Happy New Year, Al-Qaeda
When we found out no WMDs in Iraq when U.S. intelligence assured otherwise, I was both disappointed and ashamed of my nation’s intelligence failure. You might say that we acted rather unintelligently. It was a humbling moment in our nation’s history.
Thankfully, America is not shattered by a single failure. Part of being American is this uncanny ability to bounce back, to get back on the horse, to keep on fighting. It is what got us through the Great Depression; it is what got us through Watergate; it is what is getting us through our history of racisim. Essential to the American spirit is to resist being defined by our failures, to persevere in working hard to do good.
What inspired these patriotic thoughts, you might ask? My inspiration happens to be the wonderful new years gift which the CIA presented to Al-Qaeda last week. This is not a minor story; this amounts to significant redemption (in one sense of the word) for American intelligence, as well as a significant victory over the terrorist organization which bombed our nation and opposes democracy everywhere.
It’s a great way to celebrate the new year, if you ask me.
The Psychologist and the Ad-Man: Saviors of the World?
David Wells, the historian and theologian, has pointed out that a number of transitions have occurred in our culture since the 19th century, including:
Virtues→Values
A move in conversation about the necessity and importance of Virtues (of character manifestations such as goodness, integrity, courage, fortitude) to Values (personal preference). (more…)
Romantic Comedies Bad for You? Who Would Have Guessed?
I recently read a nail-biting, shocking headliner from BBC News entitled: “Rom-coms spoil your love life.” It was the conclusion of a university survey from Edinburgh that Romantic Comedies in fact generally set unrealistic expectations for viewers in their perception of real-life romances. The main problem: “if someone is meant to be with you then they will know what you want without you needing to communicate it.”
My sappy side took a hit as I perused the informant’s report. Who doesn’t like sweet mushy feelings as they dream of the ‘certain someone’? Or hope that their relationship will grow in excitement? But the good educators of Scotland have finally pointed something out that we should be aware of as we prepare for the holi-daze of visual stimulation:
“We now have some emerging evidence that suggests popular media plays a role in perpetuating these ideas in people’s minds.”
So be alert to renew your mind in truth, goodness, and beauty this holiday, and don’t be too quick to buy in to more than just Christmas sales.
(To read the full BBC article, click the tagged link below.)
Feeling Distinguished?
As I spelunk the dark caverns of further academic study–an exploration in which always carries it the question: “Did I pack properly, can I handle this task?”–I have discovered one potent provision of the academic task: distinctions.
When you say a girl is “smart,” you could mean several things:
She knows lots of data. She may be the veritable “Wikipedia” of information on a certain topic.
She can follow steps of logic to really think something through.
She has an excellent memory: she is a steel trap.
Or you could mean that she can clearly distinguish parts of a big idea in order to better understand the whole. She can make distinctions: much like I am doing now in my definition of “smart.”
You might want to distinguish the nature of something: “That’s not what I meant. I meant this…”
Or you might want to distinguish all the parts of a whole. Sometimes being able to split something up is the best way to figure out the whole thing.
I have found that this is the best way for me to write a paper, write a sermon, or exegete a passage. In fact, I almost stopped in the middle of a ten-page Greek paper to call my 6th grade grammar teacher: “Mrs. B, thank you for teaching me how to diagram a sentence. I realize that because I can identify the ten different verbs in this passage I now have an idea of how to follow what it’s trying to say!”
I guess all those grade-school mornings of diagramming sentences with prepositional phrases or participles really paid off.
So, next time you are staring at your screen wondering where to start on this huge hunk of information you are supposed to discuss, get out the pie server and eat it up one piece at a time.
On Browning’s “Christmas Eve”
One of the interesting struggles I always faced at the holidays during my time back at college was the terrible collision between the new life and identity that I was discovering for myself away at school with the old, established and traditional way of life back home. I would walk through the doors of the old house with the joy of homecoming, only to quickly be knocked flat with the realization that I had changed, but life back home had not.
Now, I went to Biola University, basically a Bible college, and so one of the places where I felt this collision most was going to Church with my family again on Sunday morning. You see, I had just spent a whole semester expanding and broadening my mind as to how to think about who God is, how to read and interpret the bible, and how to worship. You name the topic, and you can bet that my new-found friends and I had spent hours pouring over all the possible ways of looking at the topic and, obviously, had found the only solution imaginable. (more…)
I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys-R-Us kid
Coming into this holiday season I’m reminded of one of my favorite child-hood memories. Every year when I was a kid, come Christmas time, my mom used to take my brothers and I out Christmas shopping. Now, I have three brothers, and my mom got us started at an early age buying Christmas gifts for each other. In order to do this and still keep it a surprise what gifts we had bought for our brothers, she would pick a Saturday, make sure that we had all saved up our thirty dollars from allowance money ($10 for each brother’s gift), and then take us out one by one to shop, and we always had to be in a different room of the house when they got back to the house so as not to catch a glimpse of the gifts. Well, my mom’s method meant that every year she made four subsequent trips to the local Toys-R-Us, and each of these trips almost invariably led to the Lego’s isle. (more…)
Twilight has Teens all a’Twitter
Apparently it’s the most watched trailer online. Apparently it’s soundtrack is number one right now. Apparently it has teenage girls lining up around the book. Apparently the books have sold more then 25 million copies worldwide. Apparently the story is also bad for your soul.
Chuck Wilson of the Voice writes of the movie:
“In the 17-million-copy land of Twilight, the calling card isn’t blood and fangs, but the exquisite, shimmering quiver of unconsummated first love.” (more…)
How to Contact Your Favorite Hollywood Big Shot (the right way)
Here’s a sobering thought for any Narnia enthusiasts. Dawn Treader’s budget has been already been slashed by 50 million as compared to its predessor and Disney wants to cut 50 more, trimming it down to a lean $100 million, half as much as Prince Caspain cost.
Now, this isn’t horrible news for an effects film. A lower budget often encourages creativity. However, this does tell us that Disney is quickly loosing faith in the Narnia franchise. Not only are they encouraging a lower budget, but they have also mysteriously removed Dawn Treader from next year’s original may timeslot in favor of Prince of Persia. This doesn’t mean Dawn Treader is in jeapordy of not being made. Rather, it tells us that Disney simply doesn’t know what to do with it. (more…)
Hector, the real hero of the Iliad?
In returning to Troy to gather his mother and all the noble women to offer prayers to Athena, Hector approaches his brother Paris, and hurls insults toward him for his prolonged absence from the war.
Helen, the mistress of Paris and woman whom the Achaean and Trojans have spent years of agony and suffering for, seductively speaks to Hector, first lamenting that she is not the wife of a better man, then softly encouraging him to, “Come in, rest on this seat with me…You are the one hit hardest by the fighting, Hector.” Hector responds in noble fashion, (more…)
