Rebel Without a Cause
1 Thess. 5:14
We entreat you also, Brothers--warn the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, give a helping hand to the weak, and be patient with every one.
One aspect of my doctoral work is researching the nature of authority, particularly parental authority. Our culture, as a rule, has ambivalence towards authority. Ever since the landing of the Pilgrims, through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, Vietnam, and now Iraq and Afghanistan, the wars that we have fought have ultimately been questions about authority.
When the Founding Fathers essentially and eloquently told King George to stick it, this exhibits the rebellious attitude of Americans that has been a defining characteristic. When Hitler went about executing his 1,000 year Reich demonic vision, Americans stood in the gap and said "Not so fast" and acted as a bulwark and then a bulldozer against Nazi aggression. It can be argued that American rebellion has historically been aligned with righteousness (that Americans have not always been entirely righteous is obvious so don't bother trying to point this out.). No person or country has even been righteous through and through.
The war in Afghanistan is a good example. Anyone who thinks that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are more righteous the U.S. in this battle is mad. For the record, I hardly am a Zionist. Although, I do think Islam has a false view of reality and ultimately cannot create a better world. This is not to say that I believe at all that most Muslims support terrorism. Again, it is important to not assume my positions according to predetermined stereotypes. If you are going to contest what I think, deal with the facts and what I say, not what you want to think I believe. It really frustrates me when Liberals, supposedly open-minded, cannot tolerate reasoned dissent.
I do believe that American rebelliousness is now generally divorced from righteousness as a whole and our "Says Who?" posture is more an excuse to act stupid and immature rather than acting nobly and courageously.
In trying to discern where the more recent seeds of our American vision of anti-authority has been sown culturally, I decided to watch "Rebel Without A Cause." Maybe you have seen this; most people probably have. For whatever reason, I had not. I was very surprised that in this film James Dean's character Jim Stark, cries out to his father to take a stand and be strong and all the Dad can offer is compromise. James Dean's mom is a critical person who is all too quick to be an apologist for Jim's behavior. Grandmother, dad's mom, looms as a malevolent matriarch who also has the dual role of critic and defender of Jim (all males?). I thought for sure that the Dad would be presented at least like Mussolini. Instead, he was more like Measlylini.
There is a telling scene in the first part of the film at the Griffith Observatory where Jim, a new kid at the high school (his parent move a lot to allow Jim to escape the consequences of his negative behavior), is with the other 11th and 12th graders who are watching a planetarium show of the constellations that is being presented by some old professor-looking astronomer. In addition to providing information about the constellations, the presenter also speaks of the universe coming to a cold end, where all life ends, the whole process of creation being a meaningless experiment. If I were to summarize his thoughts, it would be that "Matter, as well as everything else, doesn't matter."
In light of how the film plays out, it is an ironic and chilling reminder to the Materialists that when you are saying that "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." (Carl Sagan), it is really another way of saying that when the building of this universe collapses, with all of its multitude of suns and stories, the remaining dust will have no memory of us, our world, and anything else at all (besides) some residue.
Anyone who is a pure Materialist who tries to posit a greater purpose to their life than temporary and meaningless existence where anything or anyone really matters is a Sentimentalist at best. Dust has no eternal consciousness (no lasting memory and no ultimate future). James Dean died a month before the film's release. His fatal accident, like the universe itself, reminds us that "matter does matter" as it points to a meaning beyond matter. Soul development, in the school room of the physical (present and in the world to come), is the ultimate purpose. As such we need to heed Paul's words above. It does matter!
We entreat you also, Brothers--warn the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, give a helping hand to the weak, and be patient with every one.
One aspect of my doctoral work is researching the nature of authority, particularly parental authority. Our culture, as a rule, has ambivalence towards authority. Ever since the landing of the Pilgrims, through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, Vietnam, and now Iraq and Afghanistan, the wars that we have fought have ultimately been questions about authority.
When the Founding Fathers essentially and eloquently told King George to stick it, this exhibits the rebellious attitude of Americans that has been a defining characteristic. When Hitler went about executing his 1,000 year Reich demonic vision, Americans stood in the gap and said "Not so fast" and acted as a bulwark and then a bulldozer against Nazi aggression. It can be argued that American rebellion has historically been aligned with righteousness (that Americans have not always been entirely righteous is obvious so don't bother trying to point this out.). No person or country has even been righteous through and through.
The war in Afghanistan is a good example. Anyone who thinks that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are more righteous the U.S. in this battle is mad. For the record, I hardly am a Zionist. Although, I do think Islam has a false view of reality and ultimately cannot create a better world. This is not to say that I believe at all that most Muslims support terrorism. Again, it is important to not assume my positions according to predetermined stereotypes. If you are going to contest what I think, deal with the facts and what I say, not what you want to think I believe. It really frustrates me when Liberals, supposedly open-minded, cannot tolerate reasoned dissent.
I do believe that American rebelliousness is now generally divorced from righteousness as a whole and our "Says Who?" posture is more an excuse to act stupid and immature rather than acting nobly and courageously.
In trying to discern where the more recent seeds of our American vision of anti-authority has been sown culturally, I decided to watch "Rebel Without A Cause." Maybe you have seen this; most people probably have. For whatever reason, I had not. I was very surprised that in this film James Dean's character Jim Stark, cries out to his father to take a stand and be strong and all the Dad can offer is compromise. James Dean's mom is a critical person who is all too quick to be an apologist for Jim's behavior. Grandmother, dad's mom, looms as a malevolent matriarch who also has the dual role of critic and defender of Jim (all males?). I thought for sure that the Dad would be presented at least like Mussolini. Instead, he was more like Measlylini.
There is a telling scene in the first part of the film at the Griffith Observatory where Jim, a new kid at the high school (his parent move a lot to allow Jim to escape the consequences of his negative behavior), is with the other 11th and 12th graders who are watching a planetarium show of the constellations that is being presented by some old professor-looking astronomer. In addition to providing information about the constellations, the presenter also speaks of the universe coming to a cold end, where all life ends, the whole process of creation being a meaningless experiment. If I were to summarize his thoughts, it would be that "Matter, as well as everything else, doesn't matter."
In light of how the film plays out, it is an ironic and chilling reminder to the Materialists that when you are saying that "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." (Carl Sagan), it is really another way of saying that when the building of this universe collapses, with all of its multitude of suns and stories, the remaining dust will have no memory of us, our world, and anything else at all (besides) some residue.
Anyone who is a pure Materialist who tries to posit a greater purpose to their life than temporary and meaningless existence where anything or anyone really matters is a Sentimentalist at best. Dust has no eternal consciousness (no lasting memory and no ultimate future). James Dean died a month before the film's release. His fatal accident, like the universe itself, reminds us that "matter does matter" as it points to a meaning beyond matter. Soul development, in the school room of the physical (present and in the world to come), is the ultimate purpose. As such we need to heed Paul's words above. It does matter!
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