Comments on: The Death Taboo That Stifles Life http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/ Not Your Grandfather's Conservatism Thu, 03 Sep 2015 20:20:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.7 By: Barbarism - Social Matter http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-1269 Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:01:32 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-1269 […] approximate a rebuttal? Civilization is precious, a blessing beyond measure worth preserving even at the cost of human life. Barbarism is the norm of human history, and those few rare instances of civility ought be prized […]

]]> By: Nick B. Steves http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-694 Fri, 20 Jun 2014 16:04:32 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-694 To the Christian especially, it is essential to understand that life itself preys upon life. It is encoded into our rituals: The God who dies feeds his people with his own body and blood for eternity. The biological systems of the earth (and presumably of other life-bearing planets) trumpet this cosmic truth in sacramental chorus.

]]> By: Ash http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-685 Fri, 20 Jun 2014 00:22:32 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-685 Charles Maurras wrote quite a bit about the demise of the cult of the ancestors. It shouldn’t be surprising that the erasure of the dead, both collectively and in the forms of great individuals (the heroes and saints) accompanies the erasure of death on a cultural level. A society which considers itself worth dying for will commemorate its dead, especially those who died on its behalf. His article on the subject was republished here:
http://takimag.com/article/all_souls_day#axzz2B0ELenge

There’s nothing more amusing than seeing meat-eating hipsters who raise chickens in urban areas suddenly become squeamish and righteous when the subject of meat birds comes up. I say this as someone who has never killed my own meat, but as a meat eater I think I have something of a duty to undertake that at some point.

]]> By: The Death Taboo That Stifles Life | Reaction Times http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-684 Fri, 20 Jun 2014 00:01:18 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-684 […] Source: Social Matter […]

]]> By: Mark Yuray http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-683 Thu, 19 Jun 2014 23:59:11 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-683 @Nick

I couldn’t agree more. I’d add there’s a component of infatilization. Kids and adolescents can’t stand the idea of dying — an end to their hedonism. And so, today, neither can adults (spiritual infants).

]]> By: Puzzle Privateer (@PuzzlePrivateer) http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-682 Thu, 19 Jun 2014 22:08:04 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-682 Well I fucked the formatting of that comment up nice and good.

]]> By: Puzzle Privateer (@PuzzlePrivateer) http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-681 Thu, 19 Jun 2014 22:07:29 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-681 <blockquote cite ="This generalized unwillingness to accept death as the natural end to life extends even to animals. People that can afford it will often spend massive sums extending the lives of their pets (which are usually cheaply replaceable compared to livestock), spending thousands of dollars on potions and surgeries for their cats and dogs.

Actually I don’t think this is such a bad thing. Of course anything can be taken too far but because people are willing to invest in this kind of thing we can get animal testing done that eventually can help humans. I was shocked the first time I learned that I could get a cancer vaccine for my cat. My first thought was “why don’t we have this for humans!?”.

Also, I don’t think humanizing pets or animals is actually a bad idea so long as you also see the animal in humans. When you are around animals and see how humans also behave as animals I think you’ll have a very different perspective of humans (as hairless apes) rather than humans as something apart from animals (as rational beings).

]]> By: Nick B. Steves http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-675 Thu, 19 Jun 2014 21:27:21 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-675 Not so much the sanctity of life, Mark, as making a fetish of it (and similarly youth). What we are seeing culturally in the West is a divorce between life and death. To revere life properly is to respect death as a natural and normal part of it. Abortion is legal and common only because it is closeted away behind antiseptic doors. We are skittish about real blood & gore in inverse proportion to that which we are treated in our amusements. Death takes on an unreal quality. It disturbs us, as it should, but only now for all the wrong reasons. Catholics are advised (alas, less commonly these days) to live with a mindfulness of one’s death (memento mori), to pray for a holy death in the grace of God.

We also don’t take our kids to funerals anymore. Is it even legal to hold a wake in ones house? And if it were, how many moderns would hold one there? No. As a culture we are freaked out by death as never before. We leave it to the certified professionals. As we leave the extermination of rats.

I try to remember to cross myself whenever I pass a cemetery.

]]> By: Mark Yuray http://www.socialmatter.net/2014/06/19/the-death-taboo-that-stifles-life/#comment-674 Thu, 19 Jun 2014 21:04:35 +0000 http://www.socialmatter.net/?p=296#comment-674 The overemphasis on the sanctity of life is also manifest in a ridiculous cultural aversion to risk.

]]>