Posted on 09/28/2013 10:00:02 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
This past week, Rod posted a remarkable bleg over on the website of the American Conservative. Because Rod's premise is so arresting--he believes we've about reached the point at which good and decent people need to drop out of American society to form their own counterculture--and because Rod himself is such a sweet writer, I thought I'd re-post his bleg right here.
To wit:
You who have been following my work for years know that I keep coming around to this idea of the “Benedict Option.” In short, it means this: At what point do the conditions of moral breakdown and atomization become such that people who want to live out the moral life in community realize that they have to secede from mainstream culture in a serious way? The idea comes from MacIntyre’s final paragraph in After Virtue:
"A crucial turning point in that earlier history occurred when men and women of good will turned aside from the task of shoring up the Roman imperium and ceased to identify the continuation of civility and moral community with the maintenance of that imperium. What they set themselves to achieve instead…was the construction of new forms of community within which the moral life could be sustained so that both morality and civility might survive the coming ages of barbarism and darkness. If my account of our moral condition is correct, we ought also to conclude that for some time now we too have reached that turning point…This time, however, the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time. And it is our lack of consciousness of this that constitutes part of our predicament. We are waiting not for a Godot, but for another — doubtless quite different — St. Benedict."(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at ricochet.com ...
I clicked on page 2-3, and it just re-displays page 1.
save
The first serious whiff of that way of thinking happened around the nation the day after Obama’s ‘re-election’. Many people still want to carve some area out for themselves and likeminded individuals because the takers are fast out numbering the producers.
The schools, primary through graduate seem to value obedience and conformity over independence and originality. Society in general is working and twerking it’s way to trash strewn bottom. So, yes, it’s time to rethink our choices. Minor point; when I see the phrase ‘Benedict Option’, my first thought is to think of Benedict Arnold, who would be the antithesis of this kind of venture. That’s just me needing to read more and broaden my mind.
Is this related to pope benedict?
Rod Dreher?
The eco-nut who called himself a “crunchy con”?
he is still around??
Oh, maybe it’s 3 pages of comments?
This was predictable. When the freaks became mainstream the only way left to rebel was to be “normal”.
Don’t know. My main concern was : It’s WRONG!
He was a long time center-left contributor to NRO, and an editorialist at the Dallas Morning News.
He always churns out a lot of words explaining what's wrong with this or that thing, then he churns out even more words explaining how Conservatives should respond so as not to upset the Democrats.
In this piece, Dreher suggests the cultural and moral decay in America is so bad that good people must withdraw and form their own community.
Then, he immediately rejects “radical separatism.”
Dreher is perpetually searching for the golden mean between “too much” and “too little.”
And he never finds it or clearly explains what it will look like.
Yes, in fact there are 3 pages of comments.
Missed that.
bump
“my first thought is to think of Benedict Arnold”
This author should call it the “Saint Benedict Option”.
Before Obama I was drinking 5-6 diet sodas a day and consuming maybe 2200 calories. Now I'm drinking only water and green tea, and am down to about 900 calories (and down almost 100 pounds so far).
Before Obama I didn't know a .22 caliber cartridge from a .308 .. now I'm much more knowledgable (and practiced) in this area.
Thank you Prez Obama for inspiring me to no longer be a sheep! Hopefully this country is becoming full of wolves!
Don’t you know it’s not polite to bleg, mate?
Seems like a Phariseeical approach.
Didn't they use to make wireless modems about ten years ago?
The monastic system has done exactly this for about 1700 years. Those who are monks and nuns set themselves apart from society deliberately. Most reform movements started in the monasteries as well.
In an inverse sort of manner, The Age of Obama has inspired me also. You have the right ideas though, like the Boy Scouts say; Be Prepared! Congratulations on your 100lb loss! Did I read that right?
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