Culture

The Quest for the Best: Is it in the Eye of the Beholder?2
- Culture, Western Civilization
- October 28, 2022
The claim that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is an expression of philosophical relativism. It confuses and conflates goodness, truth and beauty with preference, prejudice and opinion. Preference has a kinship with prejudice and is often kindled by it. It can distort our ability to see beauty. Many young people prefer rock
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The Deleted Scene From Superman II That Made It a Much Better (and Darker) Movie 3
- Culture, Entertainment
- October 27, 2022
One of my early childhood memories is watching the movie Superman II on television. One scene in particular left an indelible impression. The film’s villains, three Kryptonians named Zod, Ursa, and Non, terrorize a rural town. A boy rides off on a horse to get help. Zod, the leader, sees the boy trying to escape. At that
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Why Is the Toy Market Targeting Adults?3
- Culture, Economics, Entertainment
- October 25, 2022
It is easy to dismiss adult toy-buying as a craze of little significance. But the appearance of the “kidult” is troubling from several perspectives, for it speaks of the state of a decadent culture that embraces childish and immature things. The kidult idea also participates in the postmodern desire to be what one is not.
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A Gift to the World: Seeking Not Our Own 4
- Culture, Politics
- October 21, 2022
A teacher who was also a poet once explained to me the meaning of a “found poem.” It’s a poem that takes its words and lines from sources outside the poet: newspaper headlines, advertisements, the outdoor message boards found in front of churches, an overheard conversation, even graffiti. Just this morning, I came across a
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Meeting Triumph and Disaster With the Ideal Man 9
- Culture, Religion
- October 20, 2022
Admittedly, I’ve never been a huge poetry fan. But in recent years, I’ve come to appreciate it, especially when the poems speak to the very things I’m dealing with. In these cases, poetry gives me strength and courage to walk the difficult road. One of the poems that has hit me in the gut this
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A Counterpunch to the Assault on Manliness 9
- Family, Culture
- October 19, 2022
On a mid-October visit with my daughter and her family, my son-in-law began recounting stories from a former construction job. He spoke of end-of-day contests—monkey-bar style races, for example, in which construction workers would race across the trusses of a building using hammers instead of the hands, which lasted until one guy slipped and concussed
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