Congratulations Are In Order .
We here at The Contra-Crunchy Conservative may not have always agreed with Rod Dreher, but a lack of full esteem for a man's professional talents and irritation at his sometimes less-than-professional habits is a far cry from outright hate (got that, Mr. Shea?), and we would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Dreher in the birth of their third child, Nora.
We would also like to convey our respect for Mr. Dreher in his living out his principles during this most momentous time. We believe that the free market, industrialization, globalization, big business, and modernity have their advantages as well as their drawbacks -- and one of their greatest achievements is the advancement of medicine. It's becoming almost routine for an expectant mother to go to a hospital and have a C-section, but the Dreher's eschewed all that. We hear that mother and daughter are doing fine, thanks to the professionalism of the midwife and the charming voodoo priest from Louisiana.
As the Missus recovers, there's a temptation to let her relax by watching shows like Gray's Anatomy -- to buy the show's DVDs and play them on a laptop computer, to embrace Big Media and what he believes is that damnable idea of choice in terms of what you watch, when, and where. Rod resisted the temptation, and it's a shame that we can't all be entertained by watching him whittle figurines of Wendell Berry and sing Negro spirituals.
Rod's living by his beliefs and proving that he is in a position to criticize others for their compromises, as he did in his book:
Did Rod compromise his love of all things small and local by allowing his book to be produced by a giant publishing company like Random House? Has he given up on homeschooling for even one of his children? Has he ever even contemplated that detestable expression of consumerism that is church hopping?
Heavens, no. He may indulge the occasional bit of fast food, but on the big stuff, he's rock solid and -- even though we disagree with his criticisms -- his consistency gives him the authority to criticize others when they stray from the crunchy ideals. For that, we salute him.
We would also like to convey our respect for Mr. Dreher in his living out his principles during this most momentous time. We believe that the free market, industrialization, globalization, big business, and modernity have their advantages as well as their drawbacks -- and one of their greatest achievements is the advancement of medicine. It's becoming almost routine for an expectant mother to go to a hospital and have a C-section, but the Dreher's eschewed all that. We hear that mother and daughter are doing fine, thanks to the professionalism of the midwife and the charming voodoo priest from Louisiana.
As the Missus recovers, there's a temptation to let her relax by watching shows like Gray's Anatomy -- to buy the show's DVDs and play them on a laptop computer, to embrace Big Media and what he believes is that damnable idea of choice in terms of what you watch, when, and where. Rod resisted the temptation, and it's a shame that we can't all be entertained by watching him whittle figurines of Wendell Berry and sing Negro spirituals.
Rod's living by his beliefs and proving that he is in a position to criticize others for their compromises, as he did in his book:
You don't have to be a religious believer in the formal sense to be a crunchy conservative, but you do have to believe that accumulating wealth and power is not the point of life. Now, if you took a poll, ninety-nine out of a hundred conservatives would deny that they subscribed to that vulgar credo. But that's not how they live —- even if they profess to be religious.
Did Rod compromise his love of all things small and local by allowing his book to be produced by a giant publishing company like Random House? Has he given up on homeschooling for even one of his children? Has he ever even contemplated that detestable expression of consumerism that is church hopping?
Heavens, no. He may indulge the occasional bit of fast food, but on the big stuff, he's rock solid and -- even though we disagree with his criticisms -- his consistency gives him the authority to criticize others when they stray from the crunchy ideals. For that, we salute him.
posted by Anonymous at 6:06 AM
17 Comments:
see for me, listening to "diana krall live in paris" (gag) on your ipod while holding your new baby daughter, would be highly uncrunchy, since I would be tuning out the newborn when listening to the very white, very blond, record-company android woodenly singing cole porter tunes. (by the way, there is nothing inauthentic about a record company paying a blond white woman millions to wear short skirts and sing songs written 50 years ago by a genius african-american, right? and anything done in paris is automatically authentic). BUT Benedict listening to diana krall on his ipod while holding his baby is automatically non-mainstream, authentic, and crunchy. Because it's Benedict doing it, and all he touches turns to crunch. but when we do these things, we are slobs. get it?
Brilliant! They've got a special on hangman's noose rope going on down at Walmart, but why not take the free stuff?
"it's just worth remembering that Fox News doesn't aim for impartiality."
YAWN. that would be worth noting, if i could think of a single news outlet in the nation, or world for that matter, that *did* aim for impartiality.
I'm actually a member from lesser-known "splinter-group" of AFC called "Jerks for Jesus". We broke off from "Geeks for God" after the famous copyright infringement scandal and before GFG's leader changed his religion and left to form "Buttheads for Buddha".
do you think the clown was Vladika Dmitri?
SVS, don't tell me -- your first date with your wife was to get a happy meal at mcdonald's! I KNEW IT!
yeah, well, i spent part of my wedding night at mcdonald's (long story). that's worse!
Yes, congratulations are in order for Mr. Dreher and his family. May God richly bless his new daughter.
"It would be unimaginable for any reputable news source to have been run by a lifelong Democratic operative who gave his staff notes every day on how to spin stories."
you must be joking.
"Remember how there was some media coverage, at some point, of scandals involving Bill Clinton?"
dpmacmanus, the ONLY reason there was any credulous news coverage was because the INDEPENDENT COUNSEL HAD PHYSICAL EVIDENCE. before that the story was poohpoohed endlessly. (it kinda sucked for bill clinton, cuz his party was the one that insisted on the independent counsel statute in the first place). if it weren't for that, monica lewinsky would have gone the way of juanita, gennifer, kathleen willey (or don't you remember them).
even AFTER the physical evidence was made known, the spin machine attempting to say it meant nothing was such an illuminating experience of Democrat cynicism that it is something i will never, ever forget.
brings back memories .... rush limbaugh playing "devil with the blue dress" foremost among them.
dcp, i'm sure this is all very fascinating for you, but i, for one, will never be convinced that the mainstream media is anything but liberally biased. In fact, I'm so thoroughly and utterly convinced of this that i would be far more engaged and enthralled by a discussion of whether Oxyclean or Shout is better for stain removal (I vote Oxyclean)
not to mention the fact that your extremely belabored point is fairly irrelevant to this blog.
PS: you are under the mistaken impression that washington post reporters and their sources are the ne plus ultra of engaged intellectual thought. i tend to conclude otherwise, especially considering the salaries post reporters are paid compared to the cost of living in washington. journalism no longer attracts the best and the brightest (if it ever did)
SVS, Kathleen, Diane, Pauli, and dear spiritual God seeking Contra
I said my good-byes to Rod today. He continues to blog on his conversion after saying that he has nothing more to say. That is kind of a lie.
Rod is simply a product of the culture he hates so much. In his hatred and rage he has become a caricature of what he hates. He is the perpetual bored child lusting for more entertainment. He lusts for bobbles and trinkets while missing the point of the journey.
From his own writings God offered him the "dark night", and at its end if faithful, he would obtain the "unitive way". Instead he fled from the "dark night" and its brilliant reward, into dim flickering barely reflective light of earthly customs.
We have to acknowledge that there are problems in the culture. The counter-cultural lifestyle that I want to write about comes from my readings of Jesus Christ, the teachings of the Holy Father, and the Church. Not the political left.
Our motives at my site were to address some of the materialism, big M and small m, that is used to justify a lot of the evil in our times. I am going to continue down that path. I am my own man, and do my own thing. It's much more fun if a bunch of us are going in the same immaculate direction. Hence my interest in bnet.
Let the Rod thing go, it does get personal here, and kind of mean. Use your talents to promote a Christian culture, not to badger a foolish man on his childish errand.
Instead of a parity, this blog could become a means to promote conservative values as they manifest within the culture. You could use it to promote a culture of life. You are all so talented.
"Let the Rod thing go, it does get personal here, and kind of mean. Use your talents to promote a Christian culture, not to badger a foolish man on his childish errand. "
JohnT, I agree, we should have let this ago a long time ago, but i keep coming back to this: isn't it incredibly harmful that beliefnet has someone like that blogging for them? Dreher *sounds like* someone i would admire, he articulates the right principles and the right sensibilities, he even articulates them with a Gen X style i find pretty agreeable, but in substance he represents exactly the opposite of what is spiritually healthy. that makes him a menace. at this point he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, taking himself, his family and those who take him seriously (if there are any, which is debatable) on a chaotic and ultimately damaging ride.
the sad thing about Dreher is that he is at the precipice of a major breakthrough, but he *keeps turning away*. he keeps saying no -- petulantly. it's utterly maddening, how someone can seem to be so close to understanding and so lost at the same time.
in any case, political conservatives don't take dreher seriously, and i'm hoping catholics won't either. But in case there are any who are on the fence, maybe - maybe? -- it's kind of necessary to have an outlet which takes the guy down. maybe i'm wrong.
Why did Dreher leave National Review? They weren't crunchy enough or did he get fired? I would say Dallas Morning News is a few rungs down the ladder from National Review.
I believe Mr. Dreher was hired by National Review subsequent to his (forced? I cannot remember) departure from the New York Post. There was quite a controversy at the Post over a column he wrote criticizing what he thought was the excess in the funeral of the singer Aaliyah. I have had the impression that his one-year stint at National Review was a stopgap between newspaper jobs. Although a critic, columnist, and editorial writer rather than a reporter, he has worked for metropolitan newspapers throughout his career, not opinion magazine.
Newspapers remain commercial enterprises. With the exception of the New York Review of Books, opinion magazines generally have a patron or receive grants from foundations in order to remain solvent. It is likely that his salary at the Dallas Morning News well exceeds what National Review was willing and able to pay him. I am not sure that professional journalists would regard a transfer from National Review to a large metropolitan daily as step down, quite apart from considerations of salary.
Kathleen & Diane
"isn't it incredibly harmful that beliefnet has someone like that blogging for them?"
"it's kind of necessary to have an outlet which takes the guy down. maybe i'm wrong."
Another question is how do you respond?
Offer criticism
Offer justificatory evidence
Suggest alternative solution
It's the alternative solution that I am interested in, past the first two.
If someone says X, you disagree, I want to know why and then your solution. Only if you agree that it is a problem. That is why you should consider promoting your ideas here.
Wow. You people have got problems. Why did you create a blog dedicated to one man's choice to become Orthodox? That appears like stalking and betrays that you all have an unhealthy interest in this man. Shame on you.
Instead of condemning him(as if you knew his heart), pray for him.
God bless you . . .
Adam
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