Dear Fred,
Thanks for your email.
I think myth is "truer" than
history (a belief that in no way diminishes my regard for history).
Unlike history (which can be closely
approximated, at least in superficial ways) myth is meant for creative contemplation.
I assume your question -- "Does The Slaughter of Innocents apply?" -- refers to the
slaughter at Sandy Hook.
While reading the Wikipedia link you
sent, I clicked on "Herod" and learned the following: "Regarding
the Massacre of the Innocents, although Herod was
certainly guilty of many brutal acts, including the killing of his wife and two
of his sons, no other known source from the period makes any reference to such
a massacre.[22] Since
Bethlehem was a small village, the number of male children under the age of two
might not exceed 20." (Did you know Saint Constantine the Great killed
several members of his own family, including his son, Crispus, and the Empress
Fausta? "The Empress Fausta, (was) killed at the behest of
(Constantine's) mother, Saint Helena. Fausta was left to die in an over-heated
bath.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I ")
It is "suggestive" that the Sandy Hook slaughter took place "at Christmas time" and that the
number of slaughtered "innocents" was the "same" number
Herod probably killed (if we take The Nativity Story at face value
which I "mythically" recommend).
Sacrifice -- in the original sense of
"making holy" (sacrus facere) -- is sometimes necessary to
achieve goals blocked by horn-locked ideologues.
Mythically, I think there is a good
chance this sacrifice will begin to thaw America's frozen posture of firearm-idolatry
and that Obama is now determined to pass legislation that will begin the long,
bumpy process of civilizing America.
Foremost among our many barbarian sub-cultures are those
self-terrorized "Christians" whose bad religion drives them to grip a
gun with one hand while the other bangs blood-sotted bibles.
Or, as easily happens when hornets get stirred, Obama may die trying.
I am preparing an email with the
subject line, "Sandy Hook: Slaughter Of Innocents" and will send it
no later than tomorrow. http:// paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/ 2012/07/gun-cartoons.html
Any idea what's going on in "the
orthosphere?" (Hannity and Limbaugh spent Carnage Day defending citizens'
rights to Army Surplus nuclear weapons.)
Pax
Alan
PS Are you familiar with the great moral milestone achieved by Ashoka the Great? St. Mike's Father J. Edgar Bruns brought him to my attention. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka_the_Great I foresee many surprises on Judgment Day, a disproportionate number of them befalling the (putatively) Righteous. We humans are rarely more mistaken than when we think ourselves unimpeachably right. Punctilious, church-going Pharisees thrive in every generation. Currently, The Impeccably Righteous are having a heyday.
PS Are you familiar with the great moral milestone achieved by Ashoka the Great? St. Mike's Father J. Edgar Bruns brought him to my attention. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka_the_Great I foresee many surprises on Judgment Day, a disproportionate number of them befalling the (putatively) Righteous. We humans are rarely more mistaken than when we think ourselves unimpeachably right. Punctilious, church-going Pharisees thrive in every generation. Currently, The Impeccably Righteous are having a heyday.
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when
they do it from religious conviction."
Blaise Pascal
PPS During these Holy Days, I recommend "The Nativity Story," a 2006 movie starring "Whale Rider's" Keisha Castle-Hughes. It is well worth seeing. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762121/ Speaking of Christmas films, I am also a big fan of Jim
Carrey's 2009 rendition of "A Christmas Carol." Whatever suppositions Carrey's name may conjure, forget them. This movie is "something else." Its relatively low IMDb
rating was unduly diminished by the number of parents who took young children
only to discover "the ghosts" were too intense. This is a remarkable
film, both in its fidelity to Dickens' plot and in the richness of its
occasional "invention." If a theater near you is showing "Carol" in 3-D, I
heartily recommend it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067106/ My review of "A
Christmas Carol" is embedded at “Dickins,
Scrooge and American Conservatism” - http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/04/dickins-scrooge-and-american.html
On Sat, Dec 15, 2012 at 8:27 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
does this apply -- when Herod slaughtered the Innocents
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog is Fred Owens
send mail to:
Fred Owens
35 West Main St Suite B #391
Ventura CA 93001
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