Mike, the more I observe JD Vance, the more he seems like a black box. Just his personal history, changing names multiple times, adopting Catholicism as a kind of mask, alternately condemning and then fawning over Donald Trump -- they almost feel like the actions of a walking, talking version of Hal from the 2001 movie.
It's frankly kind of terrifying.
Equally terrifying is the reaction of the media to the calm, offhanded way he instructed the Pope to "be careful on matters of theology." How was this not a trigger for a superstorm of condemnation from every corner of the American press? The same press that was so very concerned that Barack Obama once attended a church led by a minister who once uttered the words "God damn America"?
The Pope, for Chrissake!
It sugggests that this was yet another test, as if Vance was advised by the tech bros to say something so insane and so theoretically insulting to the largest Christian denomination on the planet that it would function as a barometer of just how cowed they've become.
On your larger point of how it's what people do that matters, not which kind of religious sleight-of-mind they perform on camera, I absolutely agree. Keep up the good work.
JD is an adherent of the US civic religion that has already subsumed evangelical Protestantism (to a point in your article, this allows support for policies that result in severe cruelty toward the poor while also claiming to be Christian, because much of Protestantism holds that salvation is by faith, not works), and the movement which has come from this is also attempting to subsume Catholicism in the US into itself. He professes Catholicism not because he is a devout Catholic, or because he rejects sola fide, but simply because he prefers the pomp and pageantry of the Catholic Mass, and he is, as Pope Bob put it, "living in a state of practical atheism".
A suggestion: put like or comment higher up in your comments! By the time I finish your thoughts I have to find either/both. Sometimes I just give up. Not fair to you nor my willingness to comment.
You name it well, define it exactly, oh philosopher.
While it seems mankind will never evolve itself from SELF-DESTRUCTIVE VOODOO, Vance, Thiel et al seem to be relying on a forgetting, a collective amnesia which ' forgives' the takeover once it happens.
As the Cstholic Church well knows and practises...
Note: the voluntary capture of the Church is actually 17 centuries old: it's the tradition. The Russian Church always followed that tradition - Putin's rise has nothing to do with that. The then Bishopric of Rome broke away, largely recaptured itself for a millennium of oscillation trying to have it both ways, and finally rebroke after the dissolution of the Papal States.
I’m going to defend Mike’s repetitive phrasing in this longer read. I like this style of writing because his thoughts are very dense (heavy) and the repetition assists in creating a clearer picture and understanding. Often I must read a paragraph more than once to digest it. That probably means I’m not the brightest star out here, I get easily distracted inside my own head so repetition is a positive for me personally.
Mike, love you buddy but could’ve really used an editor here. Repeated the same point 3-4 times! Don’t worry about JD though he’s a loser and will never be president.
Mike, the more I observe JD Vance, the more he seems like a black box. Just his personal history, changing names multiple times, adopting Catholicism as a kind of mask, alternately condemning and then fawning over Donald Trump -- they almost feel like the actions of a walking, talking version of Hal from the 2001 movie.
It's frankly kind of terrifying.
Equally terrifying is the reaction of the media to the calm, offhanded way he instructed the Pope to "be careful on matters of theology." How was this not a trigger for a superstorm of condemnation from every corner of the American press? The same press that was so very concerned that Barack Obama once attended a church led by a minister who once uttered the words "God damn America"?
The Pope, for Chrissake!
It sugggests that this was yet another test, as if Vance was advised by the tech bros to say something so insane and so theoretically insulting to the largest Christian denomination on the planet that it would function as a barometer of just how cowed they've become.
On your larger point of how it's what people do that matters, not which kind of religious sleight-of-mind they perform on camera, I absolutely agree. Keep up the good work.
JD is an adherent of the US civic religion that has already subsumed evangelical Protestantism (to a point in your article, this allows support for policies that result in severe cruelty toward the poor while also claiming to be Christian, because much of Protestantism holds that salvation is by faith, not works), and the movement which has come from this is also attempting to subsume Catholicism in the US into itself. He professes Catholicism not because he is a devout Catholic, or because he rejects sola fide, but simply because he prefers the pomp and pageantry of the Catholic Mass, and he is, as Pope Bob put it, "living in a state of practical atheism".
https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3loqsfhswjk2r
Long, but good and important.
A suggestion: put like or comment higher up in your comments! By the time I finish your thoughts I have to find either/both. Sometimes I just give up. Not fair to you nor my willingness to comment.
Brilliant takedown of something we all recognize but can’t easily articulate
You name it well, define it exactly, oh philosopher.
While it seems mankind will never evolve itself from SELF-DESTRUCTIVE VOODOO, Vance, Thiel et al seem to be relying on a forgetting, a collective amnesia which ' forgives' the takeover once it happens.
As the Cstholic Church well knows and practises...
We all die, but it survives onwards!
St. Augustine of Hippo. Hippo is/was a place.
Note: the voluntary capture of the Church is actually 17 centuries old: it's the tradition. The Russian Church always followed that tradition - Putin's rise has nothing to do with that. The then Bishopric of Rome broke away, largely recaptured itself for a millennium of oscillation trying to have it both ways, and finally rebroke after the dissolution of the Papal States.
I’m going to defend Mike’s repetitive phrasing in this longer read. I like this style of writing because his thoughts are very dense (heavy) and the repetition assists in creating a clearer picture and understanding. Often I must read a paragraph more than once to digest it. That probably means I’m not the brightest star out here, I get easily distracted inside my own head so repetition is a positive for me personally.
Regardless, a great read and insightful.
Mike, love you buddy but could’ve really used an editor here. Repeated the same point 3-4 times! Don’t worry about JD though he’s a loser and will never be president.
https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/on-my-writing-style