DIGEST: Advent Miscellany

A new encyclical from Rome today — Spe Salvi ("By Hope We Are Saved"). It's a good one. One passage in particular caught my eye:

The First Letter to the Corinthians (1:18-31) tells us that many of the early Christians belonged to the lower social strata, and precisely for this reason were open to the experience of new hope, as we saw in the example of Bakhita. Yet from the beginning there were also conversions in the aristocratic and cultured circles, since they too were living “without hope and without God in the world”. Myth had lost its credibility; the Roman State religion had become fossilized into simple ceremony which was scrupulously carried out, but by then it was merely “political religion”. Philosophical rationalism had confined the gods within the realm of unreality. The Divine was seen in various ways in cosmic forces, but a God to whom one could pray did not exist. Paul illustrates the essential problem of the religion of that time quite accurately when he contrasts life “according to Christ” with life under the dominion of the “elemental spirits of the universe” (Col 2:8). In this regard a text by Saint Gregory Nazianzen is enlightening. He says that at the very moment when the Magi, guided by the star, adored Christ the new king, astrology came to an end, because the stars were now moving in the orbit determined by Christ. This scene, in fact, overturns the world-view of that time, which in a different way has become fashionable once again today. It is not the elemental spirits of the universe, the laws of matter, which ultimately govern the world and mankind, but a personal God governs the stars, that is, the universe; it is not the laws of matter and of evolution that have the final say, but reason, will, love—a Person. And if we know this Person and he knows us, then truly the inexorable power of material elements no longer has the last word; we are not slaves of the universe and of its laws, we are free. In ancient times, honest enquiring minds were aware of this. Heaven is not empty. Life is not a simple product of laws and the randomness of matter, but within everything and at the same time above everything, there is a personal will, there is a Spirit who in Jesus has revealed himself as Love.

Wow! Here, the Pope points out that ancient Rome of St. Paul's day was much like our own: a world where the average person has little to which to aspire in life, thanks to the way the game is rigged; a world where organized religion had become a joke, with no real meaning to anyone; and a world where the cold hand of scientific rationalism had left people with no future for which to hope, only death, nothingness, and entropy. Then suddenly a Person comes — a Person who allows death, nothingness and entropy to take its best shot, and yet defeats them!

This message of hope couldn't come at a better time, for the world or for me personally. I love our good Pope, Benedict XVI.

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On the flip side: For your holiday reading enjoyment, here's "some thoughts in relation to economic or societal collapse"

"From much I’ve been hearing, online and elsewhere, I think most people have a romanticized notion of what daily life would become if the shit truly hit the fan on a massive scale. Many seem excited at the prospect, like they think they’ll have front row seats at a movie and won’t be affected because they own gold and a gun or they’ve stocked up on beans and toilet paper. Others seem convinced that a collapse of our current lifestyle will return us to some imagined, simpler time; the enchanted suburbs of ‘Bewitched’ or the small town charm of ‘Mayberry.’

"Here’s what I see … when the jobs peter out and the credit cards get refused and the car has been repossessed and the house has been foreclosed, folks will be disorientated, exposed, and powerless. Most will be able to put a good face on it short term, encourage each other, try to be decent people. But hope can only last so long and when it becomes apparent that things won’t go back to normal any time soon, who knows what might come next. It will be completely new territory for most of us who have grown up in a world that has provided so reliably for so long.

"What I don’t see happening … no Little House on the Prairie, no good old days, no warm nostalgia, no sitting around the campfire singing Kumbaya; just millions of sniffling, coughing, angry frightened urban strangers looking for something familiar to orient themselves to. Most will not feel cleansed of their silly consumerism, they won’t become wise philosophers, and they’ll blame anyone except themselves. They’ll be suckers for the promises of persuasive charlatans (political or otherwise), they’ll fight amongst each other, divide into blue states and red states, and be as incredulous and dependent as they were before, only without the material possessions.

"However, I think instead of one big crisis event we’ll see the economy continue to disintegrate over a period of months or even years. It’ll be propped up behind the scenes for as long as possible, until there’s no longer anyone to bail it out. Families will try to hang on but will drift inexorably downward, so that when the bottom comes, a lot of us will already be there.

"Corporations are responsible for millions of our jobs, and they seem to be self-destructing. They’re reporting dismal earnings, and it’s not because consumers haven’t been doing their part. In fact, I’m not sure consumers have the capacity to do much more. I think we have allowed insiders to raid the system, and it’s just about stripped bare. The insatiable greed we see in banks, corporations, on Wall Street and in our governments is like a parasite that’s killing it’s host.

"Obviously I see America’s glass as half empty, or maybe barely ¼ full! I hope I’m wrong..."

Source

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JAPANESE SEX ALERT! Condom use and abortion numbers are both dropping in Gifu. Why? Because more and more Japanese guys think that anime and manga fantasy girls are much nicer than real-life girls, sez a Japanese health promotion researcher.

According to the Chunichi Shimbun paper, Dr. Shinya Iwamuro of the Japanese Association for the Development of Community Medicine's Health Promotion Research Center said, "Young men not having sex is one of the main reasons. They don't want to get hurt [by being dumped by human girls], so they never advance past the 2D world." [Link via ANN]

Now, I'm of three minds on this. 1/3 of me thinks this guy's opinion is pure malarkey; 1/3 of me thinks that this is a sad statement on the lives of hardcore otaku; and the other 1/3 thinks that this is the inevitable result of feminism. I mean, I married the greatest woman in the world, so I'm safe, but I can't imagine what it must be like to be a single guy these days. They don't make sweetie-pies like , and any more. Most modern girls are — not to put too fine a point on it — screeching harpies, and I can definitely see why some guys might just say "forget it" and curl up with a dating sim, a stack of dôjin, and a big ol' tub of Astroglide for dippin'.

Of course, these are otaku we're talking about here. Dealing with reality is not their strong suit. It only makes sense that a socially-retarded, obsessive-compulsive loser would prefer a "perfect" paper or phosphor fantasy girl — one who will never get old, fat, sick, or menstrual on them — over a real human being, even though it means that they will never know the satisfaction and joy that comes from loving and being loved by a real, imperfect, complex woman.

(This also explains moe. Otaku can't handle real women, with all their complexities, foibles and myriad oft-incomprehensible needs, so they fantasize about relationships with innocent children, who only want affection and approval and are incapable of anything as frightening as a relationship between equals. This, of course, is a sort of "clean pedophilia" — one can "fall in love" with a little girl, as long as she's safely virtual and there's no actual, physical intercourse involved. I like cute little kids as much as the next guy, but the whole moe thing is gross, if you ask me.)

This 2-D complex isn't anything new — it's nothing more than that otaku sport of choice, masturbation — a self-administered emotional handjob, with all the potential for life and long-term happiness that any jackoff fantasy has, which is to say none. (And I speak here as a life-long connoisseur of jackoff fantasy.)

I noticed this story because it's datelined Gifu, which is the hometown of our "exchange daughter" Yuki — a girl who (next to ) is quite possibly the sweetest human being of the female species God ever placed upon this Earth. It is surely no coincidence that she has tons of male admirers as well...

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Plague Update: As reported in 's journal, Bioweapon Hans-1 functioned precisely as designed. Not only did Mommy succumb to a debilitating (and messy) two-day case of gastroenteritis, even Daddy's mighty immune system was obligated to rally in defense of the realm. (Thanks to my habit of eating vegetables, clean living, and 100% Americanism, I only experienced a mild, but still unpleasant, 24-hour form of the virus.) Grandma was sweet enough to come over and give Hans-1 a bath while Daddy was cocooning (more on this in a later post), for which kindness she received a heapin' helpin' of virus as well... which she immediately passed on to Uncle . All are recovering now, but suffice it to say it's been a stinky, achy, unpleasant week here at Chez Bitpig. Now to create an army of cute Hans clones and drop them into strategic Al Qaida-infested valleys in Afghanistan!

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Speaking of things medical: does anyone know where an uninsured guy with mild, stress-related asthma might find an Advair discus inhaler at a reasonable price? I checked Craigslist, but I couldn't find a "corticosteroid bronchiodialator" category.

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Career news: I'm currently hard at work on our upcoming Hell Nurse Katie comic book, and also busy with some comics I'm doing for a freelance client as well. I'm still at loose ends about what direction I should go, careerwise. I just couldn't get into the novel I started; I like drawing comics, but it's so much physical work for so little bread. What should I do? Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated and seriously considered.

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Have a blessed Advent, everybody.