Doublethink

Reading Natan Sharansky's The Case for Democracy, I was struck by the following excerpt (page 49) concerning German writer Leon Feuchtwanger's visit to the Soviet Union in 1937:


At the height of Stalin's repressions, when nearly the entire Soviet population was living in utter terror, Feuchtwanger offered readers in the West his impressions of the public mood:

Though from time to time they criticize a minor short-coming, all the people whom I met, even those whom I met by chance, who could not have been prepared for a discussion with me, all agreed with the existing [Stalinist] system. All the vast city of Moscow was brimming with satisfaction and consent, and even more than this, happiness.


I won't pretend to be smarter than I am. I didn't know what doublethink was before reading this book. Doublethink, in the above case, would be Soviet people agreeing with the Stalinist system because they were terrified of it.

Memorial Day

May I ask you to honor the White House Memorandum for the National Moment of Remembrance?

Sunday's reading

I was looking through a Vision Forum Family Catalog today. Here's the VisionForum website and its mission statement, if you want some background.

The heading "The Biblical Family Now and Forever!" caught my eye, so I read on...

Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. . . . He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies. . . . The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. (Psalm 112:1-2, 7-8, 10)

Following these selected quotes is an extended and triumphant declaration regarding the "biblical family - now and forever!"

I did take the liberty of looking up Psalm 112, and I don't see it referring to said "biblical family", but rather the upright man.

The author (Doug Phillips) later comments, "I am reminded that teaching my children the way of Christ 'is not a vain thing; because it is [my] life.' (Deut. 32:47)"

Deuteronomy 32:46-47 reads in full: he [Moses] said to them, "Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."

Perhaps I'm just nit-picking. But the "life" these verses refer to seems to be God's Word, not teaching one's children "the way of Christ".

Please don't misunderstand me. I rejoice that Vision Forum so ardently supports the God-ordained institution of family. I just think they could make their case without misquoting Scripture. Or perhaps alter their case slightly? It seems to me that "now and forever" best applies to God and His Word, unless they are extending their definition of "biblical family" beyond earthly families.


What really disturbed me was discovering that the most exciting toy in the girls' catalog was a mere top, while the boys were offered The Zip Line: The Next Best Thing to Flying. Okay, so I know life isn't fair, but you could never get me near a top if the boys were outside soaring around on a Zip Line... and I'm pretty sure I speak for all my sisters!

Overwhelmingly

Not surprisingly, the French said, "Non."

For French readers, Le Monde has all the coverage you could want and more: a special European Constitution edition, sporting a lovely red, red, and blue map, plus the entire European Constitution presently attempting ratification, if you're that ambitious.

For English readers, here is one article from BBC.

Good things

This has been a lovely end-of-the-week!

-- Daddy taught me how to mix and lay down cement. This is fun, although a little hard on the knees.

-- Jason and Kendra and Derek and I watched Shrek II last night. I prefer Shrek I, but Number II had its great moments... my personal favorite was when Prince Charming whipped his hair around (on entering the castle to look for Princess Fiona). Face it, laughing is just plain fun, but especially laughing at characters who deserve it, and most especially arrogant guys!

-- Ardith dropped by today, supposedly to pick up her new mattress, but we all know she really wanted to check her email. And now, finally, she's back online with a superb DSL connection, reportedly three times faster than ours! I can feel her enjoying it right now.

-- I am drinking Bigelow's Constant Comment Tea... for the uninitiated, this is black tea "deliciously flavored with rind of oranges and sweet spice". Mmmmm. And looking forward to reading French online, as I did last night, and the night before that... mmmm.

May God bless your Sunday.

Watching

Definitely interesting to follow France's referendum.

Is Chirac pleading, plotting, or exhorting? It all depends on which site you visit. Not just the language - look at the photo selection!

Terrorism and the French

Le Monde held an interview with Pierre de Bousquet, head of France's territorial surveillance, which included the following exchange:


You speak of the "adversary" where the Americans speak of the "enemy". Is the concept of "the war against terror" inapplicable in Europe?

Our response is judiciary, not military. To compare the antiterrorist struggle to a war increases the risks, for it gives the terrorists extra acknowledgement and rumor. Recourse to immoderate force fuels resentment and hate against democracies. In this respect, the Guantanamo dentention camp has doubtless been counterproductive, by rallying to our adversaries' cause individuals who indentified themselves with their Islamic brothers - brothers apparently chained and taken outside of all legal framework.

Time

Everyone knows that big arguments are over little things. Our family has two camps: the Analog Camp and the Digital Camp. Let's defer to the opposition. The DC is mostly guys who think all watches, alarm clocks, and other public displays of time should be digital. The AC is mostly girls who prefer the analog format.

Now I'm definitely in the AC camp. A clock face helps me visualize time and where I am in it. But I began to wonder... is this because my mind sees time analogously? No.

(If you have ever tried to translate your mental processes into language, you will be kind)

"Time, like an ever-rolling stream..." Let's try that again - Time, like an ever-rolling strip of white tape, on which the times are all digitally entered, begins with 1:00 (A.M. or P.M.) and runs up an inclined plane to 12:00, only to drop off more sharply and begin at 1:00 again. Picture running up the triangle's hyptonuse and falling off the shortest side. This is (very roughly) how time appears to my brain. Analog and digital processes following alarmingly mathematical patterns to attempt reconciling time's infinity with my finite mind.

I'd be very interested to hear how your mind sees time.

Wheee!

This is so much fun, it deserves its own post!

I am very lucky - ah, blessed. My computer's crashed! Which means, of course, that I get to recline out here on the living room carpet, using Daddy's wireless keyboard and mouse to surf the Web on our new entertainment center... complete with widescreen monitor.

My sympathies to all you computer desk prisoners.

All growed up

Today some of us drove down with Ardith and her stuff to help her move it all in. She's happily settling into her Cedar Rapids apartment.

By the way. Ardith is the best sister ever.

Weekend entertainment

Friday and Saturday night -- Jason and I watched Gods and Generals. Ardith attempted to watch it with us, but the slow battles scenes finally drove her off.

I was trying to decide whether the acting was overdone or underdone... then we hit our first battle, and suddenly two lines of men were charging at each other. Why? Men were dying. Why? Each side prayed for God's aid. Why? Yes, I know that sounds naive and stale. This film's war was different from modern war, when the enemy is often in a tank or bunker. Different from Lord of the Rings war, where men are fighting orcs. To me, this film's war = men killing each other till one side loses more. Horrible.

Saturday evening -- Ardith and I went out for supper and then hastily grabbed a parking place and our Star Wars tickets. We both enjoyed it. My condensed evaluation: somewhat weak acting and plot line, excellent visual effects. For me, a visually decent film is good enough, because I don't watch movies; I live them. Did make me cry.


Currently reading That Hideous Strength, some of my favorite lines:

" 'Hope not for minde in women; at their best
Sweetness and wit, they are but Mummy possest.' " (p. 16)

John Donne's entire poem is here. Don't ask me to explain it. But that quote is funny!

" 'That's why Camilla and I got married,' said Denniston as they drove off. 'We both like Weather. Not this or that kind of weather, but just Weather. It's a useful taste if one lives in England.' " (p. 113)

Gotta Love It

Come on - who wouldn't pay $70 for a gallon of Cucumber Dill Weed ice cream?

Forward to the Past

Sorry I haven't been posting more regularly. If one has a blog and expects others to read it, seems only fair for said one to keep it up. Please don't think I leave posts up for days because I think they're worth multiple readings and comment watches. Please don't think I'm lazy. Please just think I must be busy.


For those of you who are into Star Wars! - here's something fun: reviews of the original Star Wars movies (plus the newer ones). New York Times has had this section up all week... but in case you haven't read them yet, here are some teasers...

Star Wars [A New Hope]

"I have a particular fondness for the look of the interior of a gigantic satellite called the Death Star, a place full of the kind of waste space one finds today only in old Fifth Avenue mansions and public libraries." -- Vincent Canby, 5/26/77

The Empire Strikes Back

"The first film's off-handed gags have virtually been cast in bronze; the comic shabbiness of all the space gadgetry, for example, has been expanded from a casual giggle to a full-scale running gag." -- Janet Maslin, 5/21/80

Return of the Jedi

"Does Princess Leia do her own hair or does she pay someone to make it look that way?... Will Darth Vader sacrifice his only begotten son so that evil might triumph? And, speaking of Vader, when he takes off his mask, what is underneath? James Earl Jones? David Prowse? A cantaloupe?" -- Vincent Canby, 5/25/83

Definitely funny to see Canby's first hopeful review slide into cynicism six years later!

While I'm at it, may as well throw these in for free...

The Phantom Menace

"... Anakin seems to be here mostly to try out the film's many toys. Only in the bland conception of Anakin is "The Phantom Menace" really undermined by its own innate boyishness. There's no hint of the future in him, though the audience knows this is one high-pitched voice that's really going to change." -- Janet Maslin, 5/19/99

Attack of the Clones

"But where are the clones? Send in the clones! Patience, young Jedi. They're already here, on a distant, storm-tossed planet, waiting for their big climactic battle scene. First, however, you must attend to the political turmoil that threatens the stability of the republic." -- A. O. Scott, 5/10/02


You may need to sign up online in order to access these (and other New York Times) articles. Only costs five minutes.

It was a Dark and Quiet Saturday Night...

3:30 A.M.

Two college alumnae slept.

3:31 A.M.

Into their sweet slumber broke a

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

pulling the younger out of her dream, a sound she'd come to hear with the same nostalgic familiarity as the summer cricket concerts, crickets maintaining monotone and distinctively dragging Gregorian chants on just those two or three discordant tones which pierce to the dividing of slumber and sleeplessness... only this time she realized, heart sinking, this time the

... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

had no intention of stopping - as it usually did - the whole reason she looked back on the cricket chants with decidedly nostalgic familiarity. She stumbled out of bed to try the only measure she knew, which was pressing the plug-in behind the device to make sure it was securely plugged. But unfortunately, this did not stop the

... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

as it usually did. In horror she realized the terrible struggle for power then taking place within the device. For the device was a Uninterruptible Power Supply responsible for maintaining the residence's Wireless Internet Connection through power outages. This room, the scene of the piercingly present

... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

and underneath, the distressingly pre-digital and archaic sound of the UPS attempting to regain power, archaic due to its extremely loud

CLICK-click... CLICK-click...

no, this room was not a bedroom, despite the cleverly suggestive furnishings... the bunkbed, the twin bed, the two dressers and closetful of girls' clothes, the large mirror and the shoe rack...no, this room was the house's Central Processing Unit, and the girl stumbled out of bed not to quiet the device but to preserve the all-important Wireless Connection. Unhappily, her efforts failed... she dropped back into bed... the UPS continued its struggle alone...

...BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

undergirded by the

... CLICK-click... CLICK-click...

...and finally won. Its guardian relaxed into the peace of a once more silent and dark room, dark except for the rythmically flashing lights that signaled a newly smooth wireless connection, and between those green flashes

flash... flash... flash...

considered that the BEEPs must not have been at a volume high enough to wake the ten other sleeping residents on the floor, as there was no stumbling rush of groggily panicked computer addicts... the green lights flashed on

flash... flash... flash...

and she fell back into dreams... dreams which she would distinctly remember on waking the next morning, and thereafter distinctly try to forget.

Out of Context, April / May Edition

And the Ides roll around again. Quotes have been scarcer the last couple months. Or maybe I'm just not listening!


Derek: "Be polite and let me go first."

Carolyn (very giggly): "You're crushing me!"
Sharon (also very giggly): "I am-m-m?"
Carolyn: "I'm crushed!"

Ethan: "I know what I was born for! To be loud!"

Ethan: "I'll be there in a minute."
Carolyn: "Okay, I guess I'm King of the Mountain. Bye - - Prince."

Ethan (concerning boys' laundry): "It was 2 feet by 2 feet, compacted--"
Kendra: "Really."
Ethan: "--like 500 clothes in 1 square foot!"


--En route to Texas--

Carolyn (after 10 minutes): "Well, the van seems to be stickin' together."

Jason: "I don't call that a sprawling suburbs. I call that an irresolute housing development."

Back at it

Oh yes, we're definitely back. Most of the way. My muscles are sore from all the exercise they got on the 9-hour drive from Oklahoma to here... that is, jaw muscles from beef jerky.

I could write an extremely long post about the trip, which I'm sure would bore you, so I'll just hit the high points:

-- Announcing the graduation of A.A.H.! The First Child has made it!

-- You thought "Scattergories" was fun if you played it traditionally? We and our cousins came up with a great new version.


That's all I feel like typing tonight, since I typed a long email earlier. However, I did read this article in U.S. News & World Report. It's encouraging to consider that relativism cannot erase man's innate longing to know God.

Spring means flowers and bunnies

Before leaving, and to celebrate spring and Ardith's graduation, I thought you might enjoy these three different views of our budding orchard, from west to east, each shot beautifully balanced.

In the first, a dainty little cherry tree against dead corn stubble.

In the second, looking down the orchard to the old blue van and the unfinished garage.

In the third, two blossoming cherry trees with just a hint of burnpile beyond.

And here's The Bunny-Boy. Aww, you don't want to chase this little guy away, do you?

C.S.L.

Heh heh. Guess that quote was confusing - sounded more like a devotional than science fiction.

"All His biddings are joys" is from C. S. Lewis's Perelandra, second book in his space trilogy.

C. S. Lewis keeps making comments that halt my mind. Here are a few.


It was not really like a woman making much of a horse, nor yet a child playing with a puppy. There was in her face an authority, in her caresses a condescension, which by taking seriously the inferiority of her adorers made them somehow less inferior -- raised them from the status of pets to that of slaves. (p. 65)

"I thought," she said, "that I was carried in the will of Him I love, but now I see that I walk with it. I thought that the good things He sent me drew me into them as the waves lift the islands; but now I see that it is I who plunge into them with my own legs and arms, as when we go swimming. I feel as if I were living in that roofless world of yours where men walk undefended beneath naked heaven. It is a delight with terror in it! One's own self to be walking from one good to another, walking beside Him as Himself may walk, not even holding hands. How has He made me so separate from Himself? How did it enter His mind to conceive such a thing? The world is so much larger than I thought. I thought we went along paths -- but it seems there are no paths. The going itself is the path." (pp. 69-70)

"The world leaps forward through great men and greatness always transcends mere moralism." (p. 95)

. . . and then, sweeter than all, the suggestion that he had been brought there not to do anything but only as a spectator or a witness. (p. 107)


The last one I understand now, not just mentally, but experientially. God's why is usually beyond me. But I wonder less, when I think that perhaps He means for me to sit and watch instead of doing.