I think of war movies, they are full of violence, usually bad language, and a great deal of cruelty, however, the point is to be realistic and show people how terrible warfare is in the hope that we avoid it. Without the realism there would be no point to film. People screamed about Stone's "Natural Born Killers" and I certainly would allow no child of mine to watch it, but I think what upset people the most was that it showed how violent our society is, how much we are obsessed by crime and make heroes out of killers, and people didn't like to be reminded of these facts. Rather than change society its easier to blame the messenger. And don't even get me started on murderers who say, "the movie made me do it". Also don't try "the video game made me do it", "the t.v. made me do it" or if you get drunk and kill someone on the road don't try to convince me the fault lies with the man that sold you the beer or that it's the gun manufacturer who is responsible for a gangster's drive-by shooting. Its called responsibility-look it up.
Gun Control: I would really like someone to explain to me the logic in making a law aimed at stopping law breakers. A murderer is a criminal--criminal's do not respect the law, therefore no matter how many gun control laws you pass, its not going to stop someone who doesn't care about the law from shooting someone. I would like to live in a world where there were no guns and no murderers, but I live in the real world where there are guns and criminals and I want to be able to protect myself from them.
"Sin" Laws: In general, I don't like victim-less crimes. Take smoking for example. I don't like the government telling me what's good for me--I have my parents for that. Do they really believe that if the idea of dying a slow painful death is not enough to make someone quit smoking, a few cents more of tax money will? Today we treat smokers like we used to treat African Americans, instead of signs reading "Blacks not Welcome" we see, "Smoke Free Establishment". Instead of ''colored'' sections we have ''smoking sections''. Why punish them when they're punishing themselves? The same goes for gambling, if you think its fun to lose your life savings, knock yourself out, its not hurting me. I once heard that prostitution destroyed families; in my opinion if your husband would even think of seeing a prostitute, your marriage was doomed to begin with. Alcohol seems the only area still untouched. Watch the SuperBowl? You can see one commercial urging people not to smoke followed immediately by one saying beer will attract women in thongs-drink up! Have we totally lost it?
God in Education: Don't put the 10 Commandments in the classroom, you might make the kid whose planning to murder his classmates have low self-esteem. What is so wrong with the 10 Commandments? Do any of the major religions advocate murder, theft or adultery? I knew education in America was in trouble long before this rule though. Thank God my parents did too. I knew our schools were in trouble when the students began having more rights than the teachers. My sister is an english teacher, the stories are unbelievable. Here's a word of advice to parents from someone not far removed from American education: PRIVATE SCHOOL!
Traditionalists and Vacantists: To most people (and certainly not those involved) this is not a crisis, mostly because the number is so small of those who are radical traditionalists and vacantists. I view the movement as a very serious crisis for a single reason: those who are leaving the Church because of this are some of the best Christians in the world. The devout, traditional and orthodox are leaving while those who favor ordaining women or legalizing birth control don't seem to be going anywhere. On this issue, I have a somewhat divided opinion. I am myself, to most people, a traditionalist. However, I do not believe anything new is invalid, simply not what is best. I do not believe the Holy See can be vacant (certainly not for such a long time) as it would seem to much to me that, "the gates of hell" had indeed prevailed. So, I give my loyalty but not my enthusiasm and wait for the day when all can be reconciled to the TRUTH. |
