The Bald and the Unbeautiful

Head shaving has been among the jejune reactions of some frenzied women to Kamala Harris’s implosion. Social media is full of these virtue signalers demonstrating why haircuts should only be done by trained professionals. I’m surprised Biden’s FDA has not demanded warning disclaimers on these videos: “Paid actor. Do not attempt this at home!”

I’m not sure what being glabrous is supposed to prove (other than unhinged hysteria). Because some of this class has become preoccupied with being able to “identify” their “allies” — so they can know who to talk to — it may be a mark of initiation. What goes around comes around: Pope St. Paul VI suppressed tonsure as a mark of entry into the clerical state but the feminists have turned it into candidacy for their coven. This quest for knowing “who” voted how will likely not get better, at least in the short run. Smart folks who might have such friends are advised to stock up on Pepto-Bismol, because this Thanksgiving will likely produce lots of heartburn.

That said, the female Yul Brynner look reminds me of les femmes tondues. After World War II, French women who engaged in “horizontal collaboration” — sleeping with German occupiers — were paraded in the streets and had their heads shaved so people could identify them. At least those bald ladies were marked because they slept with men; our shaven “4B” crowd vows no dates, marriage, sex, or babies (see here). While one might ask — as a bold social media questioner did — whether, if they had such willpower, abortion would have been their #1 issue, I want to take them a bit more seriously.

Consider the mindset underneath this: that sex is not an act of self-giving, that marriage and children are not values in themselves but commodities to be traded in exchange for something, in this case, voting “properly.” They are useful, not intrinsic goods. For women so focused on their “dignity,” that mindset seems rather one hitherto characteristic of the oldest profession after politics.

Finally, if you go around social media, there’s been some pushback from people with alopecia, i.e., hair loss caused by illness. These people have real issues. (Take a look at the joy on this young girl’s face when she gets a wig.) It might be a salutary lesson for our frenzied femmes nonfatales if they could manage for a moment to get outside of themselves. But, if they could, they wouldn’t be on TikTok having a bad hair day.

“Let Your Light Shine Before Catholics”?

Elsewhere I wrote an extended piece on the “4B Movement” (the anti-men tirade of some Kamala supporters) because, while some might find their ravings entertaining, I insist we need to see the darker and more important side of this. It’s a death cult, a rejection of marriage, sex, and children, fixated on the autonomous self and repudiating all those things because the most pro-abortion candidate did not win. One can dismiss these complaints as post-election virtue signaling, but I think that is shortsighted. The fact that more and more women of childbearing age say they won’t have a child absent the “guarantee” of abortion-throughout-pregnancy Roe provided means there is something deeper to this thing.

I have to say I found a number of comments — by presumably Catholic commentators — disturbing. The gist of their response was: “who cares? These women are probably not Catholic anyway, so why are you worried?”

I’m worried because we live in a country where we Catholics are a minority, traditionally hated for what our faith teaches. We are not insulated from broader cultural influences. Coming from an industrial Rust Belt city in New Jersey, I know that even if parents tried to raise healthy kids, well, the number of asthma cases was higher because you can’t constantly breathe in that kind of environment without picking up some of the taint, even if by pure osmosis. Same with moral pollution.

Pope John Paul II was wont to remind us that culture lies upstream from politics and economics. The kinds of political and economic choices people make really are predicated on what they value, so if the culture is corrupt — or embraces a culture of death — politics is not going to save you. It may provide a momentary respite but “your opponent, the devil, is prowling like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” Catholics, out of a sense of self-preservation, cannot ignore the culture.

The fact that we lost seven statewide abortion referenda should tell us that. Legally, we may have won the fight over Roe. But we were not prepared for the cultural metastasis that almost 50 years of abortion-on-demand left in its wake. Until we fix that problem, even legal and political victories may prove ephemeral.

Quite apart from self-interest, however, Vatican II makes clear that we should “read the signs of the times” (including the anti-signs) in order to affect the world in which we live. Catholics are supposed to be salt and light for their world. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men,” not “let your light shine before Catholics.”

I fear something of a new ghetto mentality among Catholics. For some, it may be their “intentional communities” of Rod Dreher-inspired Benedict Options. For others, it may be particular liturgical preferences. Others may simply be tired of the larger struggle and looking for a quiet place “at home.” I have to admit, I remain a “John Paul II Catholic,” convinced we should set out boldly into the deep. God didn’t promise it would be easy, but heaven is not the reward for the retiring or timid.

Seasonal Help

Businesses frequently hire extra help in December to cope with the Christmastime rush. I strongly suggest all those triple majors in intersectional gender studies, critical racial theory, and sociology consider getting some extra work during “winter holiday” because, come January 21, 2025, you are going to be owing the American taxpayer some loan money.

Where’s the Imam?

As Amsterdam roils in attacks on Jews (can you believe this is the 21st century) and similar assaults occur in England and other European countries, one has to ask: has Pope Francis been on the phone to his good old buddy, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, the antisemite who stood with Hamas, to ask: “Might you want to offer a few words of calm from the religion of peace and brotherhood to pour oil on the roiled waters of my non-peripheries?”

The “F” Word

No, not “fascist.” The other “f” word. Why do I feel the need to “bleep” it here in print when it’s being blasted all over social media?

I first saw “f—k” when I was a five-year-old boy. I say “saw” because we were on the playground of my elementary school and I saw it written on a brick on the wall. As my first grade was still teaching phonics in 1965, I learned it, came home, and asked my mother what it meant. I was greeted first by startled silence, then asked where I heard it. I said it was on the school wall. I was then told it was a “bad” word, an “ugly” word, and one I should never repeat or I’d get my mouth washed out with soap. As my mother used to wash my hair with black tar soap, I took her counsel to heart. (Incidentally, by the end of that week somebody took soap to the school wall and the word was effaced.)

My mother wasn’t alone. English dictionaries did not include the word until the late 1960s, as it was considered obscene. Its etymology is disputed, whether from old Anglo-Saxon or old Germanic. In any event, it refers to “having intercourse with” but with an undertone of violence or compulsion: “f—ing” is not an expression of tender, loving conjugal intercourse. Its very brevity and hard sound is indicative of its underlying qualities.

Considering all that, one has to ask how coarse our culture has become when “f”-bombs are routinely dropped as casual interjections. I am probably old-fashioned, but it seems particularly vulgar on women’s lips. No doubt its users would tell me it’s because of my “patriarchal, misogynistic” view of women and I should “f— off.”

Among my family heirlooms are some letters my aunt sent my father. Dad was born in Connecticut but moved to New Jersey because my mother wanted to stay there, so his contact with his family was largely via letters. My aunt never finished high school. My father was a vocational tech grad. But their letters — in vocabulary, form, and style — probably could not be replicated by a contemporary college graduate. And I could not imagine the “f” word ever being put to paper by them.

So, as much as our society preens on “progress,” I have to say what I’ve seen the past week impugns that claim.

A Swan

Finally, in an effort to contribute to some civility, a few folks on social media have gone to posting more tender images, e.g., a cat caressing a sad little boy, a dog eagerly awaiting its owner, and so on. One image depicts a swan swimming with her four little cygnets on her back, shielded by her wings (see here). In light of the past week, I’m happy to say I saw no “4B” Swans on TikTok — which suggests some people have yet to attain the level of “bird brain.”