I think that it was Chesterton who said that the problem when people abandon God is not that they thereafter believe nothing but that they thereafter will believe anything. Woke in all of its manifestations is a prime example of this.
The first Saturday and Sunday in November, there is a rowing race on the Po River. Single scullers from around the world come to this very still small (by design) “head” race. Silver Skiff is twice the length of most fall races it is not for the novice or faint of rowing heart. On the Saturday they have a beautiful edition call Kindsr Skiff, around 500 junior oarsmen and women race various distances by age. It is a complete throwback to the simple elegant times of rowing and racing. The best and most logical outcome we can all hope for it that the spoiled indolent semi communists with lists of money fail so badly they quit. Otherwise it is not going to turn out well. The lower and middle classes in the western world are only going to take so much from this lot, then rebel. It won’t be pretty. Thanks for a GREAT post, Turin is indeed a gorgeous city made more so by the sommulent alps. Beautiful and unforgiving.
Dang. Nice writing! I’ve been splitting time between Berkeley and a piece of property I own in Trinity County, a part of California decimated first by the collapse of the logging industry and recently by marijuana legalization. I’ve come to believe the renaissance, that is inevitable, after all the destruction, will be coming from rural communities. AI will be changing so much that those of us who remain with animal spirits and a hunger for a productive and meaningful life will find our way to these places. We will rebuild what has been lost with modernity, and these economies will thrive away from the woke revolutionaries with nothing to do but tear down what was once great and all the things that gave them the privilege to do so without major consequences to their own well being.
At least this is my hope and prayer. For now, I love my time away from Berkeley and to be ingratiating myself in a community of people pulling the same direction.
@Dan Check out Catholic Rural League. There may be a group near you to connect with, a renascence of a healthy community on the same wavelength. https://catholicrurallife.org. Good luck!
The contrast between the beauty you describe and the malevolence you observed is heart stopping. Like the slight tilt of a head (Butler, PA), there's a fork in the road. I'm with outnumbering the malevolence, but some of my fellow boomers are leading this malevolence from the classroom, or from their political or civil service offices. I try and understand where this comes from, and I believe it's coming from some of a certain age who never received the recognition or material wealth they felt entitled to, and they are getting titillation from inciting the younger generations to tear down what others have built. Consider the Tulsa massacre of 1921 where black wall street was destroyed. It's the same evil under a banner of race, driven by a hatred of the accomplishments of others. Like the current leaders of violence and destruction, they considered themselves "better," but since they had not the same motivation and work ethic as the others, they had to tear it down. We're on a slow trajectory to overcome this mess, but we must not get distracted.
Turin is a city I know very well. It was the last city in Italy to fall to Woke because it rejected Christianity at a social level and it stayed that way. Up until a few years ago it was the last city in Italy women could walk home alone late at night because the dislike of Christianity was equally applied to Islam and they were made feel unwelcomed by the locals. Woke is a disease.
“Communism, or whatever you want to call this updated version of it, is an affliction of the rich and the comfortable, who have lived in an earthly paradise and found it so spiritually intolerable that they want to destroy it for everyone else.” On point, Jenny! I vote for your final suggestion: let’s outnumber them. Finally, your beautiful descriptions convinced me consider Turin as my next travel destination!!
Wow. Great piece. You gave me a lightbulb moment with the line "an affliction of the rich and the comfortable, who have lived in an earthly paradise and found it so spiritually intolerable that they want to destroy it for everyone else." It seems that people who are at least somewhat spiritually healthy have an easier time finding beauty and feeling gratitude in all things great and small. The spiritually bereft are left searching....always searching and never finding, and that seems to be the fault of others. Same with people who are in the hard working middle class - gratitude, smarts, and responsible living abound. We see opportunity everywhere. The silver spoon class....not so much. Thanks, Jenny!
So glad you like Turin, it is a wonderful place... and not overrun with tourists. It is full of Catholic things, being the city of the Holy Shroud, don Bosco and Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati, as well as the Blessed Alemanno. It contains two of Italy's most astonishing churches... the chapel of the Shroud and the shrine of the Consolata. (And just outside, La Superga.) But as you say.... it's pretty woke, though once upon a time it was also proper lefty... now it's the performative version.
Well remember the Communist Party in Italy shot up to something like 40% of the vote at some point in the 60s or 70s. The Left has had a hegemonic control over Italian culture for decades. I always got a kick over gay , opera loving , nobleman Luchino Visconti being a Communist.Something you might find illuminating- Eugenio Corti’s novel The Red Horse.
Breathtaking photos of “the height of human civilisation, where every material need is not just met, but done with care and beauty and tradition.” What can anyone find to fault with that objective in life? It reminds me of another question, “what else could Jesus have done?”
Let’s get back to truth, beauty and the good. Thanks for helping remind us what’s truly at stake.
I recommend the Giro d'Italia, which you can get in Ireland on TNT Sports and Discovery+ (MAX in the U.S.). Every May, the best bicycle racers in the world spend three weeks winding their way through Alps, forests, fields, and villages, past rivers, coastlines, cathedrals, and castles. The video presentation, shot from cameras on the road and in helicopters, is a spectacular travelogue of the most beautiful parts of Italy.
Wonderful writing! I thought I was being lulled into an Italian foody travelblog and you sent us in the other direction...a lovely twist! Great to see your handsome (and fortunate) fella in amongst the artwork. Turin had a big black block reputation and even saw a martyr, killed by police (if my memory seves me right) from back in the nineties when we were all lefties (or wombles).
I have these photos but with my son last year. A friend of his has parents who live in Tour and they went to Turin while they were there before heading back to Paris. Absolutely unbelievable beauty. I worry constantly that these spoiled brats will tear down the very traditions and work and love that has been built by those who came before them. It is sickening to me to have people running around screaming because they don't have to worry about food, or culture, or slavery. Sickening. They cosplay revolution without consequences. Thank you for this beautiful article.
I think that it was Chesterton who said that the problem when people abandon God is not that they thereafter believe nothing but that they thereafter will believe anything. Woke in all of its manifestations is a prime example of this.
The first Saturday and Sunday in November, there is a rowing race on the Po River. Single scullers from around the world come to this very still small (by design) “head” race. Silver Skiff is twice the length of most fall races it is not for the novice or faint of rowing heart. On the Saturday they have a beautiful edition call Kindsr Skiff, around 500 junior oarsmen and women race various distances by age. It is a complete throwback to the simple elegant times of rowing and racing. The best and most logical outcome we can all hope for it that the spoiled indolent semi communists with lists of money fail so badly they quit. Otherwise it is not going to turn out well. The lower and middle classes in the western world are only going to take so much from this lot, then rebel. It won’t be pretty. Thanks for a GREAT post, Turin is indeed a gorgeous city made more so by the sommulent alps. Beautiful and unforgiving.
Great comment, thank you💜
Dang. Nice writing! I’ve been splitting time between Berkeley and a piece of property I own in Trinity County, a part of California decimated first by the collapse of the logging industry and recently by marijuana legalization. I’ve come to believe the renaissance, that is inevitable, after all the destruction, will be coming from rural communities. AI will be changing so much that those of us who remain with animal spirits and a hunger for a productive and meaningful life will find our way to these places. We will rebuild what has been lost with modernity, and these economies will thrive away from the woke revolutionaries with nothing to do but tear down what was once great and all the things that gave them the privilege to do so without major consequences to their own well being.
At least this is my hope and prayer. For now, I love my time away from Berkeley and to be ingratiating myself in a community of people pulling the same direction.
@Dan Check out Catholic Rural League. There may be a group near you to connect with, a renascence of a healthy community on the same wavelength. https://catholicrurallife.org. Good luck!
Beautifully said Dan.
The contrast between the beauty you describe and the malevolence you observed is heart stopping. Like the slight tilt of a head (Butler, PA), there's a fork in the road. I'm with outnumbering the malevolence, but some of my fellow boomers are leading this malevolence from the classroom, or from their political or civil service offices. I try and understand where this comes from, and I believe it's coming from some of a certain age who never received the recognition or material wealth they felt entitled to, and they are getting titillation from inciting the younger generations to tear down what others have built. Consider the Tulsa massacre of 1921 where black wall street was destroyed. It's the same evil under a banner of race, driven by a hatred of the accomplishments of others. Like the current leaders of violence and destruction, they considered themselves "better," but since they had not the same motivation and work ethic as the others, they had to tear it down. We're on a slow trajectory to overcome this mess, but we must not get distracted.
It is heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time.
Turin is a city I know very well. It was the last city in Italy to fall to Woke because it rejected Christianity at a social level and it stayed that way. Up until a few years ago it was the last city in Italy women could walk home alone late at night because the dislike of Christianity was equally applied to Islam and they were made feel unwelcomed by the locals. Woke is a disease.
Isn’t it also very tied to the esoteric and good vs evil? I’m very interested in that aspect of it, it definitely has a vibe.
you rang...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q92YNjsTmc
“Communism, or whatever you want to call this updated version of it, is an affliction of the rich and the comfortable, who have lived in an earthly paradise and found it so spiritually intolerable that they want to destroy it for everyone else.” On point, Jenny! I vote for your final suggestion: let’s outnumber them. Finally, your beautiful descriptions convinced me consider Turin as my next travel destination!!
Wow. Great piece. You gave me a lightbulb moment with the line "an affliction of the rich and the comfortable, who have lived in an earthly paradise and found it so spiritually intolerable that they want to destroy it for everyone else." It seems that people who are at least somewhat spiritually healthy have an easier time finding beauty and feeling gratitude in all things great and small. The spiritually bereft are left searching....always searching and never finding, and that seems to be the fault of others. Same with people who are in the hard working middle class - gratitude, smarts, and responsible living abound. We see opportunity everywhere. The silver spoon class....not so much. Thanks, Jenny!
So glad you like Turin, it is a wonderful place... and not overrun with tourists. It is full of Catholic things, being the city of the Holy Shroud, don Bosco and Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati, as well as the Blessed Alemanno. It contains two of Italy's most astonishing churches... the chapel of the Shroud and the shrine of the Consolata. (And just outside, La Superga.) But as you say.... it's pretty woke, though once upon a time it was also proper lefty... now it's the performative version.
Well remember the Communist Party in Italy shot up to something like 40% of the vote at some point in the 60s or 70s. The Left has had a hegemonic control over Italian culture for decades. I always got a kick over gay , opera loving , nobleman Luchino Visconti being a Communist.Something you might find illuminating- Eugenio Corti’s novel The Red Horse.
Ooh sounds interesting! Will look it up. Am looking for a novel to read 💜
Breathtaking photos of “the height of human civilisation, where every material need is not just met, but done with care and beauty and tradition.” What can anyone find to fault with that objective in life? It reminds me of another question, “what else could Jesus have done?”
Let’s get back to truth, beauty and the good. Thanks for helping remind us what’s truly at stake.
I recommend the Giro d'Italia, which you can get in Ireland on TNT Sports and Discovery+ (MAX in the U.S.). Every May, the best bicycle racers in the world spend three weeks winding their way through Alps, forests, fields, and villages, past rivers, coastlines, cathedrals, and castles. The video presentation, shot from cameras on the road and in helicopters, is a spectacular travelogue of the most beautiful parts of Italy.
What a great post, now I want to go to Turin. Best part - number 1 husband’s shirt, especially in juxtaposition to the idiocy!
That photo... The Capitalist t-shirt beside the hammer and sickle wall art, bravo.
My husband loves that shirt 😆
Wonderful writing! I thought I was being lulled into an Italian foody travelblog and you sent us in the other direction...a lovely twist! Great to see your handsome (and fortunate) fella in amongst the artwork. Turin had a big black block reputation and even saw a martyr, killed by police (if my memory seves me right) from back in the nineties when we were all lefties (or wombles).
Fabulous piece, excellent work!
Oh yeah, that rings a bell. Or maybe I’m tho king of Genoa? Anyway, yes it makes sense that it would be a lefty town
My goodness, you´re quite right! Genoa it was indeed!
I have these photos but with my son last year. A friend of his has parents who live in Tour and they went to Turin while they were there before heading back to Paris. Absolutely unbelievable beauty. I worry constantly that these spoiled brats will tear down the very traditions and work and love that has been built by those who came before them. It is sickening to me to have people running around screaming because they don't have to worry about food, or culture, or slavery. Sickening. They cosplay revolution without consequences. Thank you for this beautiful article.