Nothing You Won't Believe
No.99: March 18, 2022
Dear Friends,
Here is a picture we should all contemplate:
On the right are the top three women collegiate swimmers in America. On the left is the man who was given the first place medal. He swam in the competition because he simply claims to be a girl. Just look, for starters, at his comparative size advantage.
It is the perfect photo of civilizational decadence, if there ever was one. I was told that Christianity, with its supposedly “Puritanical” and “patriarchal” views of sex and gender, is somehow inherently oppressive to women. Well, take a good look at post-Christian sexuality: women shuffled off to the side of the stage while a man takes their prize. You’d think that this might make some third-wave feminists reconsider a few things, but, sadly, with the exception of J.K. Rowling and few of her friends, they’re few and far between.
It might be a good time to remember that Christianity flourished in the ancient pagan world in large part precisely because its treatment of women was so radical, so elevating, and so liberating that women flocked to hear the gospel message. And then brought their husbands with them to church gatherings. You can read about it in this book. And it might just be that the Christian (or, for that matter, creational, because Christianity is rooted in created reality) message is becoming attractive again in the midst of this ridiculous and oppressive pagan stew. Vice magazine raised eyebrows this week with this article, entitled: “Radical Monogamy: There’s a New Type of Relationship Style in Town.”
Um, new? Men and women have been getting married since the dawn of time. Did these people just fall off the turnip truck?
No, they didn’t. Perhaps Vice has been taking their name so seriously for so long that when they encounter actual Virtue it is completely alien to them. Or perhaps there are people who are really this delusional. We are in the midst of a mass delusion. Look at that picture again. Elite journalists, politicians, medical professionals, media pundits, entertainers, “educators” and teachers expect you to look at that picture and see four women. It used to be hyperbole when I’d suggest that we are heading for George Orwell’s 1984, in which the interrogator demands that Winston Smith say that he is holding up five fingers when he is only holding up four. It is not hyperbole; it is reality. Our societal elites are demanding that you and I acquiesce to the obvious and blatant lie that “Lia” Thomas is a female.
We need more people like this brave woman who was actually at the meet.
When I was growing up back in ancient times—you know, thirty and forty years ago, the worldly mantra I heard incessantly was “go against the flow,” and “think for yourself,” and “question authority.” Somehow most of my generation did exactly the opposite. If you are willing to go along with this—this!—then there is nothing you won’t believe, no line of truth you are unwilling to cross. As Chesterton put it (perhaps an apocryphal amalgamation of different quotes): “When people stop believing in God, they do not then believe in nothing; they believe anything.”
The answer must be no. An emphatic No! There is no wiggle room here whatsoever. This is an attack on basic, bedrock, creational reality. It can never be loving and compassionate to go along with delusions about reality. This man, “Lia” Thomas, needs deep psychological and spiritual help. Bending reality to conform to his delusions is an injustice to him, and most certainly an injustice to the three best female swimmers in the NCAA.
Heartfelt congratulations to them. They are winners.
Here are some odds and ends on the war in Ukraine.
In case you missed it, you must set aside the time to watch President Zelensky’s address to the United States Congress. Truly historic times. It should remind us that history is not governed by fatalistic, inexorable laws, nor do outcomes automatically side with conventional wisdom. On paper, it looked for all the world like Russia’s military, should they invade, would not and could not be stopped. An “insurgency” and a government-in-exile was the best many foreign policy experts could foresee. And then? An actor, dancer, and comedian named Volodymr Zelensky stepped seemingly out of nowhere onto the world stage.
“The fight is here. I need ammo, not a ride.”
Courage makes a difference. People—even unlikely ones—can rise to the occasion. And that is what President Zelensky has done. And he still needs ammo.
Also well worth your time is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s address to the Russian people. It is superb. Pitch perfect.
Dismay is the only word I can conjure to describe how I feel about the continued pro-Putin propaganda peddled by people who ought to know better. My friend and colleague Andrew Sandlin has an excellent essay for them today. Check it out here.
As for the war itself, it is becoming increasingly likely that Russia is headed for outright defeat. In terms of military objectives, this has been an unmitigated disaster and I do not see Ukraine settling to any terms that do not involve their sovereignty over their 1991 borders. Nor should they. Russia has earned nothing, is entitled to nothing, and nothing less than complete and absolute withdrawal is acceptable, in my mind. Putin must have no reward. None. I say this because there are plenty of foreign policy “realists” who are encouraging a settlement that gives Putin a way to “save face.” Maybe I am just an old-school Cold Warrior, but can you imagine Ronald Reagan settling for such a thing? Saving face? After bombing women and children?
Russia has lost more men in the last three weeks than the United States lost in twenty years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vladimir Putin is unhappy, to put it mildly. In a recent speech, he ranted and raved about the “traitors” in his midst—he’s fast approaching “Hitler in the bunker” mode. A dying-yet-thrashing dragon can still cause a lot of destruction, and that appears to be all he has left: bombing cities to smithereens and maximizing the destruction of innocents.
We must keep up the pressure, and keep the ammo flowing for the courageous Ukrainian people. And figure out how to give them the Polish MiGs, for crying out loud.
I had planned to write something different today, but I am going to leave it there for this week. I’ve invested in a new diagnostic tool for auto mechanics that arrived today (I figure it cost about the same as a single trip to a mechanic), and the Range Rover needs some deep dive testing done. So have a great weekend, and I’ll be back next week for milestone issue number ONE HUNDRED.
In case you missed this week’s Quarter Inch, you can find it here. I talk about baseball, guitars, and finish off by sharing a letter I once wrote to novelist Herman Wouk. Enjoy!