Requiem for the Wrong Repetition

We know the old adage that repetition is the mother of learning.

While this certainly applies to times tables and catechism, among many other things, there are things that should not need to be repeated unless there is a motive behind it. Such a case would be when a boss or parent constantly needs to inform everyone either by word or mannerism that he is in charge; insecurity and sense of loss of control are usually at the bottom of that.

Another instance would be when certain words or phrases are frequently used, but within changing or fluid contexts, words like freedom, or equality, or privilege, or diversity.  In these cases, the motive seems to be more about changing the definition of the word in order to fit an agenda. While there can be a common (albeit somewhat incomplete) understanding of what the words mean, words like these are employed to play upon people’s sympathies and then used against them.

Ask the average good-willed person on the street, for instance, as to whether or not he is for equality, and we would expect him to say “yes”; he would naturally say that everyone is equal in dignity as a human being, and that we should have equal opportunities to improve ourselves. Such an answer, though, would implicitly admit that not everything is equal, nor actually can be, which is in harmony with reality.

This is precisely where the hook gets set by those with an agenda, for the ideology of revolutions is fed by a vocabulary of familiar words which once meant something else. These become the bludgeons of a “cancel culture” eager to put them in the hands of Kool-Aid intoxicated youth who poorly substitute stringing ideological placards together for critical thinking.  While common sense may still circulate among a silent majority, one can only wonder how long before that becomes a rare commodity.

An interesting article on this subject by Fr. John Perricone recently appeared in Crisis Magazine titled The Tightening Noose of Diversity Ideology. He neatly describes how things have gone the way they have:

America has become a willing hostage to a new despotism: diversity parading as equality. It strangles society because it not only erases equality but undermines true diversity. Equality assumes that each member of society is allowed to rise to the level of their own excellence, a potential deeply knit into man made in imago et similitudo Dei. Diversity is the blessed result, a multi-textured loveliness which results when equality moves as it should. Let a polity surrender equality for cruel facsimiles, then despotism reigns, excellence dies, diversity is discarded, and unity crumbles under the jackboot of injustice.

Most of us experience first-hand the absurd level this has reached, since almost every major name-brand now tows the “diversity” agenda in some way. Fr. Perricone cites the recent Nasdaq initiative. So instead of just pictures of Paris or Hawaii in the waiting area, we now have unnatural posters thrown into the mix as we board a plane. A soda can’s color scheme has changed to reflect being in sync with the diverse.

Long gone are those days when all we expected Calgon to do was clean your clothes and “take you away,” wherever that was. Sounds so simple because it really should be.

The analogy of the “tightening noose” not only reflects the frantic speed at which this is all happening now, but the choke hold that seeks the death of human nature and right reason. Responding to this from a natural standpoint carries its own importance, as insisting on the proper definitions of words is critical. This is what Jordan Peterson and others bring to the table, for instance. But while there is plenty to talk about, it is insufficient overall; as mentioned in a previous post, Peterson seems to be running into the limits of it as he struggles with the God and religion question, although the brilliant horizons of the everlasting hills await him upon an act of supernatural faith.

A genuine and honest search for meaning and personal betterment – that is, excellence – eventually has to go there.

This is where the Catholic plays a most important part, because we are in possession of the answer. But after decades of Catholics being accustomed to keep silent about their beliefs, no doubt following the example of their shepherds, the tactic of going along to get along has proved its disastrous consequences.

Catholics must come to terms that the masterminds behind the new “diversity” never included Catholicism as part of the final product. The Truth that will set us free is being forcibly replaced with the lie that will hold us in tyranny. Satan wishes to be worshipped as if he were God, and to implement his own version of diversity upon the humanity he hates. Hence the normalization of all things foul, with the intent that the Catholic submits and accepts.

No. In Fr. Perricone’s words:

Woke diversity is like the creeping overgrowth of a jungle, and the jungle is Hobbes’ “war of all against all.” Decent men must see how it threatens Judeo-Christian civilization as we have known it, to say nothing of our beloved Republic.  Tarrying in confronting it is simply not an option.

Only two options remain when pressed into a corner: be crushed, or fight our way forward, and this is where we are. However, if we are on the back foot, then we work to shift the weight and use it as a spring to haul us forward, beginning with those around us, gaining courage from mutual support. God does not command success, but He does command that we try.

Know what the Church teaches, but then have a reason for your faith that is more than a product of rote repetition and memorization. Do not worry if you do not have all the answers; no one does, but at least have some that can pose a challenge to those drowning in the swamp of false diversity.

Because the Catholic does not care about those externals and superficial traits which the “new diversity” emphasizes and exploits. Rather the Catholic looks past all that and regards another as a soul known and loved by God, standing in desperate need of life from Him.

After all, when all is said and done, the only repetition worth hearing is the Sanctus exclaimed by the diverse crowds of angels and saints in heaven.