We Live in a Society

A Sane and Healthy Society

With Con Inc collapsing, its aging devotees sound like they've suffered a strange form of partial memory loss. They are smart, well-meaning people. Yet the mere utterance of certain buzzwords is enough to make them suspend their Christian morals and carry on like the market is a god. If one…
April 10, 202427 Comments
Last Third Place Mall

The Last of the Third Places

Last week's popular post on the decline of the shopping mall drew robust comment about the societal consequences of losing that public forum. One key idea readers introduced to the discussion was the Third Place. Reader Sian writes: [T]he mall was the last Third Place. Previous and following generations definitely…
March 25, 202413 Comments
Perverse Generation

Faithless and Perverse Generation

American members of Generation Z face overlapping crises of identity, faith, and general happiness, if recent reports are to be believed. According to several high-profile surveys, young adults in America may be the most faithless and perverse generation yet. And they're suffering the mental and spiritual health consequences. Young people…
March 22, 202428 Comments
1990s despair

The 1990s: Decade of Despair

"If only Pat Buchanan had beaten Bush for the nomination!" "If only George Lucas had adapted the Zahn  Trilogy instead of making the Special Editions!" "If only Sega had won the fifth console generation!" "If only Clear Channel hadn't taken over top 40 rock radio!" "If only they'd kept it…
March 5, 202419 Comments
Aaron Bushnell

The Ethic of the Death Cult

Last week we pondered the riddle of the Pop Cult. Today, we have occasion to observe the ethic of the Death Cult, courtesy of the late Aaron Bushnell. Aaron Bushnell — the Air Force engineer who died hours after lighting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in DC on…
February 27, 202411 Comments
SCOTUS

State Steals Catholic Couple’s Son

Pope Francis' comparison of the societal threat posed by gender ideology to the danger of nuclear weapons has proven prophetic again. The Catholic parents of a mentally troubled teenage boy taken by the State of Indiana are appealing to the Supreme Court. In M.C. and J.C. v. Indiana Department of…
February 22, 202411 Comments
Rosenhan Experiment

Revisiting the Rosenhan Hoax

In light of society's recent focus - one might even say hyper focus - on mental health issues, it's a good idea to take a closer look at the concept in question. What is healthy in a psychological sense? What's the difference between sanity and insanity. Where is the line…
February 20, 202416 Comments
Suburban Hip-Hop

Of Hip-Hop and Corporate Pop

Yesterday, over at the Z Blog, the Z Man took up the thread of this blog's posts on the death of rock music and Cultural Ground Zero. Approaching these related phenomena from an alternate angle, he gleaned some new insights. Not discussed is the culture of the managerial class. The…
January 26, 20246 Comments
Who Killed Rock and Roll

Who Killed Rock and Roll?

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson may have been rather tame and boring in hindsight. But in retrospect, it turns out that he did make at least one true observation. Rock and roll is in fact dead. And it died right around the time he was singing about its demise. If you've…
January 17, 20244 Comments
Teen Drug Overdose

Teen Drug Overdoses Double

The mental, physical, and spiritual health crises facing American young adults and adolescents took a massive turn for the worse in 2022. According to the New England Journal of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rates of teen drug overdoses doubled compared to 2018. Using data…
January 16, 20245 Comments