Our Times

We certainly live in strange times. So many today seem to have lost the ability to engage in logical, rational thought based on real truth. Instead, they have allowed their little worlds to become politicized, making everything else, including truth, subordinate to politics. Here are just a couple of news stories that recently caught my attention:

A "Die-in" at Amazon. Apparently quite few Amazon employees believe the company that pays them isn't sufficiently "woke." These employees are upset that the book-selling side of the company, whose business is ostensibly focused on satisfying its customers demand for books, dares to sell books these employees believe are "transphobic." 

About 30 of these employees, therefore, staged what they called a "die-in" at Amazon's corporate headquarters in Seattle. Based on the photos published online, the protesting employees covered their bodies with colorful sheets that symbolized Amazon's attempt to "rainbow-wash" its corporate image. They did all this on the sidewalk since lying down in the street might actually result in death. As a result of this wise decision, most of the employees managed to survive the die-in.

Of course, the truth is, there's no such thing as a "transexual" since biologically a person's sex cannot be changed. Surgery just alters the person's surface, but he or she remains what they were at birth. Just check their DNA or count their X chromosomes. Every woman carries a double dose of X chromosome, while men carry one X and a Y.  The desire to change one's sex, regardless of the direction, is nothing more than a psychological aberration. It's all very sad to see so many today caught up in this lie, but God doesn't make mistakes. He is "the way, the truth, and the life." And we should never forget that in the Nicene Creed we profess our belief that the Holy Spirit is the "Lord and giver of life." Yes, indeed, God gives life and defines it, not us. If you don't believe that, you don't believe in God.

Amazon will certainly reassure the world, its shareholders, and even its employees that they remain committed to the LGBTQA+ agenda. All the corporate movers and shakers claim to take this weird, ever-expanding concatenation of letters seriously, but we all suspect they really care little about any of these issues. Most large corporations simply want to avoid the backlash from the woke media and the highly vocal true believers. I expect Amazon will continue selling the books its customers want to buy, although they will no doubt donate big bucks to "appropriate" causes and highlight books supported by the company's "woke police" even though few people actually buy them.

Georgetown Relents...a Little. Okay, honesty up-front: I attended Georgetown University (its School of Foreign Service) for one year in 1962-63. I'll admit it was a fun year and I managed to slide through with a B average. I found I could achieve that comfortable level of academic excellence with only minimal effort. I just read everything I was told to read and apparently recalled enough to do okay on exams. A few weeks after the end of that Georgetown year I reported to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis for four far more challenging years. Believe me, the Naval Academy wasn't nearly as much fun. 

Of course, back in the early 60s Georgetown seemed very Catholic and very traditional in its approach to both education and campus life. Back then many Jesuits actually acted like members of the Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, an order that pledged special obedience to the Pope. Anyway, Georgetown has changed. I receive a quarterly copy of the university's alumni magazine, but reading the latest issue, one would be challenged to find evidence of the school's Catholic foundation. 

Anyway, I came across an online article announcing that Georgetown had reinstated Ilya Shapiro, a senior lecturer at Georgetown's Law Center and the executive director of its Center for the Constitution. What happened? Well, several months ago, the university put Shapiro on administrative leave because some folks were unhappy with his tweets about President Biden's Supreme Court choice. It seems the conservative Shapiro thought, rightly I believe, that the president's decision to limit his pool of qualified candidates to black women was a poor decision that likely ensured the best qualified person would be overlooked. For this Shapiro was removed.

After a four-month investigation, the school concluded that Shapiro wasn't an employee when the tweets were written, so he should be reinstated. In Shapiro's words, "What I achieved was a technical victory but one that still shows the value in standing up for free speech in the face of cancellation...It was an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone except perhaps the instigators of the Twitter mob that launched this tempest...I found out who my friends are, even if I would've preferred not to have had the need to know."

And all of this happened even though Georgetown has an explicit Speech and Expression policy stating the "University is committed to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate in all matters, and the untrammeled verbal and nonverbal expression of ideas." Yeah...right.

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Nancy and Her Archbishop. I was going to include a few words about Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, but I've run out of time. Let me congratulate the growing number of U.S. bishops who have openly expressed support for the Archbishop. At the same time I wonder why all our other bishops haven't joined them. If I have time tomorrow, maybe I'll post a few words about it.