Jennifer Byrne was in some dismay the other day. She invited Hitchens to the lectern , only to find he's preaching heresy . The shock jocks get a real shock - now there's novelty ! Well , according to her anyway he was being heretical ; she called him racist .
For many switched off ABC watchers of the past , the lack of encouragement to celebrate life, in purely secular books, is very noticable.
Hitchens , it seems to me, is honest to his worldview . Jennifer on the other hand , while she's not alone in living in the past ' is holding onto doctrines that just don't stand up to the historical evidence - specifically - the failure of the modern women's movement to liberate women, and its partner - secularism and reactionaries failure to inspire anyone but the Stoics .
One only has to look at the very popular but highly reactionary Vicar of Dibley ( and other very popular reality cum fantasy cum comedy shows) to see how reactionaries, like marxists, build their case and maintain their momentum ( shock value) by using someone else foundations .
The long term problem for the reactionary position is that doesn't have any sustainability on its own - its somewhat parasitic ( guess why the ABC are not running "The war on Everything Anymore? read my predictions for ABC's Rage ) . Dawn French cannot keep up the pretence of being so available without dragging the story down. And the dumb and stupid people in church never alone keep one going . The constant tearing down of the foundations leaves little to keep building on .
If you think this careless tearing down of the tough stuff is not happening in the West , observe the failure of secularism to inspire women and the unconscious way the issue of motivation is now going to be a key Australian election issue for our culture ( education , migration, influence and leadership) In other words, its not just people that threaten us but the very power of their ideas . Clearly like the Trotskyites of old, the target is misplaced.
The biggest mistake the atheistic led reaction to religion make today , is not to confess that, there is a danger and we all share that danger ; we are all religious . If religion is dangerous we are all in danger from our own ideas . While many secularist appear to me to be in denial about this the failure of their world-view to provide powerful value frameworks will only become more evident; projecting this lack onto those that have strong doctrine will be finally just noise and ineffective .
Strong doctrine is needed . Only by targeting the doctrines of a religious position will anyone be effective in resisting the dangers . Young western people will continue to become Islamic and Buddhist because the target of the reactionaries is too broad . The only solution offered by reactionaries is to follow their parents into a cul de sac.
After all "All you need is Love" means all things to all men . It's " true" and quite "religious" but it means nothing to say it . Might as well say is "All you need is dopamine or testosterone " .Like so many facts its without context = a loose and private collection of mere facts . Targets are either empty or highly destructive if they don't identify the bullsh and prejudice that went into holding them up
