Visions of Modernity

One of the criticisms of CUT has been that we are letting the modernist dissenters in the Church off the hook by focusing on attacking the media, and the TV in particular. This is not the case; we believe that by exposing the porn, pro-abortion and homosexual tendencies in the media we are also holding out against the modernists in the Church. We are attacking the modernist’s main crutch – the mainstream media (MSM).

However, none but CUT exposes the modernist’s main supporters in the MSM, whereas there are many good bloggers who are working very hard to expose the modernists in the Church. It is the MSM that makes the dissenters brave, brave enough to turn their backs on and go against the teaching of the Church and Sacred Scripture if it suits them.

For make no mistake: many of our hierarchy, by talking with dissenting groups and thereby scandalising the faithful, are crushing orthodoxy. In doing this they are supported in turn by the mainstream media in all its hideousness.

Below is an article from our winter 2007-08 Newsletter. The Holy Father referred to was Pope Benedict XVI.

Visions of Modernity

How modernist broadcasters created a Culture of Hate

Modernity is all around us; it is the modern world. Some elements of modernity have beneficial effects on our lives, for example electricity, motorcars, aeroplanes, modern medicine, and mass-communication. But used to excess and without care, modernity (some believe) could destroy the natural order and indeed undermine western culture itself. “The modernist” in this article refers to someone, particularly someone in the media, who has been psychologically and indeed totally affected by modernity with all its excesses, and who champions it. He hates any group or individual who contradicts him, and tries to direct this hatred against them particularly through the push media the television and radio. However, the basic concept of modernity and the modernist is being challenged or undermined from within by nuclear weapons, terrorism, euthanasia, the holocaust and today’s extermination camps - the abortion mills. The materialistic crudity that is becoming ever more prevalent in society objectifies humanity; if it can’t use you, you are discarded. This objectifying of the human person adds up to a world that’s being changed and controlled, a culture that has turned its back on its foundations, and even despises them. Western man is replacing the culture based on love, Christianity, with the culture of hate.

               The once stable paradigms of Western culture, the family, morality and religion, are all up in the air and being juggled by the media and by the secular liberal intelligentsia who control the media. The Holy Father is aware of this and of the countless messages that arrive through the mass media and of their dangers. When addressing a gathering of 500,000 young people at Loreto, Italy, on September 2nd 2007, he said, “Go against the current: Don’t listen to the persuasive and self-seeking voices that today promote lifestyles marked by arrogance and violence, by appearances and possessions to the detriment of being.” The Pope instead held out an alternative path marked by purity, sharing, study and work for the common good. He said, “Be vigilant! Be critical! Don’t be dragged along by the wave produced by this powerful movement of persuasion.”¹

               The above advice from the Holy Father is similar to that used by CUT from the beginning of our campaign. We always question the broadcasters’ motives and ask why they have produced programmes that push the boundaries of ethics and of truth; - have they personal issues at stake? For it has often come to light that those in the media who push ‘alternative’ life-styles or champion a ‘pro-choice’ stance, have a vested interest in the acceptance of these corrosive modernist doctrines. These are often the same people who will produce TV programmes that attack the Church and try to undermine her teachings, either by producing anti-Church dramas or documentaries that attempt to attribute the world’s problems to Catholic moral teaching, problems that are really brought about by a misuse of modernity. In doing this they create a culture of hate, especially against those who have a traditional moral standpoint based on discipline and the teachings of Christ. They would rather objectify all things human, especially human sexuality, and use these “objects” as commodities.

               One of the Holy Father’s early mentors, Romano Guardini, who was professor of philosophy and theology at the University of Munich, wrote a remarkable work of social analysis, The End of the Modern World, in 1956. This work examines the era of “Mass Man”: of mass communication, mass marketing and mass materialism that threaten to crush the individual human spirit, objectify him and drive him into anonymity. Of these forces that steadily erode man’s sense of his own uniqueness and replace it with man as object, he writes, ‘Man confronts this attitude in the range of authority exercised over him; he may merely meet it in countless statistics and tables or he may experience its culmination in an unspeakable rape of the individual, of the group, even of the whole nation.’²

‘Only the strong love, it is the weak who Hate’³

              

One of the icons of modern western culture, James Bond, encapsulates all the glamour of the materialistic world laced with sex, violence, and a shallow callous sense of humour. These traits, typical of the James Bond character, have become all too common in the media today. Academic and poet David Holbrook in his book The Masks of Hate used Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger to explain the hatred manifested and projected into society by such works. Holbrook’s analysis of the book and its simplistic messages leads him to state that ‘...its symbolism is manifestly that of primitive schizoid hate’³ He goes on to voice his concern that human nature itself is driven to the point of being put at stake by such works of projected hatred, describing ‘...an uncomfortable sense that something even more primitive lurks beneath its coarseness, stupidity, and cruelty.’⁴ Bond’s contempt for women and for human life is all part of the glamour and excitement of the books and subsequent films. Their premières are often attended by the highest dignitaries in the land. These films are regularly shown on primetime television today; they are considered family entertainment. Yet the Bond films have been surpassed in their simplistic crudity by the still more explicit sex and violence of today’s films and television dramas. Our national public service broadcaster has shown itself to be one of the leaders in its descent into this simplistic crudity and hate, with programmes such as Rome and Fanny Hill. The television is not a force for love and kindness; it betrays its weakness for hatred and evil. It makes one wonder what will be the next ‘classic’ that the BBC will adapt for television; - the memoirs of the Marquis de Sade, perhaps? I wouldn’t put it past them, given their track record. However, the fact that Ian Brady, the ‘Moors’ child murderer, had read de Sade is a warning to all.

Evil be thou my Good

              

There appears to be a schizoid tendency prevalent in modern secular society and it is easy to see the footprint of the television leading culture down the path to hatred. There has been a complete reversal in what is acceptable, particularly relating to abortion and family values. Activities once illegal are now even encouraged with the gagging of the individual’s conscience, by browbeating him as bigoted or even phobic. There has been a complete reversal of values, ‘It becomes a case, not only of “evil, be thou my good” but also “Good, be thou my evil.”⁶

               The broadcaster’s vision of modernity, both materialistic and ethical, results not only in street violence and record numbers of people in prison, but also the AIDS crisis and other manifestations of hatred. The television presents us with a sea of fantasies that threatens to draw us in. Some believe the television exudes mediocrity, but by its effects on society it betrays its brilliance: - the fiendish brilliance of materialism and the doctrines of the politically correct that threaten to engulf us all.

References:

1. Sartini, Serena, Inside the Vatican. October 2007 p.21

2. Guardini, Romano, The End of the Modern world, 1956. ISI books, Wilmington. 1998, p.61.

3. Holbrook, David, The Masks of Hate, Pergamon Press 1972, p.30, quoting Guntrip.

4-5. Ibid p.75

6. Ibid p.53