Catholic Ragemonkey

The Gauntlet's Down

Fr. Tucker challenged me (and the rest of the CRM troupe) to respond to this question: "List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can't really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), 'Nice. Nice. Not thrilling . . . but nice.'"

So here they are in no particular order...

1.) Hilary Clinton-related Hand wringing. I know, I know, my standing in lots of circles went down lots of points on this one but what can I say? I don't care. Generally, politics only interests me in the sense of what someone should do. This means that generally I hold the door open for anyone who is willing to dive in and give it the old college try. But the instance a politician or elected official tries to make evil good or black white there will be a response. So, if she runs for president, so what? As the last election demonstrated, the people are not as foolish as we might suspect. If the word gets around, the ship will go down.

2.) Alternate Endings to Movies. For me, this is exactly the explanation for why the qualities of movies have gone swirling down the loo for the last 2o years or so. If you write a story that is logical, consistent, has well-formed and well-developed characters, then the story cannot suddenly end up elsewhere. The only way that can happen is to back up and change an aspect of the story's plotting or action, and then this means re-casting and re-developing a character. In short, if you can write an alternate ending for a movie, the movie's rubbish.

3.) This year's assignments in the Archdiocese. Normally, I am out there handicapping the race every year. I enjoy the idea of who is, in my opinion, a good match for a parish, who might be good for a particular position in the diocese, et cetera. It's like an armchair episcopacy. But this year, I don't care. One, I'm not moving so that kills a lot of suspense. Two, while I enjoyed handicapping, for five consecutive years running, I have missed them all by a wide berth. Usually I could name some one who was moving but miss where they were headed. So, I am hanging up my green visor and leaving that idle speculation to others.

4.) American Idol and all reality TV. Except for one brief obcession with Survivor: Pearl Islands, this stuff is just lost on me. Again, it demonstrates that there is only one god for Americans, and it's name is fame. People will do anything and everything to possess it.

5.) Sports. Yes, this is all sports. Every last one of them. I can appreciate things like soccer, but quite frankly, if the conversation persists longer than say, 16 minutes, check for a belly button. You may be dealing with one of the many clone soldiers that an unscrupulous group has put together.