Thanks for posting, Patty (and, again, everyone is welcome),

I am not sure that a human descent into raw animality is an abnormality, but, to keep things lively, I am going to suggest that one possibility is this: a breach in the wall, or the barrier, which separates us from Gog and Magog.  That�s right.  Fr Thomas Michel, S.J., (link provided below) writes this about the remarkable if nevertheless infinitely arguable conclusions of Sheikh Bedi�zzaman Said Nursi (of Turkey):  

�Said Nursi {foresaw} two great threats to religion, two currents of unbelief represented by the evil figures of Sufyan and Dajjal. The first, that of Sufyan, will seek to destroy the shari�a of Muhammad and will be defeated by the Mahdi from the family of the Prophet. The second, represented by Dajjal, will promote naturalist and materialist philosophy and lead to the total denial of God. Both will work through secret societies to subvert God�s reign over human hearts and eliminate the element of the sacred in social life.  It is against this second current which the true, purified Christianity, which comprises the collective personality of Jesus, will emerge [sic]. The true Christianity will reject superstition and distortion and be in unity with Islamic teachings. In effect, wrote Said Nursi, �Christianity will be transformed into a sort of Islam.��

Now, back even more specifically to my theme of a return to (the undesirable parts of) paganism in late Western civilization, to those who argue that because the West (generally) is technologically and scientifically advanced it must therefore be a strong, vibrant and growing civilization, the great historian at Chatham House, Arnold J. Toynbee, said this, rather early in the last century (and please note the last sentence):

�The radiation of any civilization may be analysed into three elements �economic, political and cultural- and, so long as a society is in a state of growth, all three elements seem to be radiated with equal power or, to speak in human rather than physical terms, to exercise an equal charm.  But, as soon as the civilization has ceased to grow, the charm of its culture evaporates.  Its powers of economic and political radiation may, and indeed probably will, continue to grow faster than ever, for a successful cultivation of the pseudo-religions of Mammon {money?} and Mars {war?} and Moloch {totalitarianism?} is eminently characteristic of broken-down civilizations ...�     

Mr. Toynbee also quotes W. R. Inge as saying: �Ancient civilizations were destroyed by imported barbarians; we breed our own.�

Serv

Ref:          http://www.sjweb.info/dialogo/index.htm

Toynbee, Arnold J., A Study of History, Abridgement of Vol I-VI, D.C. Somervell, Oxford University Press, New York & London, 1962, p. 405

�� When the Bonnie and Clyde star [Faye Dunaway] appeared as a dishevelled, bespectacled woman with bad teeth in March 2005 [bottom photograph], fans were shocked to see how she had been affected by the ravages of time ...�

Servie�s response (in blue):  Yes!  The ravages of time are shocking and, in a properly superficial society, we should all be absolutely protected from having to be reminded of not only our own but other peoples� mortality!

�� So it should come as little surprise that not long after this picture was taken, the 65-year-old appears to have swapped her crooked smile for a set of glossy pearly-whites �.�

It doesn�t come as a surprise.  You�re right.  And she did it all for us (her fans)!  Thank you, Faye Dunaway.

Signed:

Me, Servie, a formerly shocked fan

Ref: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showb iznews.html?in_article_id=416022&in_page_id=1773

Yes, Ummziba, a toast with water, and thanks for your concern, but I can assure you that I went over the edge plenty of times.  Way over the edge.

Speaking of that one-eyed monster, television, it was my calculated misfortune to have let my shield (against cultural barbarity and disingenuousness) drop just recently and stand within earshot of our chief Imam, George W. Bush�s televised State of the Union Address.  Actually, I only had to suffer through two brief moments of that indignity because most of the time I had my stereo headphones on and was listening to good bluegrass music from Kentucky.   

Anyway, these are the two excerpts, or sound bytes, I heard.

Sound byte One:

�American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required ��

Servie bytes back: It might sound like the old concept of noblesse oblige, or the obligations of nobility, but this is a paraphrase of Jesus in St. Luke�s Gospel (12:48) and I hate it when my religion is hijacked, or at least commandeered, by evidently lapsed Methodists on a rampage (even if he is stating it in terms of American contributions to worldwide AIDS relief).

Sound byte Two:

�After her daughter was born, Julie Aigner-Clark searched for ways to share her love of music and art with her child. So she borrowed some equipment, and began filming children's videos in her basement. The Baby Einstein Company was born, and in just five years her business grew to more than $20 million in sales �.�

Servie bytes back:  Now that�s more like it!  I love rags to riches and millionaire stories!  They make us all proud.  Where�s Howie Mandel because I, for one, definitely want to deal!

I certainly am glad that President Bush did not follow this above success story with that rather annoying quotation, or reminder, from St. Matthew�s Gospel (19:24) about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man [or woman] to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Fortunately, that one doesn�t even play in Peoria anymore!

Ok, let�s dish and see if Spanish t.v. might not sign us to an exclusive contract!

Serv

__________________

"And on the rulers turned I my back, when I saw what they now call ruling: to traffic and bargain for power�with the rabble!"  (F. Nietzsche)

The last time that I was in Spain, somewhere between Barcelona and Ibiza, I was such an avid bacchante (disciple of Bacchus) that I don�t even hardly remember being there.

But still, I did have time to immerse myself in the culture.  In the early �30�s of the last century, it might be worth noting, Jose Ortega y Gasset wrote (originally in Spanish):

�The characteristic of the hour is that the commonplace {shall we say vulgar?} mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has the assurance to proclaim the rights of the commonplace and to impose them wherever it will ... it has come about that for the first time the European understands American life which was to him before an enigma and a mystery.  There is no question, then, of an influence, which indeed would be a little strange, would be, in fact, a �refluence,� but of something which is still less suspected, namely, of a leveling ...�

Spot on, Senor Ortega y Gasset, you got that one right!  Speaking of leveling and of low common denominators, I just now noticed that right there, at the check-out line in the mega grocery store, the headline of the Spanish-language version of National Enquirer, known as Mira!, had this peculiar but nevertheless highly familiar headline (with photographs, of course) and I hope I am remembering it correctly:

Mira!  {Look!}  Defectos de los famosos! {Defects of the celebrities, or the famous!}

Of course I ignored that particular photograph of the ever-present if involuntary celebrant of celebrity cellulite, Mariah Carey in the upper-right corner, but, quite frankly, almost lost my cookies (or biscuits) when I was forced to notice that inordinately large �shall we say, rather, deformed- toe on someone�s (famous somewhere in Latin America) right foot!  It's, like, how gross, como disgusto, or, as they say in Ecuador (I'm told), como atatay!

Serv

Ref:  Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses, W.W. Norton & Co., New York, London, 1932, ISBN 0-393-31095-7, pp. 18-26