Saturday Wanderings & Musings

Here are some items I came across while reading through a few of my favorite blogs and websites over the last couple of days:

Nancy's brother, Tom Catmull, is releasing a new CD entitled "Twenty Dollar Know How." Here's a review from the Missoula Independent. In July 2007 I, along with Carol Minjares of Missoulapolis, saw Tom Catmull and the Clerics in concert at the Union Club in Missoula. It was quite a performance. Tom's new CD will likely be available via CD Baby in the coming weeks.

For those who are new to this blog, Missoula, Montana is my dad's hometown. I lived there myself for a year during the late 1990s. Missoulapolis is how I keep abreast of the latest goings-on there. Check it out.

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In the comments to his latest post about Thucydides' History of the Peloponessian War, Vox Day had an interesting observation regarding Thucydides' thoughts on the iniquities caused by political revolutions:

I cannot stress enough how impressed I am with Thucydides take on the evils of revolution. It is as applicable today as it was then, and it is a sobering note for those of us who revere the American revolutionaries and hope for a restoration of historical American liberties. In most cases, the process is far uglier and the results are far less successful. I am not saying that one should simply accept tyranny and try to relax and enjoy it, only that the brutal reality of history teaches that civilization is far less stable and even a modicum of freedom is far less a given than most people would believe it to be. And above all, Thucydides illustrates that there truly is nothing new under the sun when it comes to human nature. Therefore, we ignore the lessons that he draws at our peril.

Most revolutions lead to particularly violent periods of political and social instability, the American Revolution being a notable exception - though the post-Revolutionary period in America was not as peaceful or stable as most people nowadays seem to think. There was a reason that the ancient Chinese used this proverb - "May you live in interesting times" - as a curse.

Given this reality about revolutions, I find it amusing that so many on the political left (mainly latte liberals) clamor for a "social revolution" to sweep the land and bring forth their desired earthly utopia. Many years ago when in graduate school, I was having dinner with a female classmate who expressed that very thought. I thought it funny, for if just such a revolution were to occur in this country, it would most likely come from the political right and champagne socialists like her would be among the first targets. Which brings to mind another ancient Chinese curse: "May you find what you are looking for."

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Speaking of bourgeois bohemians, you should really check out this blog: Stuff White People Like. Christian Lander's latest entry is about the phenomenon of white liberals posting politically-themed bumper stickers on their cars. In case you have doubts about the effectiveness of such sloganeering, consider this anecdote that Lander relates:

Though there is no conclusive evidence about the effectiveness of these stickers, white people show no signs of abandoning the campaign. In fact, there is a popular tale in white mythology that tells of an unenlightened man driving on the freeway who saw a bumper sticker on the back of a Subaru station wagon that said “Go Veg.” The sticker was so moving that he threw the hamburger he was eating right out the window and became a vegetarian on the spot. Two days later, he affixed the same bumper sticker to their car and the process began anew until enough people had changed their views to form what we now know as the city of Portland, Oregon.

A secularist version of the Marriage at Cana (or perhaps more accurately, the Conversion of Saul) - brought tears to my eyes, it did.

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Finally, via Mike K, here's a video of former Navy Seal (and fellow Texan) Marcus Luttrell - author of Lone Survivor - telling of how he conducted some cultural sensitivity training with a random EUnuch he met in New York City:



God bless Texas.