Malignant Virtue and the Monkees

As a youth, frightfully 'religious' radio preachers helped me learn to love rock and roll. They also encouraged me to take a long, hard look at Christianity, and religion in general.

Eventually, I decided that religion wasn't necessarily a psychiatric disorder, and became a Catholic.

Malignant virtue of the 'kill a commie for Christ' variety may have inspired songs like this:

"...Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...."
John Lennon, "Imagine" (1971)
(posted oldielyrics.com) (March 12, 2011)

Status Symbol Land

Many in my generation realized that something had gone horribly wrong with the 'American dream.' I was one of those who decided that 'success' wasn't worth the tradeoffs. I like living here, and that's another topic. (January 12, 2010, July 4, 2011)

Songs like 1967's "Pleasant Valley Sunday" reflected an impression that unswerving dedication to getting more stuff was a bad idea.



It's not the money that gets us in trouble: it's love of money. 1 Timothy 6:10 and all that.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Stem Cell Research, Mapping Mercury, and Alpha Centauri's Cool Layer"
  (March 8, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Ethics: Pesky Things, But Important
• "Nature: and the Responsible Use of Freedom"
  (November 19, 2012)
• "Business, Change, and Profit"
  (September 10, 2012)
• "Passing Through Status Symbol Land"
  (May 14, 2011)
• "Wealth, Poverty, Stereotypes, and Snidely Whiplash"
  (March 8, 2011)