"Even to the death fight for truth, and the Lord your God will battle for you."
—Sirach 4:28
Quotes, Word, other Miscellaneous: May 2005 Archives
For the über-geek in your life
(Thanks, Caleb!)
Merriam-Webster compiles a list of the twenty most frequently looked-up words on their website. For April, the number 5 word was pontiff, and the number 9 word was conclave. Blog was number 13; I'm impressed that they even had it.
Also read the amusing story behind insipid, #3.
"The unexamined tradition is not worth discarding." — Me (with apologies to Socrates)
I thought this one up while coining the word "neophilia" (love of what is new) to describe that tendency we see nowadays of being attracted to anything new. You see this attitude in many places: consumer goods, media, etc. Anything that is new, is good!
However not wanting to be a neophobe (one who fears what is new), either, or cling to tradition for the sake of tradition alone, and wanting to acknowledge a place for the new but also a place for the old, I decided that I can respect someone who embraces what is new after carefully examining that which is old and finding it wanting. Otherwise, to discard the old without examining it is a form of paleophobia (don't you love all these terms!), fear of the old, or perhaps neomania, being a bit too crazy about the new. Or maybe it is just indifference and lack of care. Either extreme is worthy of censure: clinging to the old out of fear of the new, or summarily rejecting the old out of an addiction to the new.
I think this is relevant to the faith because so many people today reject the faith without truly understanding it. Anything that is "modern" is preferable to the faith, regardless of whether it's been carefully reasoned or not. People don't give the faith a chance, allowing themselves to be carried away by the culture. I have more respect for someone who has studied the faith, reasoned through it, and rejected it than for someone who rejects it simply because it is old.
An adorable little papal teddy bear. Don't plan on ordering one though; only 265 of them have been made and they start at €160.
Hilarious humor posted to The Curt Jester.
Thanks to John Desmond.
