Chivalry is Long Gone But We MUST Revive It

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – I think that the problem in the United States today is that we are not a virtuous, moral people, and that therefore we are more prone to accept non-virtuous, amoral behavior from our leaders because it looks natural and normal.  We all act in a similar manner.  We decry the politicians for plunging the nation into debt, but we seem perfectly comfy and happy doing it ourselves.  We use fiat currency just as they do.  We use fiat currency-generated debt the same way they do.  Do you really think the company that is Visa or MasterCard or American Express actually has gold reserves to back up what it is you’re charging?  Of course they don’t.  You’re participating in it, too, we all do. Check out the rest in today’s transcript…

 

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  Emily Esfahani Smith writes, in part, about the “Let’s Give Chivalry Another Chance.  Ladies, are you ready?

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This past spring marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. On April 14, 1912, as the ship was on its maiden journey from Southampton, UK, to New York City, it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. About three hours later, it sank. Three-quarters of the women on the ship survived; over three quarters of the men, by contrast, died. In Washington DC, there is a memorial to these men. The inscription on it reads: “To the brave men who perished in the wreck of the Titanic…They gave their lives that women and children might be saved.”

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Mike:  You know what my favorite story about that is, Andrew?  I don’t know if you’ve ever read this or seen this.  It’s that some of the men were stirred out of their sleep and they were in pajamas.  They went up to the deck to find out that the ship was sinking and had determined it was their job to get their wives and children onto the lifeboats.  Before doing so, they went back to their chambers and they all dressed.  They put their suits on, walked their women and children to the lifeboats, kissed them goodbye, then many of them stood on the deck fully decked out as the ship went down while the band played.  That is a chivalrous act that is unequal.

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When the cruise ship Costa Concordia hit a rock and capsized off the coast of Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, last January, men pushed women and children out of the way to save themselves. One Australian woman on board reported at the time: “The people that pushed their way on to the boat were then trying to tell them to shut the door, not to let any more people on the [life] boat after they had pushed their way on…We just couldn’t believe it—especially the men, they were worse than the women.” This contrast is indicative of a larger trend—the decline of chivalry and the rise of boorish behavior among men. According to a 2010 Harris poll, 80 percent of Americans say that women are treated with less chivalry today than in the past.

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Mike: Ladies, you kind of asked for it, let’s be honest.  This has been the quest of the members and the army of Gal-Qaeda for 40 years.  Congratulations, you have now arrived at a society that does not value the beauty of the female any more than it values the ugliness of the male.  The male form is not beauty, soft, shaped the way the female is.  The softness of the face, look at the difference in faces.  Not that there aren’t pretty boys out there. (See: Justin Bieber)  You get the drift here.  Congratulations.  You’ve wiped out chivalry and you’ve made it so that your sons will grow up to be little louts.  They probably will not date.  They probably will not court.  Oh, but they’ll hook up, don’t worry.  How’s that going to work out?  Ms. Smith suggests that feminists, “especially feminists should push back against” this.  Of course they should.  By the way, do not make the mistake of reading the comments after the story because it will ruin your day.

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Charles Murray, the libertarian social scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, summed up the study with tongue-in-cheek, writing “the bad news is that gentlemanly behavior makes people happy.” He goes on to ask, “When social scientists discover something that increases life satisfaction for both sexes, shouldn’t they at least consider the possibility that they have come across something that is positive? Healthy? Something that might even conceivably be grounded in the nature of Homo sapiens?”

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Mike:  Chivalry is not totally grounded in the nature of homo sapiens, Charles.  Chivalry, again, comes from the tradition of the Knights Templar.  The knight was the first gentleman of the Christian world.  He is the model.  If you read Brad Miner’s book The Compleat Gentleman, you’ll find this out.  Also, read the Earl of Chesterfield’s Letters to his Son.  He often references knights.  He often references gentlemanly behavior that he saw in knights.

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Historically, the chivalry ideal and the practices that it gave rise to were never about putting women down, as Connelly and other feminists argue. Chivalry, as a social idea, was about respecting and aggrandizing women, and recognizing that their attention was worth seeking, competing for, and holding. If there is a victim of “benevolent sexism,” it is not the career-oriented single college-aged feminist. Rather, it is unconstrained masculinity.

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Mike:  That’s the great irony in this.  By becoming radical members of Gal-Qaeda, ladies, you have unleashed all this boorish behavior amongst your sons and your husbands.  You have freed them to be the brute animals that they naturally are inclined to be.  Man is not naturally inclined to goodness.  Only God and through the pursuance of the grace of God does man find goodness.  It is in that pursuit that we find it.  We’re not naturally good people.  We’re animals.

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“We should have a clear notion of what chivalry is,” argues Pier Massimo Forni, an award-winning professor of Italian literature and the founder of the Civility Institute at Johns Hopkins.

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Mike:  Some of you may say: Why are you wasting time with this?  Get back to bashing Obama.  I think this is actually more important than bashing Obama, I really do in my heart of hearts.  I think that the problem in the United States today is that we are not a virtuous, moral people, and that therefore we are more prone to accept non-virtuous, amoral behavior from our leaders because it looks natural and normal.  We all act in a similar manner.  We decry the politicians for plunging the nation into debt, but we seem perfectly comfy and happy doing it ourselves.  We use fiat currency just as they do.  We use fiat currency-generated debt the same way they do.  Do you really think the company that is Visa or MasterCard or American Express actually has gold reserves to back up what it is you’re charging?  Of course they don’t.  You’re participating in it, too, we all do.

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Chivalry arose as a response to the violence and barbarism of the Middle Ages. It cautioned men to temper their aggression, deploying it only in appropriate circumstances … [Mike: Read the rest of this and we’ll pick up on this conversation on Monday.] A story from the life of Samuel Proctor (d. 1997) comes to mind here. Proctor was the beloved pastor of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church. Apparently, he was in the elevator one day when a young woman came in. Proctor tipped his hat at her. She was offended and said, “What is that supposed to mean?”

The pastor’s response was: “Madame, by tipping my hat I was telling you several things. That I would not harm you in any way. That if someone came into this elevator and threatened you, I would defend you. That if you fell ill, I would tend to you and if necessary carry you to safety. I was telling you that even though I am a man and physically stronger than you, I will treat you with both respect and solicitude. But frankly, Madame, it would have taken too much time to tell you all of that; so, instead, I just tipped my hat.”

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End Mike Church Show Transcript