Bill Kassel's Blog

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Moral Choices & Actions

Hating Hate

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FORGET EMPTY GESTURES ON HATE
DEFEND THE 1ST AMENDMENT

I hate hate. I mean I really hate hate.

And I hate the haters who hate. I hate them because they’re so…well…so hateful. And I just hate that.

It’s a good thing Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats pushed for that anti-hate resolution.

There can be no question now that Americans believe hate is bad.

And that’s good.

Because we don’t want any haters around here.

People could get the idea that we tolerate hate. And I’d hate for them to think that.

Hate is intolerance. And tolerating that kind of intolerance is…intolerable.

–  –  –

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Ashes Once More

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IT’S GOOD TO REMIND OURSELVES
OF OUR FLAWS AND FAILINGS

In acknowledgment of Ash Wednesday, here are some thoughts I’ve posted several times since they first appeared back in 2014…

____________

I have to confess that there are certain Catholic pious practices I don’t entirely get.

It probably reflects the fact that I’m an adult convert and wasn’t raised in the Church — or that I’ve made less progress on my spiritual journey than I like to assume.

One of the things I don’t get is fasting.

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The Mind of the Left

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SLANDERING TRUMPSTERS WAS
LOGICAL TO JUSSIE SMOLLETT

The endless media cycle has already spun ’round several times since Jussie Smollett’s claim of being attacked by two Trump supporters was exposed as another pathetic victimization fantasy. This less-than-A-list actor is already fading into Jussie-Who? status.

He enjoyed a moment of fame when his IMDb ranking (a measure of recognizability with which Hollywood folk are obsessed) peaked at Number 10. But his character was written out of the last three current-season episodes of the series, “Empire,” on which he’s been featured. Will he recover? Maybe. But at the moment, his long-term employability is uncertain.

So if boosting his career was the motive for claiming persecution based on his intersectional characteristics of race and sexuality — as has been speculated — it probably wasn’t the shrewdest move.

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The Beat Goes On

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JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS
ABOUT THOSE COVINGTON BOYS

My friend and former Hillsdale College colleague, Dan Bisher, has gained some prominence as a regional historian through his book, Faded Memories, which examines Michigan’s frontier period, as well as through presentations he gives at libraries and schools.

A special focus of his work is the Potawatomi Indian culture that flourished in south-central Michigan until the infamous “Trail of Tears” episode that saw removal of indigenous people to reservations in the American southwest.

Dan’s talks are well attended, and they generate plenty of questions, especially from children, who are always interested in native American life.

Indian lore is a fascination for kids, exposed as they are from a young age to storybooks, TV shows, movies, and school lessons about the earliest residents of the Western Hemisphere. When they learn about the displacement of native culture by European civilization, youngsters tend to feel a special empathy that blends romance, nostalgia and a sense of loss. I dare say no other people have quite the same hold on their hearts as American Indians do.

Which is why I was quite perplexed when I saw the first video images of those Covington, Kentucky, school boys confronted by a native drummer on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

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To Read, or Not to Read

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THE KINGDOM STIRS ANGER
AT FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY

A fellow who heard that my novel, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER, focuses on James, the Lord’s brother, wrote me charging that the book must be some kind of Protestant screed.

Didn’t I know that Mary remained a virgin and never gave birth to any other children? If I wrote that Jesus had a brother, surely I must be dabbling in heresy.

I explained to him that the book draws on early Christian writings (the so-called “non-canonical gospels”) that describe Joseph as an older widowed man with children at the time he took Mary as his wife. It doesn’t conflict with either the Bible — which says nothing about Joseph’s age and family circumstances — or with Christian Tradition. In fact, it’s been certified by the Catholic Writers Guild as being consistent with Church teaching.”

His misassumption reflected the fact that he’d only heard about the book and hadn’t read it. But then, that’s key, isn’t it. Not only can’t you judge a book by its cover, you can’t fully know what ideas it espouses until you’ve read it.

This truth is relevant to a controversy swirling around Franciscan University of Steubenville.

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Season of Hope

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GIVE OPTIMISM A
CHANCE TO BE BORN

Feeling gloomy about the state of the world — a mood into which I fall more frequently than I care to admit — I unburdened myself to a friendly priest. His response was, in essence…

“Lighten up. The world always has problems. And anyway, it’s Christmastime, the season of hope.”

That observation, while not especially fresh or insightful, is nonetheless true. And it does help to reestablish a certain sense of perspective when…

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Baby, It’s Cold Outside

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MORAL CONSCIENCE
VS. SPIRIT OF #METOO

Recent controversy over the classic winter pop song, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” reveals much about our present state of moral reasoning.

Written by Frank Loesser — best known as composer and lyricist for the Broadway musicals, “Guys and Dolls” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” — the song is a clever exploration of the tug-of-war between conscience and hypocrisy to which sexual desire often subjects us.

The premise of the song is as simple as it is universal: A girl knows she should remove herself from a sexually charged situation while a guy attempts to distract her from the warning bells ringing inside her head.

The humor of the piece lies in the obvious fact that she isn’t listening too closely to those bells and her resistance to his entreaties is half-hearted at best.

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A Token of Good Will

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THE GREETING “MERRY CHRISTMAS”
EXPRESSES GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT

While our annual debate over the holiday greeting “Merry Christmas” seems to have lost some sharpness, the issue is far from settled.

There are plenty of folks who still charge Christians with cultural imperialism. Likewise, the impulse to defend the traditional salutation asserts itself regularly.

While I surely see that some of the anti-“Merry Christmas” sentiment expresses rejection of Christianity (or even outright attacks on the Faith), there’s also a good deal of simple misunderstanding about what the greeting really conveys.

Back in December of 2013 I posted an essay that attempted to clarify what people mean when they wish someone “Merry Christmas” (or at least what I mean by it). I’ve reposted the piece in subsequent years.

As it remains relevant, here it is again…

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Conversation Avoided

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MEGAN KELLY COLLIDED WITH
A PAINFUL POP CULTURE IMAGE

The uproar over Megan Kelly’s remarks about white people in blackface demonstrates once again that there are certain issues so emotionally charged that it’s all too easy to give unintended offense when addressing them.

Megan made a very odd assertion that when she was a kid, blackface was okay at Halloween, as long as you were dressing up as a particular “character.” That comment raised questions, not only about what “characters” might have been acceptable in those days, but about the kind of neighborhood in which she did her trick-or-treating.

Nevertheless, video footage of her “Today Show” discussion shows clearly that she was not unaware that blackface is considered offensive. Rather, she was attempting to draw a distinction between being sensitive to other people’s feelings and being crushed under the arbitrary dictates of political correctness.

That someone with her media savvy and cool presence did it so awkwardly shows how delicate such a task can be.

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Gifs, Tiffs & Tweets

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CONSIDERING AN UP-SIDE
TO ONLINE NASTINESS

The shared experiences of a society tend to reveal the attitudes of individuals within it.

For example, if you’ve ever watched film footage of the Nazi era in Germany — especially the great propaganda epics created by Joseph Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl — you’ve probably been struck by the genuine enthusiasm of the crowds.

To be sure, the shots featured were selected and edited to demonstrate broad support for Hitler and his movement. But the overwhelming numbers of enraptured faces recorded on film leave no doubt that large portions of the German population were swept up in a collective frenzy.

Those folks would feel differently by the end of World War II, when Germany was in ruins and enthusiasm had turned to anguish. But at Nazism’s rise, many people opened their hearts to der Führer, embracing his promises as their own personal hopes.

Today we’re watching the attitudes of individuals reveal themselves in the unique confluence of politics and social media.

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Kavanaugh v. Ford

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EMOTION OUTWEIGHS ALL IN
THE CONFIRMATION DISPUTE

The Democrats have certainly shown they’re great at planning ahead.

After silently lining up accusers to tar Brett Kavanaugh with a colorful variety of sex-abuse allegations — of which Christine Ford’s is only one — they’ve got their next argument ready for his confirmation vote…

His extreme emotional reaction to Ford’s charge shows he lacks the proper “judicial temperament” to sit on the Supreme Court.

If you haven’t heard that notion yet, you will soon.

But preparations don’t stop there. Lefty media mouthpieces are already announcing the strategy for blocking the assault on Roe v. Wade they assume would follow Kavanaugh’s ascension to the Court.

As reported by Breitbart News, Terry Moran, chief foreign correspondent for ABC, laid it all out during coverage of the committee hearing…

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