The Content Cluster Muster (01.25.18)

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Flummoxed


Canon Books on Audible!
Can You Believe It??!!

Here would be a link to all Canon Press’s audiobooks on Audible.
And here would be a list of all the audiobooks we currently have available:
And Lord willing, and if the crik don’t rise, coming soon are:
Easy Chairs, Hard Words
Joy at the End of the Tether
Clean Water, Red Wine, Broken Bread
Knowledge, Foreknowledge, and the Gospel

A Tune I’ve Been Listening To Recently


Speaking of Tunes

I was gratified when I recently received notice from Spotify about what tunes I listened to the most in the course of 2017. There are 100 of these babies, and we now have the technology to share. I should mention that their algorithms are clearly not cued to my Lord’s Day listening, so don’t judge me. Although Psalm 2 did make the cut.


Someone Tell the PCA They’ve Got Incoming . . .

And so a guy is running for governor in Texas as a Democrat, and he is personally pro-life. Wait, it gets better. He is also an elder in a PCA church, and he says that he would veto pro-life legislation. More here.

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Lloyd
Lloyd
6 years ago

She’s just trying to work that out… Meanwhile I’m trying to work out how you could be personally pro-life and publicly pro-choice. Why be pro-life if abortion isnt killing? Why be pro-choice if it is? Oh, right. The “people” have spoken… Its interesting that men like White are acting on behalf of democracy, obeying the rule of “the people,” meanwhile men like Moore are writing articles about how theocrats are either “seeking a murderous rule over a nation, or whether in a more benign setting they are trying to use God’s Word to snuggle up to the local powers-that-be.” Its… Read more »

Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  Lloyd

Hi, Nathan, I think people can tolerate a huge amount of cognitive dissonance when a moment of mental and moral clarity might make them unelectable within their party. But Valdez seems to be going far beyond the usual dodge, which is to say “While accepting my church’s teaching on abortion, I recognize Roe v. Wade as settled law and I will uphold the will of the voters of my great state.” In fact, he seems to be saying that he will overrule the will of the voters of his great state if they happen to go pro-life. This makes me… Read more »

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago

The full 30 minute interview is quite amusing. Newman misrepresents Peterson’s point so often she becomes farcical. I thought the Atlantic had an interesting point about the interview. Newman repeatedly poses as if she is holding a controversialist accountable, when in fact, for the duration of the interview, it is she that is “stirring things up” and “whipping people into a state of anger.” I wrote elsewhere about this interview including: Exactly. The divisive person paints his opponent as divisive…. It is not just that we disagree with their position, it is the dishonesty combined with the fact that they… Read more »

prayersofadoration
prayersofadoration
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

Scott Adams was insightful on this. He says he triggered her into hallucinations.

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

Friesendorf’s article was pretty good, I was pleased to see it remain on the top 5 list at the Atlantic for a long time (I believe it is still there) as this is a really important issue stifling discourse and one that the typical Atlantic readership needs to grapple with.

Alistair Roberts wrote a typically strong take on the interview, and the Peterson phenomena more broadly, at Alastair’s Adversaria.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

I thought the Atlantic article was insightful as it seems to me that this is a bigger problem in the leftist media (which was what I wrote about)—which the Atlantic belongs to. Though the Atlantic would be among the more honest of left leaning media sites.

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

I am a big fan of the Atlantic but it is quite liberal/progressive and they run a lot of articles that are cringe-worthy. They are still a top tier outlet, I wish there was anything of comparable quality on the right. I don’t know if you read slatestarcodex, but the post yesterday on mistake vs conflict theories was excellent. I have really pulled back from interlocutors who hold what he calls a conflict theory view, because it just ain’t productive. Peterson’s interviewer was definitely coming at things from a conflict theory angle. Unfortunately (in my opinion) many on the right… Read more »

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

I don’t read much regularly in the sense of going to the webpages. But I have read it, and I read both left and right leaning sites. I quite like the Atlantic but agree it can seriously lose the plot.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

I had never heard of him until yesterday, but I watched the interview. I thought he displayed exemplary Canadian courtesy while eviscerating her arguments! Did it seem to you that every time he made a descriptive comment, she chose to see it not only as prescriptive but as personally endorsed by him? Sort of like: “The sun rises in the east.” “And you see no reason to change something that perpetuates the pay gap between men and women!” I thought he went very easy on her, considering. He didn’t ask, as I would have done, why in the world would… Read more »

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

Bethyada, I agree with you, but sometimes it is the tactic of the unintelligent. She really could not follow his arguments.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

I tried to put it down to ignorance, but by the end of the interview I found it hard not to think at least some of her questions disingenuous.

Regardless, she she was being contentious and tried to pass her contention off on him: he was divisive! Even the ideologically aligned Atlantic identified this.

prayersofadoration
prayersofadoration
6 years ago

Cool music. Middle daughter is getting married this Spring and here’s my playlist for the rehersal BBQ.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago

The last article is behind a paywall (at least for me). Here is an archived version.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago

White: “It’s a personal choice that my wife and I wouldn’t make, but it is a choice that we wouldn’t take away from somebody else, either,”

It seems White is treating it like whether or not to be vegetarian. But the question is whether or not the baby is a person, not whether or not you have bacon with your broccoli.

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

Thankfully, it looks like his church has more than 25 elders, so it won’t be a big loss when they remove him from the session…

-BJ-
-BJ-
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

I have my doubts that he will be removed. I don’t see how his views could be a secret if he is this far into Democratic party politics that he is pushing to represent them for governor of Texas. They might remove him if there is a crap storm, but I suspect they knew full well where he stood.

That is the more troubling aspect of the PCA.

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  -BJ-

I was mostly joking, I have no idea if they will remove him or not, but I would guess you hit the nail on the head and the church will be proud of their prominent citizen unless there is a presbytery level outcry.

Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

I have a PCA relative, and her specific congregation is by no means ardently pro-life. Opinion varies, but the “Hate it myself but can’t impose my views on anyone else” is pretty typical.

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Interesting. I have visited several PCA churches and they have been quite conservative. But I live in fly-over country, much more conservative than the left coast.

One of the most disturbing things about that article was the bar chart showing that only a little more than 20% of Texas republicans oppose abortion in all cases… I would like to see the actual question wording, but that seems seriously low.

Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

Demo, this is the source: https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/polling/search/topic/abortion-9?fulltext_search=OR&fulltext=abortion#republican-identification. The 2017 findings were not the same as the ones shown–23% of Lean Republican and 30% of Strong Republicans agreed with the statement “By law, abortion should never be permitted.” I am not sure I could sign on to that because there is no exception for saving the life of the mother. The next option was “The law should permit abortion only in case of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is in danger.” Neither could I agree with that because of the rape/incest exceptions. I wonder what the results would have been… Read more »

Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

I meant to add that I am not being sniffily judgmental about the PCAs; studies show that, despite church teaching, the average Catholic feels the same way.

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

How are those birth control teachings being received these days? ;)

Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

Very badly indeed. I have been noticing that there is a growing subculture of Catholics who are home schooling, having large families, and, incidentally, fostering vocations to the religious life. But I have personally never met any.

But I still see a huge division between abortion, which to me is clearly wrong because it takes an innocent life, and non-abortifacient birth control. If it is always wrong to attempt to regulate conception, it must also always be wrong to use natural family planning methods to achieve the same result.

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

I certainly wasn’t attempting to draw an equivalency just pointing out that churches sometimes have trouble catechizing their flock. But I do wish protestants were more wary of contraception and I think there is a big gap between NFP and even barrier methods and hormonal / implant types of birth control. Arguing for that is beyond my scope here, but you know my general concerns about technique based mastery of nature. The pill has been one of the primary factors in the destruction of our sexual culture. The article Bitter Pill on First Things several years ago explored some of… Read more »

Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

My vegetarian acquaintances are a whole bunch more judgmental than that! “You’re on board with helpless little piggies dying in screaming agony so you can enjoy bacon with your broccoli?? You’ve never heard of tofu bacon? Jerk!!” I, on the other hand, am a quiet, well bred vegetarian who tries very hard not to think about darling little lambs gamboling through green meadows.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Yes, I have noted the inverse relationship between vegetarian and vegan concern for animal welfare and their concern for the unborn. Rabid vegans tend to be rabidly pro-abortion.

Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

I have noticed that quite a few of them are not fond of children, period, seeing them as useless little consumers who spoil a mellow ambiance with their screaming and running around, who require whole landfills for their hygiene requirements, and who are driven around in SUVs with tiresome Baby on Board plates. I don’t personally understand this as the impulse that makes me unendurably sentimental around bunnies, puppies, and baby birds also makes me go ga-ga over babies.

lndighost
lndighost
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

It’s usually couched in terms of concern for the planet. Children are people, which are bad for the environment, and are therefore added to the List of Bad Things along with dairy farming and things made of leather.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  lndighost

It is nonetheless rather odd, especially when one wonders what they think a great protein-gobbling dog, or a sharp-clawed bird-killing cat, is doing for the planet. Even so, I’m glad they have dogs and cats as it would be far worse if they had nothing to love beside themselves.

lndighost
lndighost
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

It’s very odd. Sort of a four-legs-good, two-legs-bad mentality. But attitudes to cats are a little different here because of all the native bird species. One of our more controversial politicians made a name for himself with a campaign called ‘Cats to Go’, in which he calls for the gradual eradication of domestic cats in New Zealand. It has put some animal lovers in a bit of a bind because it would undoubtedly be better for the native bird populations. On the other hand, then who will kill the rats?

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  lndighost

I think your MP had better watch his back; catlovers can become dangerously unhinged when somebody threatens their Fluffy. It seems to me the obvious solution is to keep cats indoors. Many shelters here will not give you a cat unless you promise never to let it go outside–I don’t think they are so much worried about Tweetybird as the fact that outdoor cats, on average, have a drastically lower life expectancy. Two of my rescue cats lived outdoors for their first few years, and they have adjusted to condo life indoors. I found it amusing that my cat shelter… Read more »

lndighost
lndighost
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Luckily for him, he wasn’t suggesting confiscating and putting down pets. He wants all feral cats destroyed and domestic cats kept inside and not replaced once they have died. But it still created an uproar. Keeping a pet cat indoors all the time is totally unheard of here! You’re right though, it would fix the problem altogether. How funny that the shelters do home visits. Very scrupulous of them. One morning a few years ago I found a live mouse in my pantry. I went out and bought our cat that very day. The shelter was a woman’s house and… Read more »

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  lndighost

That is fascinating about the mammals; I had no idea. What did the indigenous people eat? I have heard you don’t have reptiles, which would be just fine with me. When I lived in Canada’s north–a ghastly expanse of snow and ice for this city girl, although enlivened by gorgeous displays of northern lights–tiny field mice used to get into our houses and curl up in our boots. Sometimes the inevitable happened, and the result was ghastly beyond words. People might be willing to rescue the feral cats. I used to volunteer at a shelter where my task was socializing… Read more »

lndighost
lndighost
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Fish and shellfish were an important part of the diet. A lot of the birds were good eating too, I understand. There used to be moa; some species were over 3m tall. They were hunted to extinction for their meat and feathers. We have nice fat wood pigeons called kereru that look delicious but you would get in big trouble for eating them now! We do in fact have reptiles, but they are all small harmless geckos and skinks that are not interested in coming into the house. The tuatara is our largest reptile, and even they are pretty small.… Read more »

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  lndighost

A lot of our ferals got tame enough to be adopted out, but there are many who remain too unpredictable to be safe pets. I would be reluctant to place even a tamed feral cat into a home with young children as they might respond very badly to aggression like tail-pulling. Some of them never become lap cats, but my own ex-feral cat is an affection junkie! She has a compromised immune system from her time in the trailer park, and the vet says I have an obligation to provide her with a stress-free life. I took this to heart… Read more »

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Cats are truly an ecological disaster. In America they are estimated to kill up to 4 billion birds and 22 billion small mammals annually. Here we have many small mammalian predators so our populations are better adapted to handle that toll, but in NZ, and many smaller islands, cats, rats, weasels, etc (not to mention crazy ants and brown tree snakes). Are an absolute disaster. I love cats, but most people have no idea how destructive they are.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

The nature shows tell us that they are exactly like tigers on a tiny scale, ruthless and efficient killing machines. I think that it is probably time to bring them indoors unless you’re a farmer or warehouse owner who can demonstrate a need for a mouser.

JP Stewart
JP Stewart
6 years ago

A bit off-topic, but a rather unbelievable claim has been made in other threads about Trump being more protected by the media than Obama. If someone snapped a picture of Trump with David Duke, imagine it being kept secret for 13 years and through two elections. Well that’s what happened with this lovely Obama/Farrakhan photo:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/dba93ecf-a913-3b7a-a4e1-6e117c7e2414/ss_journalist-kept-quiet-about.html

Instead, journalists post fake photos trying to discredit Trump:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-row-washinton-post-dave-weigel-twitter-washington-post-journalist-fake-photo-florida-a8101646.html

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  JP Stewart

Well, I suppose it is technically possible that Obama called that meeting to reproach Farrakhan for his vicious anti-Semitism. I will believe that on the day that I come to believe Hillary respects and likes Jewish people even when she doesn’t need their votes.

kyriosity
kyriosity
6 years ago

Can we please get some footage of Darren NOT as Christian from “Saving Christmas”?