November 06, 2007
The Call of the Entrepreneur
Last night, my wife and I had a chance to see a screening of the Acton Institute's movie "The Call of the Entrepreneur" at the Atlanta History Center. I didn't know much of what to expect and so was pleasantly surprised. The production quality was great, especially since they apparently didn't have a huge budget for it. And they made the overall point effectively: that entrepreneurs do, in fact, accomplish many inherently good things.
I grew up in Reformed circles, which at least openly disavowed the sacred/secular dichotomy. Still, I've been surprised lately at how little respect I have given to the world of business as potentially instrumental in "kingdom work." At best, business has been a necessary tool so that other people can accomplish "real work", such as ministry, counseling, missions, etc.
But what "The Call of the Entrepreneur" points out is that business activity by itself can do inherently good things. New businesses can provide for families, create wealth, and increase the standard of living. Yes, greed is often a part of that process, but, as the folks from the Acton Institute pointed out (either in the movie or in the Q&A session last night afterwards), greed is part of everything. A socialist can be just as greedy as a capitalist.
Technorati Tags: Christianity, culture, movies, Acton Institute, The Call of the Entrepreneur
movies | By maphet | 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2007
A brief foray into politics
Charles Krauthammer lists some of the reasons why Hillary Clinton may not be so bad after all.
I could never vote for her, but I (and others of my ideological ilk) could live with her -- precisely because she is so liberated from principle. Her liberalism, like her husband's -- flexible, disciplined, calculated, triangulated -- always leaves open the possibility that she would do the right thing for the blessedly wrong (i.e., self-interested, ambition-serving, politically expedient) reason.
Clinton is likewise definitely not my first choice. But I suspect she would be a better candidate than the others. If forced to choose between her, Edwards, and Obama as best candidate to stand up to an Iranian psycho with nukes, she seems to stand the best chance of inadvertently doing the right thing.
Technorati Tags: charles krauthammer, presidential election, hillary clinton
politics | By maphet | 08:29 PM | Comments (2)
September 26, 2007
Little Rock, TV, and innocence
Shelby Steele writes in the Wall Street Journal on The Legacy of Little Rock. He makes the interesting case the the televised nature of the Little Rock incident made white America come face-to-face with its own evil, which in turn paved the way for, among other things, a new willingness to see the evils of America and a desire to redeem itself for that evil.
Americans watched by the millions and, in this watching, saw something that would change the country fundamentally. Every day for weeks they saw white people so consumed with racial hatred that they looked bestial and subhuman. When white racism was a confident power, it could look like propriety itself, like good manners. But here, in its insecurity, it was grotesque and shocking. Worse, it was there for the entire world to see, and so it broke through the national denial. The Little Rock crisis revealed the evil at the core of segregation, and it launched the stigmatization of white Americans as racists that persists to this day. After Little Rock whites stood permanently accused. They would have to prove a negative--that they were not racist--in order to claim decency. And this need to forever beg one's innocence is the very essence of white guilt.
Technorati Tags: culture, racism, shelby steele
politics | By maphet | 04:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2007
More of Micah
CRW_4610.jpg
Originally uploaded by maphet.
| By maphet | 03:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"a pious little scrap of sleaze"
Lately I've been enjoying Christopher Orr's movie reviews. His assault on The Brave One is a fun example. Calling it "not merely the most morally repellent film of the year, but a contender for the stupidest," Orr concludes that
For all its showy stabs at remorse, its ostentatious moral handwringing, this is a film that unambiguously endorses vigilante killings--at least, as long as you're Jodie Foster, and you feel really bad about it, and you're doing it all for the kids. Foster, and everyone else involved in making this disgraceful film, should be ashamed.
I'm guessing he didn't like the movie much.
Technorati Tags: chistopher orr, movies, The Brave One
movies | By maphet | 03:19 PM | Comments (1)
September 18, 2007
And then there were 5
Our new son
Originally uploaded by maphet.
He's a little late, but we think we'll keep him anyway.
| By maphet | 02:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)