Maybe it is because the country began with an enunciation of
rights, but suddenly all kinds of rights are being asserted that I can only
describe as strange.
You are familiar with the parents who don’t want little
Balaam exposed to the quote theories of the quote scientists, like the emphasis
Theory of Relativity, which led to pictures of a black hole this week, if you
happen to believe they weren’t faked. Instead of quote scientific quote
theories, little Balaam’s parents want him to get credit for a science course
based on true Bible science.
OK. You’ve been there, seen that. How about this:
Little Micah’s parents
home school him to keep him away from the pernicious influences of the public
schools, which influences include drugs and quote scientific quote theory, as
well as students from undesirable homes. BUT they do want Micah to be allowed
to play on a public school’s sports teams. Their theory is that they pay taxes.
Incidentally, they don’t want Micah playing on just any public school football
team but, rather, the one who coach gets scholarships for his charges with the
top football schools. This “hate the public school but love the team” attitude
might seem inconsistent, but some Florida school districts allow it and every
year an effort is made in the Legislature to enact it into law.
Parental rights.
That's also why kids are allowed to go to
school unvaccinated and put other kids at risk of measles or worse if Mommy or
Daddy happen to read some interesting exposes on the Internet. Remember,
vaccination has something to do with quote science.
So this business of joining, but only on my own terms,
projects I hate keeps spreading through civil society. And now my deacon
friends say it comes to church.
People who left their Catholic parishes and became nones or
joined another denomination because they were “no longer getting anything
out of the Catholic Church” expect – expect? Nay, demand -- to receive
Communion when they attend weddings or funerals in the churches of the faith
that didn’t give them what they
wanted. They not only assume the sacrament as their right, but get offended if
they are told that it would be better if they not receive.
I’m also told that it is now customary for the wedding party
to arrive at the rehearsal stewed and fried, having warmed up for the bachelor
dinner where they expect to get totally wasted, so can we get this over with in
a hurry?
But that’s another puzzlement. For today, I would be
satisfied if someone would explain to me the origins of this yen to take part in something one
disdains and eschews.
Don't know where this started, but the latest example may be those who ran off to join ISIS, ripped up their passports, denounced their country and would now like to come back. Some countries, including the semi-UK and the former-USA are resisting; the French seem to be a bit more lenient...Iraq wants billions to take back their former citizens. They have to go somewhere! But who will take them?
ReplyDeleteOne right I have wondered about is the right to health care, which people genuinely want when their health is threatened, sometimes due to their own fault. Apart from that, calling it a "right" is one reason it is such a huge proportion of the national economy. Would it be better to talk of "duty," the duty of physicians, hospitals, etc. to treat the sick and the ailing.
I think the word you are looking for is "entitled". People feel entitled to do ...anything they want. Like the Subway fast food commercial.
ReplyDeleteBut I am puzzled about the people who opted out of the church who want to receive Communion at weddings and funerals. Nobody is going to check their ID and ask for a "membership in good standing" card. They could just walk up with everybody else and act like they know what they are doing. But my guess is they sorta want to make a statement, because I can do....anything I want.
And about weddings, in our family, if a lot of the guests aren't Catholic, people usually just opt for a wedding service without a Mass. It's perfectly valid, and saves awkwardness. I did have to laugh a little about the relative's in-law who said, "If there's no Mass, I thought there wouldn't be a sermon!" Mass or no Mass you get the homily.
DeleteI think it has to do with the dissolution of the sense of community. When people felt like part of a group, they followed group norms. But now everyone is a singleton and singletons set their own rules. And, as Katherine said, a sense of entitlement--overwhelming entitlement. No one in public (or private) life these days seems to ever express gratitude, just resentment and dissatisfaction.
ReplyDeleteGood insight, Bob (Welcome!). I missed the Bowling Alone connection completely because the examples I cited all involved people joining groups. I should have thought of singletons joining groups, which makes it odder.
DeleteMona Charen, a conservative columnist who is occasionally brilliant, wrote in defense of Joe Biden that human beings need physical contact. Lots of examples, but what struck me was that Americans are not having sex the way they used to. Yes, it's an older population, but "even among Americans aged 18-29, nearly a quarter reported that they had been celibate for the previous year, compared with 14 percent in 1989." She adds: "Screens can deliver orgasms, but they are completely unable to provide the other benefits of human contact." Apparently, we now not only bowl alone but we are copulate alone. Neat trick?
https://www.omaha.com/opinion/mona-charen-of-biden-and-the-complex-topic-of-touching/article_336a5223-6019-541e-9279-e93bff4bec99.html
Yez all sound like crabby old people griping about how awful things are today.
ReplyDeleteMe? I blame attachment parenting, the notion that children must be constantly nuzzled, hovered over, shielded from all possible triggers, and given unconditional approval from the womb to the family bed to their first home in a comfortable white suburb.
There's my old lady rant o' the month.
Tom, about "li'l Balaam", at least its a scriptural name! The deacons here do the Baptism prep classes, and my husband has told me about some rather...unusual names peop!e have chosen for their newborns. Most of them try to include a saint or Biblical name somewhere. You can get pretty unusual there, too. The Confirmation kids really mine the obscure saint names. One of the Baptism names was Inri. Like the inscription on the cross. I actually sort of like that one. Sounds a bit like Henry, without the H.
ReplyDelete