n a recent issue of Orthodoxy, Franky Schaeffer explained some of the reasons he had for leaving evangelical Protestantism. In December of 1990, he was chrismated into the Greek Orthodox Church. Among many other things, Franky said that the "problem with being a Protestant is that one is free from Holy Tradition."
Oh, come on. Just because we think something is a sin does not mean that we think we are free from it.
An alert correspondent sent in a news story about an incident in Pennsylvania concerning a man with Tourette's syndrome. This gentleman has stated that he intends to file complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the FCC against a radio station there for canceling an interview with him. The reason the interview was canceled was that Tourette's syndrome is a disorder which causes those which have it to blurt out profanities involuntarily. The DJ who was to do the interview was quoted as saying, "I can't put you on the air with that, no way."
We, afflicted with ES (Editorial syndrome), find it hard to believe that in the modern age there are still examples of discrimination against those with CSS (Common Sense syndrome). The last thing this DJ needs is complaints with the FCC, giving him a case of FCCS. What he needs is acceptance, tolerance, indulgence, and lots of understanding.
The Texas Board of Education has recently approved the use of four history texts across the state, provided the publishers fix thousands of mistakes and pay a fine of $239,500 for making them in the first place. According to the texts, Napoleon won at Waterloo, Sputnik was the first Soviet nuclear ICBM, the battle of Vicksburg was in Tennessee instead of Mississippi, Douglas MacArthur (not Joseph McCarthy) led the great anti-communist crusade of the 50's, and the United States ended the Korean War through use of "the bomb."
Words fail us. So does the education establishment.
World magazine reports that Toyota has placed a specially targeted ad in a homosexual magazine. The ad shows two sodomites, two dalmations, a picnic basket, and the Toyota. The copy reads, "For some people, a family car is one that has room for a tribe." It goes on, "When we talk to you about a family car, we mean a car that is big enough for a couple and their friends to stretch out in comfort."
Now here is the first decent argument for protectionism that we have seen. Pat Buchanan, call your office!
Speaking of protectionism, it is just a matter of time before the looming trade war with Japan expands to include items other than automobiles. When this happens, we could see trade barriers erected against all kinds of goods — perhaps even cameras.
And when this happens, we can start calling the protectionists Nikonoclasts.
"Political correctness" has come to a recent art exhibit at the Smithsonian. According to U.S. News and World Report, a painting of cowboys defending a water hole was described in a press release as picturing "the plight of an embattled Anglo-industrial elite in an era of strikes and widespread immigration."
And here we thought it was a picture of courageous environmentalists, fighting for the preservation of a limited natural resource and home of the endangered spotted leech.
In a widely-reported case, a high Japanese official said that American auto workers were underworked, overpaid, and frequently illiterate. As a result of the thoughtful and cogent American response, that same official later apologized.
The thoughtful and cogent response had consisted largely of throwing dust in the air, and crying out "Great is Diana of Detroit!"
National Review reports that the city of Berkeley in California has renamed Columbus Day "Indigenous Peoples Day." Berkeley is named after a white English philosopher, William Berkeley.
And our editors, with equal authority and insight, have renamed Berkeley . . . Columbus. Not after Christopher. After the city in Ohio.
And a recent report informs us that a man with a multiple personality disorder claims that the police violated his rights because they read the Miranda rights to the wrong personality.
We think that the rights should be read to whichever personality would go to prison if convicted.
