenor explains the problems that arise from feminism and a simplified liberalism. By tracing feminist activists' works, he demonstrates how our society has attacked the family and family values. Instead of building up families and supporting them, we've actively worked against them.

Not only does Yenor explain feminism, but he does this by extensively citing and quoting their work. Rather than hearing these ideas second or third-hand, he shows you what the founders of this feminist and liberal ideology say. If you don't believe me, you should buy the book and look at the 70+ pages of notes and citations.

But, where's the positive side of things? Well, Yenor doesn't just leave us with all the problems he describes. He explains the basic problem, as well as some other issues curbing the progress of the "rolling revolution." What I like most is that he shows a way forward. My goal is to solve the problems of today with the wisdom of the past, and I think Yenor's book exemplifies how that's done. By pulling from tremendous thinkers, explaining the current issue, and proposing prudent solutions, he is doing what I like to see.

I talked with the ladies from Freed From Feminism a few months back and wanted to revisit a few great parts of our conversation. In this conversation, we discussed a wide range of problems with feminism. So, I thought it would be good to revisit our chat and elaborate on some of those ideas. After you listen to this episode, if you're interested in what they have to say you can check out the full interview here.

The thrust of the argument for Theresa and Beth is that feminism is based on an idea that cannot stand. Women and men are inherently unequal. While that doesn't mean women are more or less than men, it does mean there is difference between the sexes. However, feminism seeks to erase those differences, which inevitably leads to many problems and complications. Below, we'll take a look at a couple of the problems with feminism that arise from this mistaken idea that men and women ought to be equal in all respects.

I think it is crucial to understand the spell that feminism has cast on our society. After that, we can begin to look at the particulars more closely. But, until we look at how feminism goes wrong in its assumptions, we cant dive into instances where this error plays out.

Despite the need for good depictions of dads, we seem to get terrible images of fatherhood from our media. For example, Everybody Loves Raymond and Modern Family seem to do everything they can to portray the dads as blundering idiots. Rather than offering an accurate, yet comedic, look at a father, they feature caricatures of fatherhood.

As someone who has worked full-time while in school, I can say I know what it means to be busy. But, I don't know if that compares to the moms I know in my family. For those that work on top of being moms, I can say I don't know how they do it. While I disagree with Beth and Theresa that all moms should be stay-at-home moms, I recognize it's the best situation. I do think it could be good in some cases for women to have a job (not a career) and children or find some balance. Especially today when feminism is so ingrained, I think it's good to take steps in the right direction. Ideally, however, moms would be full-time moms instead of balancing their family and career.

Plato, one of the best known Greek philosophers, was a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. He's notable not only for his tremendous insight into philosophy but his style as well. Instead of explaining his ideas in a long soliloquy, he used dialogue to teach. For his dialogues, he uses Socrates and what we now know as the Socratic method to extract ideas from his characters. In Plato's Republic, we take a look at what he thinks the ideal society would be. So, let's take a look at what Plato has to say about his ideal political situation.

For starters, it's important to understand how Plato writes, like what I mentioned above. He uses his teacher, Socrates, and a dialogue to extract ideas from his characters. In order to do this, he has to use students of Socrates to ask questions. By doing this, he allows readers to enter into the story and see different points of views answered. Rather than reading a long explanation of an idea, you can see how the ideas clash and follow the tension between them. So, you are pulled in more like a story than a philosophical treatise.

What does Plato prescribe for the perfect society? Well, we may not find it ideal based on our modern ideas, but he raises many interesting points about human nature. At the beginning, the characters are discussing morality with Socrates. Questions arise about what morality is and whether or not it is a good thing to be moral. After that, we look at an extended allegory of the perfect society that leads us to an understanding of morality. In this work, he shows that morality is something noble and worth pursuing, and that it is good in and of itself.

Today is mailbag day! So, I'll be answering your Mailbag Questions. Before I dive into those questions, I'll be talking about a tweet of mine that went viral and why I think it did. Plus, I'll discuss how people misunderstood what I was getting at with the tweet. Then, I'll talk about what I really was trying to get at.

I was trying. to show that the ideal we put forth was different in the 50's than it is today. Not only that, but it is something that we have to choose as a society. We will have to choose which we encourage and promote, because if we don't, others will choose for us. But, I think people took it as a broad statement about the 50's versus today, which it wasn't. I think the reason this struck a cord is that we have a strong faction trying to undermine the family, and push us into an asexual, single adult life.

The Mailbag Questions:

This is the second book by C.S. Lewis that I've reviewed. The Abolition of Man is a work that I believe is prophetic, but not just because it described a problem we'd deal with decades later. Rather, the prophecy lies in the ability to predict the end result. It does so by following the logic to its conclusion with tremendous accuracy. Near the end, he says, "But you cannot go on 'explaining away' for ever; you will find that you have explained explanation itself away." If that doesn't call to mind our current Postmodern culture, I don't know what does. So, if you're interested in how Lewis check out this review.

Lewis begins this book by calling out a couple of authors of a grammar book, but not for teaching grammar poorly. Instead, he points out that their grammar book was teaching a worldview. When they should have been explaining the rules of language, they were directing students' word choice in a peculiar way. They do not point out an issue with the grammar, but the way language was used. In this passage, they assert that we merely explain how we feel about something, instead of being able to recognize a quality in an inanimate object. We can easily see how this method has grown and tainted our education system today. Here's the passage.

Basically, the abolition of man that Lewis describes is a scientific religion based on "Man's conquest of nature." He doesn't necessarily use those terms, but he shows that we often think of technology as progress. Offering the airplane, wireless, and contraceptive as examples, he shows that reliance on technology is not conquering in any way. "If I pay you to carry me, I am not therefore myself a strong man," he says, demonstrating this point. Rather than liberating man from nature, we have a few who advance the technology that the masses rely on. Instead of mastering nature, we have reduced ourselves to the same level as the nature we wish to conquer. And, in doing so, we abolish man.

I recently sat down with Amy Mastrine, an artist who works in traditional mediums, to talk about the state of art. Finding a way to create new iterations of traditional art is something that would go a long way for our culture. Because I enjoyed this conversation, I wanted to revisit some of the great insights to discuss them more. Amy offered a lot of interesting ideas, so I thought it would be good to elaborate and offer my thoughts. Also, I've thought about doing this for some of my other interviews, so if you enjoy this, let me know! And, if there's anyone I should interview, let me know here.

"Culture is the arts elevated to a set of beliefs."

Digital art lacks soul in some way. There are a lot of great things happening in digital art. For instance, video games are creating incredible scenes. Despite the beauty one can create with digital art, there is something irreplaceable about traditional art.

Beauty is an objective reality. Although many people will argue it is subjective, it is an objective reality. However, people who argue for the subjectivity of beauty touch on something true. Because beauty is an abstraction, it does require a subject to observe it.

What is the highest form of art? Is it painting, sculpting, or stained glass? In this interview, Amy called architecture the highest form of art, and I agree. Although architecture isn't often thought of as art, I would say it is. In my opinion, art is creating beauty in an expressive way. Despite not being expressive in the same way, architecture does have this relationship to people because it is how we live.

In order for you understand the modern political landscape, it is important to read Machiavelli's The Prince. It includes detailed and wise accounts of how rulers gain, retain and lose power. The version that I recommend in this video also includes a couple other works by Machiavelli. In these other works, he describes the forms of government and which are most preferable and why.

Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince is a political work that teaches how to rule pragmatically, rather than philosophically. Instead of describing the best form of government, Machiavelli teaches those in power how to remain in power. Unlike Aristotle's Politics, The Prince is a handbook for leaders. In this book, he explains practical steps for rulers to take given certain situations. In other words, this book reads more like a diagnostic manual for rulers than a treatise on government.

Machiavelli has become somewhat of a shadowy figure in history. He is often thought of as a very mysterious figure. However, Niccolo Machiavelli was a rather normal politician whose work has likely inspired good and leaders. In fact, he's not much of a mystery at all. We know quite a bit about him.

Machiavelli was  an ambassador and military adviser in the Florentine Republic. But, he was not a highly-ranked figure. That said, his knowledge of history and understanding of politics ensured he had the ear of his superiors. His acumen as a tactful observer helped him to see the big picture and predict outcomes fairly well. If you want to learn more about Machiavelli, you can do that here.

I recently sat down with Brendan Heard of the Aureus Press to talk about traditionalism and power of ancient and esoteric wisdom. After his book about the decline of Western Art, Brendan continued to writing. This led him to start the Aureus Press website where he publishes articles. This conversation will teach you a lot about a range of problems facing us today. For more of this discussion, listen to the interview. Or, if you're a subscriber you can watch below.

As you know, I've talked with several accounts about art, architecture, and beauty. And, I've talked a lot about restoring the arts, despite being in an ugly culture. Furthermore, I think there is a connection between truth and beauty - that they're both objective. Brendan and I discuss that quite a bit as well. That said, I think much of what we tried to get at is perfectly summed up below by Francis Bacon.

Basically, esoteric wisdom is knowledge meant to be somewhat hidden - or at least not widespread. According to the dictionary, esoteric means: