The Narthex

Today, crazy notions spread like wild fire and become wilder as they spread, often claiming the authority of science, and using the muscle of popular mass culture to cower most people into acquiescence, if not belief. We are indeed in the midst of a pandemic, but it’s much bigger than…

From time to time we need to take stock. The history of mankind has not a smooth progression, but more like a series of steps, sometimes short, sometimes long, separated by risers that may be shallow or dramatically steep. Looking backwards, we took many steps that now seem with hindsight…

On Sunday the U.S. conducted airstrikes in the Iraq-Syria border region. Judging from U.S. media coverage of it on Monday, the country had already yawned and moved on. By lunchtime both the Apple News and Google News aggregators showed one short news item each, way down in the scroll. One…

What to say about California? During the Gold Rush, it was “California or bust.” Later Horace Greeley upped the ante: “Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.” Greeley thought that the nation’s capital only offered high rents, lousy food, and bad morals. And wasn’t California…

As the pandemic crisis wanes for wealthy nations, the unintended consequences of worldwide economic shutdowns will continue to unfold for years in poorer parts of the globe. Two examples of this are found in two Church-affiliated news outlets. The first is a LiCAS News article, "Child labor rises to 160…

The Australian Curriculum, Reporting and Assessment Authority (ACARA) issued a Consultation Curriculum for History Years 7-10 early this year. The 84-page document is described as “consultation material only” – which is to say that it has not yet been endorsed by the various state and federal education ministers. Nevertheless, the thrust of the document is clearly…

According to the meaning of the term woke, I better wake up to my ingrained pride and prejudice. Maybe I’m unaware of my racism and misogyny because I’m a senior and an Italian Catholic. As a thoroughbred descendent of the Roman Empire, I believe there are only two kinds of…

The mainstream media are overwhelmingly liberal; this is well known. Their all-out effort to portray Joe Biden as simply a good-natured older man -- the nation's Uncle Joe -- is obvious and predictable. Still, there are corners of the liberal media where one can find solid reporting that rejects simple…

Guardian journalist Van Badham has defined Western civilization in purely negative and derogatory terms: “a racist colonial project to crush, change, enslave, eradicate or genocidally erase other cultures.” It is difficult to regard a person who could write such a thing as quite sane. Christopher Dawson insisted that the Christian…

Wherever you reside, gentle reader, I have some advice. Don’t run for governor in your fair state. Yes, I can well imagine your asking “Who needs such advice?” And if you are a sensible person, the very idea of doing so has never crossed your mind. Unless, that is, you…

With apologies for being prescriptive, I recommend that you watch the two-part documentary on the Hitler Youth movement, Hitler-Jugend. Its impact is terrifying, and it uses color footage that most of us have never seen before. But the important thing is that it demonstrates unforgettably the power and the naivety…

An interesting New York Times op-ed (Feb. 24) by Stephen Wertheim titled "America Is Not ‘Back.’ And Americans Should Not Want It to Be" actually relates some generally unspoken facts of recent U.S. foreign policy. Wertheim says that despite Trump's description of himself as "militaristic," he didn't start any new…

On February 9th Australia’s SBS TV News ran a short segment that purported to allay some people’s concerns about the COVID vaccine.  I cannot find a recording of the broadcast, but an SBS News article called "The most common myths about the coronavirus vaccine - and why they aren’t true"…

It's been a long while since I entered the lottery at my local 76 gas station convenience store. The Mega Millions prize of nearly a billion dollars was too tempting, so I headed out to buy a Quick Pick. A pay-to-play $2 speculation raises my chance of winning a spectacular…

When I first saw news about the Occupy Wall Street movement in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan ten years ago, my reaction was a common one: “Get a job, you hippies.” A raucous mob of hooligans destroying public property and vandalizing police cars remained my abiding impression for several years. I’m…