Pope Benedict XVI getting in on the “What Child is This?” action:
Catholic World News : Spread Christmas joy and awe, Pope challenges children
Vatican, Dec. 21, 2006 (CWNews.com) - “The birth of Jesus is not a fable,†Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) reminded a group of children gathered at the Vatican on December 21 to give him their Christmas greetings.
This Child we ask about in the song is not a fable.
I’ve been called a fool and an imbecile. I’ve also been named Time’s “Man of the Year“. It’s been quite a week. A Wall Street Journal editorial calls blogs “Written by fools to be read by imbeciles.” and TIME says You are Man of the Year.
I’ll take the “fool” part for myself with a smile, but you have been called an “imbecile” along with me and that I’ll not stand for.
Steve Rubel calls Mr. Rago’s editorial on blogging a “bodyslam”. I’ll agree with Steve and take the analogy a step further; a bodyslam is a showy attack in pro wrestling. Joseph Rago has launched himself shirtless from atop the middle rope onto the editorial mat in the hopes of knocking blogging down a notch. Blogging does not seem to have noticed the blow.
A good deal of the Rago editorial is on target. Blogs do not often report news directly. When bloggers do report directly, they often lack professionalism, we expect this from amateurs. Blogs are the new home of bad writing, move over freshman comp., there’s a new sherriff of suck in town. The blogoshpere, so huge, so interconnected, and full of potential usually sounds like two competing flocks of geese in a honking contest.
What Rago misses, is the point. So does Time, by the way. Citizen Journalist is a poor label for the best of what blogging has to offer. Individual blogs are not the point, individual bloggers don’t matter. It’s the network, stupid.
The network of blogs responded to John Kerry’s comments about the uneducated military with speed and an effectiveness that the venerable Journal can’t even touch. The words were disseminated, opinions shared, factual information about the military was gathered back from little bloggers, commenters, and email and refocused into rebuttals before the WSJ was typeset for the same day. Military men and women had painted a large sign reading “HALP US JON CARRY!” before the dust had settled.
In other words, the professional reporters who hold journalism degrees and have their every word edited, spell checked, and fact checked by a staff are not easily replaced by today’s run of the million blogger. The person at the Wall Street Journal whose job is most at risk due to the rise of the blog is offering interpretation of the news and not the news itself. That person probably has a title like - ummmm - “assistant editorial features editor”.
OpinionJournal - Extra
The Blog Mob
“Written by fools to be read by imbeciles.”BY JOSEPH RAGO assistant editorial features editor
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
-*-*-*-*-*The blogs are not as significant as their self-endeared curators would like to think. Journalism requires journalists, who are at least fitfully confronting the digital age. The bloggers, for their part, produce minimal reportage. Instead, they ride along with the MSM like remora fish on the bellies of sharks, picking at the scraps.
To be fair, the quote at the subhead “Written by fools to be read by imbeciles.” is duely credited to Joseph Conrad. Conrad was writing about newspapers.
It’s Marx… bringing it up out of backcourt and over the time stripe, he’s being guarded by Churchill - pass to Trotsky - looking for Stalin at the top of the key but he has his hands full with Roosevelt, no - here’s Lenin rolling off of a brutal Mao pick, Truman’s down! Lenin from three-point range, Lenin for three!
“How can this be?”
Luke’s Gospel tells of two births, each one foretold by an angel. Both Zacharias and Mary, in their turn respond to the angel’s news each with their own version of “How can this be?, Because…”
A deacon instructed me to read these replies-to-an-angel and try to hear the speaker’s tone of voice. There must have been a significant difference between Zacharias’ tone and Mary’s because of the difference in outcomes:
Zacharias says in Luke 1:18:
And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
Zacharias’ results in Luke 1:20:
And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
What did Zacharias sound like? Was there doubt in his voice? His reply sounds reasonable enough, but Gabriel rebukes him saying: (19)“I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.” He sounds a little irritated, doesn’t he? Like a father administering discipline he reminds Zacharias of his position, “…because I’m your father, and this is my house, and since you don’t seem to believe me, I’m taking away your cell phone for nine months, maybe after nine months you’ll believe.”
Mary says in Luke 1:34:
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
Mary’s results in Luke 1:20:
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
What did Mary sound like? She does ask “How?” but the angel does not rebuke her and remind her of his position and power, he explains himself:
(35)The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Mary must been very courageous to question an angel at all, don’t you think? This one particular question must have been very important to her to get her to speak up. She’s just been given news that would turn her life completely upside down, she must’ve had alot on her mind, her parents, a new baby to worry about. Of everything she now has to think about, the one issue pressing enough to ask the angel about is her virginity.
Mary does not presume that this child will come the natural way even though she’s already espoused to Joseph. If an ordinary woman, already promised in ordinary marriage to a man, was told by an angel that she would conceive a child would she not reasonably presume the natural course of events that lead to conception?
The angel tells that the child will hold the throne of David and reign over the house of Jacob. Joseph is of the House of David, yet Mary does not presume that the child is to be Joseph’s. She is certain enough that the baby is not to be the result of a natural union with Joseph that she uses her one question on this concern.
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
With thanks to: A Slice of Infinity: Questioning Gabriel, by Jill Carattini
Via the Marine Corps News Room:
U.S. Marines Work To Befriend Iraqis
AP) HALABASA, Iraq U.S. Marines roll through this Euphrates River town handing out chocolates, backpacks, coloring books and sometimes even AK-47s, hoping to glean goodwill and tips from residents.December 11, 2006
Efforts to befriend Iraqis are far from new, but they have become even more important, U.S. military leaders say, as troops battle well-armed and well-financed insurgents who roam much of Anbar province.
I can’t help but think that if “stay the course” means to continue giving away chocolate and soccer balls, then we should stay the course.
I’ve said for a very long time that trust takes time to build, but no time to lose.
I noticed elsewhere that the Lt. Col. Desgrosseilliers mentioned in that story has been awarded a silver star.
The What child is this? series for the Advent season resumes. The series was called edifying just the other day, even though the most recent installment is nearly a year old. I’ll try to live up to that kindness without letting much of it go to my head.
-*-*-*-
What Child is This? This child was born in Bethlehem, from bêth lehem, meaning “house of bread” (source: New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia) and was laid in a manger, a trough from which livestock eat grain.
Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
The word “manger” isn’t one we use outside the Christmas season. We call the little bed in the Nativity scene a “manger” but if anything eats out of it, we’ll call it a “trough”. To Luke, it is one thing as in ~and laid him in a feedtrough~ perhaps.
I, for one, don’t speak a word of Hebrew, the “house of bread” meaning of “Bethlehem” is to me a well-hidden clue. To Luke, it might have been as plain as the nose on your face. Had the miraculous birth occurred in the modern U.S. and been written of in American English, I have to think that He would have been born in “Bakerstown, Nebraska” and laid in a bread basket, or even, upon a cutting board, for the meaning to come through as clearly.
John 6:35 And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst.
John 6:51,52 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.
What Child is This born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger? The Bread of Life, The Living Bread, the edible savior.
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Ah, the blogosphere, so full of voices… Somedays I think I’ve heard my own voice echoing back to me.
This is not me, the blogger is of the Anglican persuasion, but it has a familiar ring to it doesn’t it?
The Continuum: Advent One
One song, frequently adding to the noise pollution in public places and stores, is a song that I absolutely hate. It is called “Do you hear what I hear?†It removes the Divinity of Christ from the picture, and celebrates nothing more than the birth of, as the song so vacuously says, “a child, a child, freezing in the cold.†The song ends with the king saying to the people everywhere, “pray for peace people everywhere.†Is that really what the king said? Was it not, rather, “go and kill every male child under two years old, and bring me word again,†in a mad effort to destroy Christ? The voice that the world wants to hear is the voice of the spirit that was in Herod. That spirit wants to kill Christ, to take away your Christmas, and, before that, your advent.
I’m just happy to have found someone else that gets as Grinchy as I do in their love of Advent.
Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That’s the one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
Calling it “ill gotten gain” to profit from the Who’s past suffering, the publisher and producer have cancelled the book deal and movie project about the infamous story of the stolen Christmas. The Grinch was found not guilty by a jury trial in criminal court but was forced to make reparations to the Whos in civil court. The book was to be an insider’s tell-all, but not a confession of having stolen Christmas.
…The stockings were hung on the 7-ton truck with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there…
The Niles Star
NILES - Soldiers serving alongside Cpl. Rickey D. Thomas Jr. will owe him one after this holiday season.Thomas, born and raised in Buchanan, and the 3rd Battalion 4th Marine Truck Company stationed in Iraq, will be on the receiving end of 40 stockings personally stuffed by employees of Innovative Design Products in Niles. Thomas’ younger sister, Renee Hoffman, who is also employed at Innovative Design, is leading the project
