The Crowlin Ferlies

Yes, that would be a good name for a band. 

Meanwhile, it's also a good theme for the day, taken from Robert Burns' classic poem about a prideful woman in church who doesn't realize the people behind her are not admiring her fashionable beauty but watching a louse crawl around on her.

Let's start with a Juxtaposition:

(Omar Al Abdallat)

(Ann Telnaes)

As I was listening to the President address that gathering of leaders of Muslim nations yesterday, it occurred to me that he seemed to be explaining Islam to them, and I wondered how that was going over.

I wasn't alone, and this Atlantic article describes how American presidents have labored to educate their Muslim friends on the nature of Islam.

Jordanian cartoonist Omar Al Abdallat is not the only Middle Eastern cartoonist at Cartoon Movement who has fun with "Oh, so now you're one of us?" sarcasm, but his piece suggests the wisdom a sheik is expected to provide, undercut by the dollar signs and the idea that Trump's authority is financial rather than the result of scriptural study and reflection.

Meanwhile, Telnaes asks why we should trust anyone with such a clear, indisputable track record of bare-faced lies?

I'm hesitant, given the overlying topic of cross-cultural arrogance, to assume too deep an understanding of an Arab cartoon, but I do see a potential crossover here.

A large part of the Mystery of Trump, to American thinkers, has been the way he can say one thing one day and contradict it the next with no blowback from his followers. Promises made on the campaign trail are broken daily, and, while these breaches nibble away at the edges of his support, the faithful seem utterly unshaken by them.

Had I seen Telnaes's piece alone, I'd have liked it, but I'd have shrugged it off. Yes, he's an outrageous liar. He doesn't even try to cover his vast lies with half-vast explanations. We know that.

But "We know that," in concert with "What do the Muslims make of this?" opens an interesting door.

Both Saddam Hussein's ridiculous "Mother of All Battles" pre-war boasting, and the ongoing, intemperate bombast of Iranian hard-liners have given American chickenhawks plenty of fodder to build their case for sending other people's children off to die in the sand.

However, those who know the Middle East say, "It's customary posturing. It's expected, but we don't take it literally, nor should you."

And I wonder if the Trump faithful are equally enjoying the sound and fury, but not taking any of it literally?

Perhaps we could find a wise Muslim leader to come explain us to ourselves.

 

Point of personal privilege:

As Francis notes, there seems to be a lack of humility within the institutional church, and tall hats are not the least of it, though a little more foot-washing and a little less bell-ringing and swinging of incense burners might not be such a bad thing.

For all the promises of the new Pope and the optimistic tone of the comic strip that emerged with his name on it four years ago, there have been fewer substantive changes than progressive Catholics had hoped for.

Which is to say, I love the guy in the comic strip, but the other one has some catching up to do.

Meanwhile, unless you somehow came unplugged over the weekend, you saw headlines of "Dozens Walk Out On Pence At Notre Dame Graduation."

Many decades ago, I read a column in which the writer said that the thing Marines and Notre Dame alums have in common is that they manage to work those facts into the first five minutes of any conversation.

I laughed in shame-faced acceptance, but both experiences required dedication, sacrifice and willing acceptance of misery.

I don't know if that remains true today, now that ND is co-ed and going there no longer entails four years of celibacy and lousy weather. 

However, I assume the weather is much the same, and I have my suspicions about how much difference coeducation makes when the bulk of students are conservative Catholics.

I do know, however, that the school has swung deeply to the right since the days when Father Hesburgh and I strode the campus, and it's been many years since I've contributed to the upkeep of what has become a bastion of buttoned-down neocon Catholic sophistry.

I also know that whenever pre-season college football polls come out, Notre Dame always seems to rank in the Top 20 regardless of who or what it plans to put on the field, because the school has an outsized presence in the national mind.

So, on the one hand, I have become inured to the fact that the school has, since my era, become so bloated with self-importance that having presidents speak there is a must, though, granted, inviting Pence was actually a compromise because thousands of students and faculty petitioned not to have Trump speak.

But, on the other, I'm not impressed that "dozens" walked out.

Eight-and-a-third dozen.

100.

Out of a graduating class of 2,081.

I can't help but suspect that if 100 kids had walked out of commencement at the University of Northern Iowa or even Yale, both of which have roughly the same enrollment as ND, the headlines might have said, "Pence speaks" with a few people walking out as kind of a fourth-paragraph footnote.

This being in line with my theory that, while Domers may mention their alma mater in every conversation, they aren't the only ones fascinated by its aura.

But, if I'm disappointed with the press, I'm moreso with the students.

Pence's appearance is not the least bit out of character with what the school has long since become, leaving me to wonder why that allegedly progressive one-half-of-one-percent* stayed through four years only to wise up on the final day. 

You Catholic kids start much too late.

 * (Update: That's five percent, not 0.5 percent. This actually makes it worse, not better.)

Comments

[sean martin]

The bleakly amusing thing about 45's "speech" is that He. Read. It" With. The. Convict.... convict.... conviction! — Of. A. Third. Grader. It was almost laughably embarrassing to listen to, and I'm glad I had to stop and turn off the car so I could do something useful, like go to the gym.

As for the Yalies... well, good on them, as far as I'm concerned. I wouldnt want to listen to Mickey spouting the latest in fashionable right wing rhetoric either — and it was truly hysterical to read the article today that a former employee of Glenn Beck's, one who is now suing him for "wrongful dismissal", took these kids to task, saying "Good luck in holding a job!" The irony — it burns, it burns...

Ah, American politics... so much fun. Popcorn, anyone?

[nancyg]

Five percent, innit?

[Jim Moran]

A far cry indeed from our 5/23/71 graduation ceremony at ND. Valedictorian John Hessler read a rambling anti-VN war poem (to significant booing from segments of the audience, many our WWII vet parents) and was followed by speaker William Kunstler, who managed IIRC to be assertive in his politics without unduly ruffling many feathers (surprisingly).
The best part of your essay, though, is the analysis of ND post-1971 - best because of course it parallels exactly my own dismayed reaction to what ND has become. The Fr. Ted photos are perhaps just slightly misdirecting. Ted the Head was about as liberal as a Catholic cleric could be in those days (well, not quite - Berrigans and Liberation Theologians), but the institutional church and ND could and did subscribe only to the segments of American progressivism that they could, like civil rights and peace. But neither institution, church or U, has ever stepped away from the kind of hierarchical authoritarianism completely consistent with an invitation to speak to Pence or his boss.

[Mike Peterson]

Correct on the five percent.

Wrong on "Yalies" -- Domers.

[Mike Peterson]

And, yes, proven again in Israel: Trump reading a speech sounds like Luca Brasi thanking Don Corleone for inviting him to his house on this, the day of his daughter's wedding. Wonder if he has a reading disability and, if so, why in all these years he hasn't done better at dodging it.

[mark johnson]

I agree that 5% of the grads are a fairly insignificant number but this represents a shift of national sentiment as well, not just ND's. Even in 1971 , the student body was , on average, more conservative than say, U W Madison.During my daughters 4 years at ND ( 2006)I was disappointed to see how conservative the school had become but look where the nation has gone. What passes for mainstream Republican policy now would have evoked charges on Bircherism back then

[Jim Moran]

Part II - Man, did my memory trip me up above. Turns out that our graduation speaker was a Yale Prof. named Kenneth Kenniston, Not Kunstler - he must have been our Senior Class Fellow. And the only student speaker of the day was class prez Jim D'Aurora, leaving me wondering at what event Hessler got up to read his poem and was bood. If we had a separate awards ceremony on Saturday, it may have been then.
Whole program from the university archives is here:
http://archives.nd.edu/Commencement/1971-05-23_Commencement.pdf

[Mike Peterson]

Hmm. (Poet/professor) John Matthias told me about the Hessler speech with great relish the following summer. I wasn't there, having dropped out to go west and grow up with the country. (Though I'd have probably skipped it anyway, being that fond of pomp and circumstance.)

Hessler may not have made the program, but he made the speech and you can read it here:
http://archives.nd.edu/Scholastic/VOL_0113/VOL_0113_ISSUE_0001.pdf (scroll to Page 18)

I do note that, when Hesburgh died, the official memories included the "fact" that he really disliked the hellraisers of our era -- which I guess explained why he used to hang out with us and concelebrate masses during our demonstrations.

I agree with Mark that the average Domer wasn't exactly radical to begin with, but none of this should be construed to suggest they are apathetic.

They can be rallied to demonstrate over the things they truly believe in:
http://www.archives.nd.edu/about/news/index.php/2011/ahoy-capn/#.WSN-72grJPY

[Mike Peterson]

Incidentally, Hessler's speech is astonishingly good reading even if you are not a Domer. Though one more bit of insider lore: No wonder Matthias liked it so much -- the two poems he cites were ones we read in Matthias's Rhet & Comp course freshman year.

But, as said, this is worth it no matter where or when you went to college, or if you didn't: http://archives.nd.edu/Scholastic/VOL_0113/VOL_0113_ISSUE_0001.pdf (page 18)

[Ignatz]

There's too much pomp and privilege, but not because of bell-ringing and incense-swinging. That doesn't cost money, is part of liturgy, and is usually loved by the poorest people in the pews.

The bigger problem is clericalism. The sense that priests and bishops are part of their own little insular club, and that they rule instead of serving.

[Jim Moran]

Glad I stopped back here to this post to see your coments and the links. I had Matthias for Modern British Poetry junior year, and it was one of the best classes I had at ND or U of Ill for grad school. Matthias included Yeats of course - but I stumbled onto Owen years later when I was teaching AP English, and like most everyone who loves poetry was seized by the brilliance of the piece and included it in my classes for many many years.

That whole "Scholastic" issue is a revelation, and like a Beatles 50th anniversary concert, a tad melancholy. Much has changed, and at the same time very little. Good writing remains good writing though, and Hessler's speech is indeed really good - and it wears well through the decades.

And the whole kerfuffle about "parietal hours" registers about the same on the Richter scale of absolute importance as the Cap'n Crunch protest. Lotsa ink spilled there in vain.