Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Eight Years a Tertiary

Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

May 31st marks the eighth anniversary of my profession to the 3rd Order of the SSPX, Deo gratias. Being a Tertiary involves keeping the Rule of the Third Order, which is an aid to personal sanctification and a means of making oneself better fit to assist the priests and religious of the SSPX in their mission To Restore All Things in Christ.

The Rule includes morning and evening prayers, daily spiritual reading, daily attendance at Mass or – when that is not possible – meditation, daily Rosary, Confession twice a month, and a retreat every two years. On the negative side, Tertiaries are obliged to abstain from habitually watching television.

This last one is often a show-stopper for a number of people considering entering the Third Order. Give up television? Isn’t that pretty strong?

Indeed. Television shows these days are created by closed-minded people who are sadly infected with militant liberalism and modernism. The most reasonable solution is to turn off the box.

I'm showing restraint; gross distortion is the hallmark of the other side of the debate on this subject. Consider: recently a legal consultant in Los Angeles named Ben Shapiro – see http://benjaminshapiro.com/
– taped 39 interviews with TV industry executives, producers, and writers about whether they think there is a pro-liberal, anti-conservative bias in Hollywood. The answers were vehemently in the affirmative -- the interviewees were proud that Hollywood is an overwhelmingly left-leaning town. Shapiro’s book on the topic was released last Tuesday, and the videos (for those with the stomach to watch them – this crowd is fond of vulgar, coarse, and abusive language) are being made available over the next several weeks. Here’s a sampling of what Shapiro recorded.

* Vin Di Bona, who produced MacGyver and America’s Funniest Home Videos, said of the lack of political diversity in Hollywood: “I’m happy about it.”

* Leonard Goldberg - executive producer for the show Blue Bloods and former executive producer of Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels, and Starsky and Hutch, said that liberalism in the TV industry is “100% dominant, and anyone who denies it is kidding, or not telling the truth.” When asked if being politically conservative is a barrier to entry in the industry, Goldberg replied, “absolutely.”

* Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg said that he tried to make Republican character Alex the bad guy, but nobody could hate actor Michael J. Fox.

* Conservative critics, according to Soap and Golden Girls creator Susan Harris, are “idiots” with “medieval minds.”

* Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman said that she “put together a staff of mostly liberal people” to create the show.

* COPS bad-boy creator John Langley said he deliberately shows more episodes of white people involved in crime than is statistically valid.

* Producer-director Nicholas Meyer, when asked whether conservatives are discriminated against in Hollywood, said, “Well, I hope so.” Meyer added that for The Day After, an ABC TV movie he directed in 1983, “My private, grandiose notion was that this movie would unseat Ronald Reagan when he ran for re-election.”

* House creator David Shore said that “there is an assumption in this town that everybody is on the left side of the spectrum, and that the few people on the right side, I think people look at them somewhat aghast, and I’m sure it doesn’t help them.”

* Fred Silverman, the former head of ABC and later NBC, said that in TV comedy today “there’s only one perspective, and it’s a very progressive perspective.”

* The advancement of a gay and lesbian political agenda is mentioned by Marcy Carsey, a producer of Soap and Roseanne, and Marc Cherry, gay Republican and producer of Desperate Housewives.

* President of the ultra-liberal MTV Networks Entertainment Group Doug Herzog said his network has “superpowers” when it comes to its influence over young people.

A number of these individuals readily showed their true colors as members of the Obama Cult. This is an even richer exposé than Bernie Goldberg's 2003 magnum opus.

This is confirmation for most folks; even the liberals I know won't be surprised by this. I mention these details merely as a preliminary to my conclusion: if you haven’t considered assisting the SSPX by becoming a Tertiary, you might consider giving it some thought – start with the information at http://sspx.org/third_order.htm. And if you have already given the matter some thought and are wavering over what to do with your television, waver no more. If you’re traditional-minded or conservative, the people who produce the shows on TV really do dislike you and want to see you humiliated and the things you cherish eradicated. They are doing you no favors; turn the switch to off when you turn the other cheek,
and free yourself of the trappings of a modernist mind-killer.

Instaurare Omnia in Christo.

1 comment:

savannah said...

Congrats Mon Frere!!! How SWEET is that!! Savor the moment and what a special month for an anniversary, the month of Our Lovely Lady!

The best thing about turning on TV is the realization of how much better life is when one turns it off. Would much rather do something more intriguing...which amounts to anything else! LOL : )

May Our Lady glance your way and smile....