tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25624602.post3177444268733676909..comments2024-03-15T00:12:57.489-07:00Comments on Covenant Zone: Let's stop "tolerating" the abuse of our language and common sensetruepeershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401984575637492845noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25624602.post-64842903326259459952008-09-06T20:51:00.000-07:002008-09-06T20:51:00.000-07:00I think I know what you're saying, eowyn.It is jus...I think I know what you're saying, eowyn.<BR/><BR/>It is just one of the left's myth that conservatives are "reactionary". And it's another of their myths that the political landscape is well understood in terms of a "left" and "right". As a conservative, I don't think of myself as a rightist. That's a leftist concept.<BR/><BR/>No, I'm simply a defender of the many sacred centres around which the best of the past has circulated and from which, in yet unknowable ways, the future will be renewed.<BR/><BR/>Thinking of yourself as a defender of the sacred centre is useful. Yes, we are involved in separating wheat from chaff as you mention - in other words, a refining of what has come before. But we are also interested in cultural renewal in realistic, not Utopian, ways. If the conservative puts emphasis on shared faith and transcendence it is because this is necessary to renew our culture, not to freeze it (it is secular bureaucratic reason that is best suited to freezing culture), something we must always do, all the while realizing that things can never be exactly the same as they were in the past. Realistic renewal requires an expansion of freedom.<BR/><BR/>It seems to me that we should strive to be fully involved in the conversation between past and future. Much of what I oppose politically are people who simply want to narrow the possibilities of the present by the way they conceive the past as a scandal to overcome, and the future as Utopian redemption for the victims of the past. Such thinking involves a dangerous narrowing of the present possibilities. The defender of the centre is a defender of the present in its fullest possibilities for human freedom. And then we will be open to seeing what works, what new and beautiful things emerge in ways unpredictable, by people engaging unfolding events in good faith.truepeershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16401984575637492845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25624602.post-76239695779373835272008-09-06T18:31:00.000-07:002008-09-06T18:31:00.000-07:00"It's a powerful way of summing up the moral sickn..."It's a powerful way of summing up the moral sickness that has flowed from our descent into cultural and personal non-judgmentalism, all in the name of a "tolerance" which cannot mean very much if you yourself do not have a clear centre, a clear sense of right and wrong, from which to truly tolerate other positions."<BR/><BR/>truepeers, you've hit a nerve, I think. An important one.<BR/><BR/>Human culture is "sieving" itself finer and finer, anymore, if that makes sense. That is, we're learning to separate wheat from chaff as truth from falsehood. When all is winnowed, what is left is what is sound.<BR/><BR/>To use prospective vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin as an example:<BR/><BR/>In not so many years past, having a daughter pregnant and unwed at age 17 would have been anathema. Today, of course, we recognize that the optimum window of sexual behavior is, in fact, between the ages of 15 and 21. Gov. Palin has taught her children that it is not correct to act irresponsibly -- but still one did. Did that disqualify her as a representative of the people? In years past, perhaps. But today, reality is recognized.<BR/><BR/>Gov. Palin did her duty toward her children. That her daughter chose to act irresponsibly was the DAUGHTER'S CHOICE. And here is where conservatives have evolved.<BR/><BR/>It is a supremely conservative value that EVERYONE chooses his/her path in life. NO ONE orders anyone to make decisions, right or wrong. All one can do is try to do the right thing, and encourage others. NO ONE can dictate.<BR/><BR/>What Gov. Palin has done is emblematic:<BR/><BR/>No. 1 -- She did her best to instruct her children what was right.<BR/><BR/>No. 2 -- Bristol Palin learned the lesson. Young as she is, she and the father will get married, so as to offer their child the stability of the nuclear experience. (Will it succeed? Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. But as long as the child is put first, it's all good.)<BR/><BR/>The point is that family is the rock upon which society rests. Shared values. This doesn't change, with conservatives. It may take shape differently, and upset a few "status quos" -- but the foundation remains the same.<BR/><BR/>Leftists are fond of throwing back at conservatives changes of orientation. "Hypocrisy." Etc.<BR/><BR/>Well -- conservatives aren't fossils. They recognize change.<BR/><BR/>They just don't tack into any prevailing wind.<BR/><BR/>(Ugh ... feel like I'm blowing hot air, perhaps. But, well, not.)Eowynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11166378681749345402noreply@blogger.com