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Quote of the day: Chesterton tells us who’s who
“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.” G. K. Chesterton
In the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, Jesus answered the question, “Who is my neighbor?” But He never got around to answering the question, “Who is my enemy?”
Enemies seem to be easy enough to find online. Express support for Donald Trump, David French, or pineapple on pizza on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook and soon you will hear from a hoard of people who hope for your slow and painful death by fire ants. And yet WalzWoman97 or DeathCar@Freeway may actually work at the office desk next to yours, they may be buying your daughter’s Girl Scout cookies.
The Apostle Paul either clears things up or muddies them completely when he wrote in Ephesians 6, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” So those we perceive as foes may just be pawns in a much larger game played on a supernatural plane.
Why do Paul and Jesus make it so difficult to hate the people we really want to despise? Even here at Ricochet, there are some who post really annoying things, and yet… They are our virtual neighbors, and we do have a higher call.
Published in Religion and Philosophy
I found this at gript.ie just before finding your post. I want one. Only 10 euros. No shipping options to the U.S., though. I could have it sent to my daughter, but I “hate” asking her to add stuff to her airline luggage, even though she has done it to us.
Isn’t that the plot of every rom com movie?
I barely know what a movie is, much less a rom com movie.
I looked it up. I guess I’ve seen a few Russian movies of that genre. Russian movies have really gone downhill during the Putin era, with the result that I hardly watch Russian movies any more other than re-watching some from the 90s or the Soviet era.
A rom com is a romantic comedy. Plot usually starts out with a couple that dislike each other who then find themselves attracted to the object of their dislike. Like “You’ve Got Mail.”
Looked up Russian RomComs (because I guess that’s what this post is about):
Piter FM (2006)
The Irony of Fate; Or Enjoy Your Bath! (1976)
Love and Pigeons (1984)
I don’t like to use the word “hate”, especially in terms of personal relationships, i.e. the people. Maybe okay with behaviors, actions or events.
Those of us who have large numbers of close family members, including in-laws, probably understand this.
I think this is exactly what is missing in the lives of the large number of unmarried women today who live in a world of cognitive dissonance.
Yeah, you could categorize Irony of Fate that way. I think it actually came out a few years earlier than 1976, but maybe it wasn’t released in the West until 1976. The dates of Soviet movies are tricky that way. To this day it’s still a tradition to watch it every New Year, even among a lot of ex pats.
Another Rom Com from the Soviet days is Railway Station for Two, which came out around 1982, and was also wildly popular. Eldar Ryazanov, the director of that one (as well as of Irony of Fate) was able to push the envelope on social commentary in ways that less popular moviemakers might not have gotten by with. It features a great segment on the virtues of free markets that Kamala Harris would do well to learn from, and also provides some great commentary on the legal and prison system in the Soviet Union, as well as on the fake egalitarianism of the Soviet system. The not-so-young guy and girl in the movie are from very different strata of society.
Those are good movies, though. The Rom Coms from the Putin era are very formulaic, and could just as well be generated by AI.
One woman from Russia who was starting to run a good YouTube channel about Russian movies didn’t much care for Love and Doves, and we were in agreement on that. After the 2022 invasion she gave up her project, saying there was no longer any fun in looking back on the Soviet era.
There are a (very) few Ricochetti I try hard to ignore, so I do need to receive this instruction. Sigh. Thanks.
I don’t have, and don’t believe I have ever had “enemies,” maybe because I don’t pay close attention. I know people who sometimes don’t like what I say or what I do, but I do not consider them enemies… just wrongheaded. :-)
If that’s really the message, why mention both as separate identities?
You can go to Zazzle.com and have a custom mug made with the words of your choice. It looks like they range from about $12-16, plus shipping. Not bad, really, for a custom, one-off product.
These days, maybe they 3D-print the mug and the message at the same time! :-)
But that would probably cost more than $16.
Thanks. Tonight on my bike ride a pickup truck passed me flying a yellow flag that reminded me of Ukrainian yellow, but which turned out to be a “don’t tread on me” flag. I’ve not cared for most of the Ukrainian merch that pro-Ukrainian war bloggers who are opposed to the Russian invasion sell, but I might like something in blue-yellow with a don’t-tread-on-me rattlesnake.
Some of the best ones begin with the third act (in media res-y of them), like His Girl Friday or The Philadelphia Story. The couple is already long divorced when the curtain opens, with all of the snark and venom that comes with.
Yes he did.
Whoever is not against us is for us. Mark 9:38-40
But he still is not labeling them enemies and includes all men as our neighbors.
Followed by: Whoever is not for us is against us. (Though maybe not in the Gospel of Mark.)