Identity | Page 2 | Mockingbird

Identity

From The Onion: Human Civilization Brings Out Worst in Area Man

by David Zahl on Apr 17, 2012 • No Comments

A new addition to the top tier of Onion brilliance, me thinks. You can read the full article here, ht JD:

“I’ve known Justin for years, and whenever he’s not engaged with modern society in any way, he’s actually pretty nice and laid-back,” said former roommate Michael Mariani, 32, who noted Krypel was typically agreeable when sitting by himself in a room doing nothing. ”However, as soon as he’s exposed to some aspect of the culture in which he lives, he can get pretty irritable and difficult to be around.”

“Some things just really seem to push his buttons, like work, having to deal…

Conference Preview – People are Strange: Modern Family, the Un-Free Will and the Roots of Compassion

by R-J Heijmen on Apr 17, 2012 • 9 Comments

Alright, so I know that my breakout session was supposed to be “What Would Don Draper Do (to Eric Taylor)? Downward Mobility and Grace in Mad Men and Friday Night Lights”, and I’ll touch on those themes and would be happy to discuss them over drinks (Shiner or Rye:), but as someone once said, “the wind blows wherever it pleases,” and I have found my thinking gusting in other directions. Not to mention that, judging by Season 5 of Mad Men (at least so far), Don Draper and Eric Taylor aren’t such polar opposites anymore, and might actually be friends!…

America / Film / Grace in Practice / Humor / Identity / Law / Music / Science / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Louis CK, Sam Spade, Prevailing Grace, Heavy Metal, Axl Rose, Viennese Creativity, Cabin in the Woods, and yes, more Damsels in Distress

by David Zahl on Apr 13, 2012 • 4 Comments

1. “The Filthy Moralist: How Louis C.K. Became America’s Unlikely Conscience” in The Atlantic is remarkable, especially in its conclusion. As always when it comes to Louis, there’s a high depravity quotient, so don’t say we didn’t warn you. But also as always when it comes to Louis, the darkness is not neutral or meaningless (or merely shocking). In fact, it might even be worth the discomfort in this case to get to the final couple of paragraphs, which truly capture what Louis is about, whether he wants to be or not. It strikes me as especially pertinent as we…

America / Identity / Religion / Social Science / Technology / Theology

If Only You Were Lonely: Social Media, Self-Forgetfulness and Yvette Vickers’ Computer

by David Zahl on Apr 13, 2012 • 7 Comments

Lord have mercy! The Atlantic just dropped the article of the year, at least as far as this website is concerned. Underneath the slightly been-there-done-that title of “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” lies an exploration of identity creation and loneliness and self-immolation that may even jerk a few tears of grief. Stephen Marche has crafted a tour-de-force, combing the research, polling the experts and injecting a fair amount of his own considerable insight to form a fairly significant statement about modern life (not to mention a timely endorsement of online communities needing flesh-and-blood get-togethers every once and a while…).

The basic…

Children / Comics / Identity / Suffering / TV

Batman: The Agony of Loss and the Madness of Desire, Pt 4F

by Mockingbird on Apr 13, 2012 • 3 Comments

Well, Bat-fans, we’ve come to the end of the six-part “Wounds of Discovery”, Jeremiah Lawson’s dazzling excavation of the inner life of Gotham’s criminal population. While there’s still much more to come, this marks the end of a significant chapter in our survey of the DC Animated Universe. As always, to begin at the beginning, go here. The very beginning, here.

PART FOUR: THE WOUNDS OF DISCOVERY

6. The Prison of the Self

Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy. – Proverbs 14:10

Even in laughter the heart is sad, and the end of joy is grief.…

Children / Identity / Religion / Sports

Bubba Golf: Mastering Freedom

by Bryan J. on Apr 10, 2012 • 4 Comments

If, in your Ham-Induced-Post-Resurrection-Feast-Coma, you happened to catch the last round of the Master’s Golf Tournament, you know about Bubba Golf. Lin-sanity is so February! Bubba Watson is the latest upstart in pro sports, winning his first green jacket on Easter Sunday in Augusta, shattering just about every golfer stereotype there is. While the Tiger meltdown continues, and while Mickelson had an unfortunate last round, the lovable good ol’ boy from the Florida panhandle gave the golf world a much-needed boost. In honor of his win, I thought I’d offer a few thoughts, theological and otherwise, why Bubba Golf is…

Celebrity / Film / Identity / Reviews

The Monarch, the Mirror: Why Root for the Evil Queen?

by Ethan on Apr 9, 2012 • 1 Comment

Say what you will about Mirror, Mirror, the newest rendition of the Brothers Grimm’s 1812 tale of Little Snow White, the first of two Snow White films to come to theaters this season (the other is the Charlize-crowned Snow White and the Huntsman). There’s plenty of bad writing in the trailer, as well as an odd tonal choice, and yet there’s also some of the most beautiful designwork imaginable. Take all that with a grain of salt, The Atlantic’s Snow White piece by Elizabeth Greenwood is an exceptional write-up, less about the movie and more about the psychological lore, and…

Art / Humor / Identity / Music

PZ’s Podcast Unreleased and Bonus Material I&II: Can Anything Good Come Out of Meeksville?

by Mockingbird on Apr 9, 2012 • No Comments

A few curios to share before we reach the much-anticipated Episode 100. Don’t forget about the PZ’s Podcast Reception taking place at 6:30pm on Friday 4/20, as part of our NYC Conference (the event is open to listeners everywhere).

Unreleased PZ: Can Anything Good Come Out of Meeksville?

This one came from the vaults — or, more aptly, from the “tea chests”. (What are the “tea chests”? — That’s PZ’s Question of the Week, and can be answered by writing him at PZsPodcast@gmail.com.)

I see in Robert George Meek — Joe Meek — a perfect instance of what Simeon Zahl calls “the…

Humor / Identity

Aziz Ansari on Boredom, Rappers, Underconfidence

by Ethan on Apr 6, 2012 • No Comments

From his interview with NPR this week, Parks and Recreation‘s Ansari plans to release (much like Louis C.K.’s release) his new standup series, Dangerously Delicious, online (non-listeners of strong language, be warned).

Ansari himself grew up in a small town in South Carolina, where he says there was frequently nothing to do.”Nothing cool was going on, and I just wanted to leave,” he says… He remembers playing guitar and losing himself in bands like Led Zeppelin and Metallica during the first part of high school, when he was the only nonwhite student in the entire school. But after 10th grade, Ansari…

America / Children / Gender / Identity / Law / Relationships

Are Stage Mothers the New Tax Collectors? Toddlers, Tiaras and Dieting 7-Year Olds

by David Zahl on Apr 4, 2012 • 3 Comments

A couple of notable new volleys in the parenting wars world. Doubtless by now you’ve heard about Dara-Lynn Weiss, the New York City mother who set off a firestorm by writing an article for Vogue detailing her, um, zealous efforts to curb her 7-year-old daughter’s eating habits. Apparently the poor girl in question was failing to “self-regulate” adequately at the preschool snack table. Weiss has been publicly reproached on every website imaginable (“I’m pretty sure Weiss just handed her daughter the road map to all her future eating disorders,” wrote one commenter on nymag.com), and it’s hard not to concur…

Comics / Film / Grace in Practice / Identity / News / TV

The Route 29 Batman: A Case of Imputed Righteousness

by Matt Schneider on Mar 29, 2012 • No Comments

Perhaps you’ve seen the recent viral images on Facebook and the like of Batman being pulled over on Route 29 in Silver Spring, Maryland for having no tags. The images made me laugh, but I didn’t think much of it until my wife sent me an article published earlier this week in The Washington Post titled, “Who is the Route 29 Batman?” Believe it or not, the curious case of Lenny B. Robinson sheds some light on the topic of imputed righteousness.

The article is worth reading in full, but the skinny is that Robinson is an independently wealthy divorced man…

Books / Identity / Psychology / Religion / Social Science

How Do I Love Jonathan Haidt? Let Me Count the Ways…

by David Zahl on Mar 28, 2012 • 5 Comments

1. The main premise of his new book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, is that the human mind is wired for “righteousness.” Need I say more?! He talks at length about “inner lawyers” and our primal drive to justify ourselves (and all the trouble it creates), which jives not only with experience but with the biblical account(s). In this light, Justification by Faith is (much) more than a quaint 16th century phrase; it speaks to the absolute core of human existence. At least as Jonathan Haidt describes it.

2. Haidt subordinates reason to emotion,…

Film / Humor / Identity / Reviews / Technology

I Gotta Try Losing Sometime: Rivalry, Redemption, and Donkey Kong

by David Zahl on Mar 27, 2012 • 2 Comments

“I wanted to be the hero. I wanted to be the center of attention. I wanted the glory, I wanted the fame, I wanted the pretty girls coming up and saying, ‘Hi, I see you’re good at Centipede.’” – Walter Day

“When I have to watch that pile of eight tapes over there for Dwayne Richards’ two-day Nibbler performance, that’s 48 straight hours of paying attention and making sure he’s doing everything correctly.” – Robert Mruczek

Those are just two of the astonishing number of rhetorical jewels in the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, which chronicles one…

Film / Grace in Practice / Identity / Music / Philosophy / Religion

PZ’s Podcast 99 5/8, 99 4/5, 99 9/10, Number Nine Number Nine Number Nine: A Kind of Loving, Meat for Go, Twisterella

by Mockingbird on Mar 26, 2012 • No Comments

As our intrepid podcaster winds his way to Episode 100, we would like to draw attention to the PZ”s Podcast Reception that will take place at 6:30pm on Friday evening of the NYC Conference, 4/20, hosted by PZ himself. Open to all PZ’s Podcast’s faithful listeners, not just those signed up for the event, we hope to see you there!

Episode 99 5/8: A Kind of Loving

The surface subject of today’s talk is an “English rose”, a gem of a movie from 1962, entitled A Kind of Loving. It was directed by John Schlesinger and starred Alan Bates, June Ritchie, and Thora Hird (What…

Identity / News / Psychology / Sermons / Suffering

A Problem to Ourselves? Robert Bales and the Astonishing Mixture of Virtue and Depravity

by David Zahl on Mar 20, 2012 • 5 Comments

Holy Smokes! Talk about low-hanging fruit. Another unbelievable, doubletake-inducing column from David Brooks in the Times this morning, this time dealing with Robert Bales, “When the Good Do Bad,” in which he articulates the Mockingbird anthropology with remarkable accuracy (and courage), using none other than John Calvin, G.K. Chesteron and C.S. Lewis to back him up. Wild! I’m almost tempted to replace our glossary entry on “anthropology” with a link to this column. Is Brooks becoming the prophet of the age? The one compassionate voice crying in the wilderness of positive thinking and the American inflated sense of self, speaking…