Let’s take a little break from transgenderism and talk about something controversial: sports.
Sports and reason
I began this blog with a post arguing that it is not moral for a Catholic to watch professional sports. I based my arguments on the traditional moral teachings of the Catholic Church. I augmented this argument with a few more recent commentators, including Catholic psychologist Raymond Lloyd Richmond, Miss Ann Barnhardt, and the New Oxford Review. I disagree with all of them at least in part, but agree fundamentally that modern professional sports are evil. This is something of a heresy in today’s “conservative” world, where sports are considered something of a last refuge for true masculinity. The competition is considered character-building, and sports are considered to teach the value of teamwork. Criticism of sports is the domain of rabid feminists who want to stomp out any last vestiges of male superiority.
Not long after making that post, my own local sports team had failed a major playoff game. I didn’t particularly care, but when my five-year-old nephew, whose family roots for a rival team, called me to “trash talk” and insult me, a man thirty-five years his senior, I became more convinced than ever that sports teach nothing good to the youth.
If you read traditional Catholic moral theology books, you’ll notice that they have a common standard for judging the morality of behavior: is the behavior in accord with reason. God who created us is Reason Itself. Remember that the Greek word for “word,” logos is perhaps better translated as “reason”. God is reason itself, and we are made in His image in that we have reason, unlike the irrational beasts. Man is the only rational animal. I’m sorry, but Koko the gorilla doesn’t cut it.
Thus, behavior is immoral when we descend into irrationality. Drunkenness is a mortal sin when it takes away our use of reason. Modesty means we conduct ourselves in accord with reason, and behavior is immodest which is not in accord with reason. Anger and sexual immorality are sins because they deprive us of reason, causing humans to descend into bestial behavior.
Now I don’t follow basketball, obviously, but a certain team has been in the news rather extensively of late. I don’t read the sporting news, but I simply can’t help seeing pictures of the Golden State Warriors. Have a look at this one:
Does this man look like he is comporting himself with in accord with reason? Does he look modest and in control? Or does he look like he is celebrating his rage, and vaingloriously reveling in his triumph over his opponents? In fact, nearly every picture of this man and his team depicts them in a similar state. Snarling, veins bulging, angry and out of control. This is the image our society wants our youth to celebrate. Is it any wonder the youth are also out of control? More and more I encounter degenerate children whose parents are unable or unwilling to exercise discipline.
Entertainment
In fact, nearly every form of “entertainment” presented to us today involves the rejection of modest and rational behavior. The more someone “goes crazy,” the funnier they are thought to be. Robin Williams was sainted by the entertainment industry, and he made his career acting like a buffoon.
The so-called music of the modern age, rock, is nothing more than degeneracy with a huge budget for stage effects.
Once again, are these people acting in accord with the virtue of modesty? Are they accepting their God-given reason? In the words of Dr. Richmond, do these look like Christ’s disciples, or Satan’s?
If you are so deluded by the age that you cannot answer that question, allow me to show you what one of Our Lord’s disciples looks like.
St. Francis Xavier is more of a man than any of the above. If you think his serene countenance is feminine or inferior to Mr. Curry’s scream, above, you should spend some time reading about him. St. Francis, in the 16th century, traveled to India, Japan, and China, nearly being killed by locals as he showed up in their countries and converted the inhabitants to Catholicism. He was known for popping into pagan temples and trashing them, overthrowing the idols therein and insisting the occupants convert. He undertook this journey in full knowledge he would never return home, and died on a remote island.
So take some advice and turn off your sports, and really all other entertainment, and spend a little more time trying to emulate St. Francis. And believe me, if he is your children’s role model, instead of some degenerate athlete or rock star, you’ll have a far easier time with them. And so will the rest of us.
Mors Sanctorum 