Gentlemanly Virtues Come From Obedience To The Unenforceable

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – There is a creed that we’ve been talking about for about a year on this show called obedience to the unenforceable.  What is obedience to the unenforceable and why does it matter?  How would you apply it to Mark Wahlberg?  Obedience to the unenforceable is you choose not to do things.  You censor yourself.  You choose to not use that language that popped into your head and you went: I can’t wait to drop this F-bomb in front of other people.  Check out today’s transcript for the rest…

 

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  One more thing about the Wahlberg thing.  You know that Marky Mark Wahlberg, was he in — are either one of you two up on NKOTB?  If I said NKOTB, would either one of you two, young Evan and young Eric —

Eric:  New Kids on the Block.

Mike:  How did you know that?  Dude, you don’t have a poster, do you?  Please tell me you don’t have a poster.

Eric:  No, no, no, I was in the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync generation.  Only his brother was in New Kids on the Block.

Mike:  Young Eric, you just said Backstreet Boys with a straight face.

Eric:  Yeah.  They can actually sing.

Mike:  One of them can actually sing, Justin Timberlake.

Eric:  No, that was ‘N Sync.

Mike:  See, that’s how screwed up I am.

Eric:  You’re all over the place.

Mike:  I can’t keep up with all the boy bands.  In any event, NKOTB — I thought he was in New Kids on the Block for a while.  Or was he Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch?

Eric:  Yeah, he was Marky Mark on his own.  He had his own thing.

Mike:  We talked for just a brief moment yesterday about mannerisms and about how today’s manly kind of men aren’t as mannered as they could be.  That’s one of the things you do have some direct influence over.  You can actually control and manage your manners.  I was talking about how Russell Kirk, the author, was rarely seen without his suit coat, one of his signature ties, and usually a vest.  It didn’t matter what the weather was like, even when he was out working in his garden, it didn’t matter what the weather was like.  This had something to do with his manners and dress at the time.  Mannerisms also come in the form of speech.  Your speech is also a form of manners.  Using proper English, for example, resisting the urge, which most of us have these days, to utter those expletive-filled rants because it sounds cool or what we ought to do, these are all things that we can work on.

Let’s walk through this real quick here.  I don’t want to hold myself up as an example, but I’ll hold the rest of the crew up here at Sirius XM Patriot Channel.  We’re working publicly with subscribers every day.  I work for three hours a day publicly — if you have a subscription, this show is broadcast publicly to 24.5, 25 million, however many millions.  It’s more than that because there’s more than one person in the car.  I think the last number I saw was 35, 40 million, something to that effect.  That’s the potential listening audience if you have a Sirius XM satellite radio, and that audience grows every day.

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There is a creed that we’ve been talking about for about a year on this show called obedience to the unenforceable.  What is obedience to the unenforceable and why does it matter?  How would you apply it to Mark Wahlberg?  Obedience to the unenforceable is you choose not to do things.  You censor yourself.  You choose to not use that language that popped into your head and you went: I can’t wait to drop this F-bomb in front of other people.  If you are obedient to the unenforceable, meaning no one is going to try to enforce a speech code on you, so you’re going to have to be obedient to something else.  What would you be obedient to then?  In this case, you would be obedient to the manners of speaking properly, plainly, and in a manner that is not vulgar.

Perhaps today it’s not vulgar to use the F-word.  Doesn’t Hank Williams, Jr. have a song “In country music you just can’t say the F word?”  He’s saying you can’t say the F-word, but you’re choosing not to because you think that people that listen to that kind of music are not going to be amenable to it.  Mark Wahlberg, Mrs. Church is always telling me what a great young man he is.  He goes to mass all the time.  He’s got a coven.  He’s got a house full of children, five or six or something to that effect.  Mark Wahlberg does not have to and did not have to use the language that he used.  We could say that obedience to the unenforceable would have been Wahlberg exercising self-censorship in saying: I could have said that but expanding the vocabulary to choose other words to say, instead of hoping that the children don’t get wind of it, not worrying about whether or not children get wind of it because you were obedient to the unenforceable.

In other words, this is another public example of someone not being obedient to the unenforceable.  I’m not going to raise a big stink over it or say I’m never going to watch a Mark Wahlberg movie.  But, again, it seems like there’s a constant stream of disappointment in these things.  You would hope that there would be someone that would be able to passionately discuss, for example, the movie he’s in, without having to resort to the vulgar language.

Let’s make one more point here.  Some people now say, [mocking] “The F word’s not really vulgar anymore.  Everyone uses it, Mike.  Come on, get over it.”  Do you want your 13-year-old daughter using it?  Answer that question.  Here’s another point on that, [mocking] “It’s not really vulgar anymore.  Everyone’s using it.”  What is vulgar then?  It used to be that certain things were taboo, homosexuality, for example.  There’s a bit out there on YouTube if you can find it.  It is a 1960s public service announcement warning young boys to be on the lookout if they’re walking home from school for predators.  What predators was the PSA talking about?  It’s talking about homosexuals.  The announcer says something to the effect: A homosexual may not realize that he’s sick.  There were taboos and they continue to break down.  What is left to be taboo?  Is there anything left that’s taboo today?

In the same manner, is there anything left that is vulgar?  Is there any form of language now that is vulgar?  We’re told if you put on a rap station or most rap music, they have to make two versions of it, don’t they?  They have to make the clean version that they can air on FM radio stations, and then you get the unedited version that you find on digital downloads or CDs.  Is that considered vulgar?  No, it’s considered normal.  That’s just the way it is.  Here’s a good example of this.  How many times have you been sitting in city traffic?  Within earshot is someone playing the kind of music I’ve just described and they’re not playing the clean version.  They’re playing the vulgar version, if indeed there is such a thing as vulgarity any longer.  Maybe you’ve got kids in the car.  Not only can you hear the F word, you can hear the N word, strings of N words.

Folks, these are mannerisms.  We like to talk about the anti-cult and about how culture has decayed and about how there really isn’t culture any longer, or I don’t think there is.  That’s a good indication of it right there, and people’s lack of manners, especially famous people’s lack of manners.  It’s troubling and disappointing.  On this same notion here, one of the Facebook followers posted something yesterday evening that I thought was worthy of discussion.  His name is Travis.  I won’t give your last name out, Travis, because you didn’t ask me to. Travis posted this:

“The Mike Church Show fan page has been doing a ton of shows on being a statesman and how chivalry is dead in our nation. Men are not men today; they are boys or sissies. When was the last time you seen a man stand up when a woman stood up in their presence? When was the last time you seen a man wait for his wife to sit down before he sat down? When was the last time you seen a man stand behind his wife’s chair and help her scoot it up? When was the last time you seen a man stop using cuss words in the presence of a woman to give her due respect? At one time, you would expect not to see a man spit on the ground in the presence of a woman. A man is to position himself in the diner to watch the entrance for danger so he can protect his family and not be taken by surprise.”  How many of you people knew that?  Mrs. Church is always arguing with me [mocking] “Why do you have to face the door?”  I always say: Why do you want me seated with my back to the door?  I’m seated facing the door so I can see what nut job may be coming in next so I can grab you and throw you under the table, that’s why.

“A man is to position himself in the diner to watch the entrance for danger so he can protect his family and not be taken by surprise. A true man protects his wife and family and also supports him with the labor of his hands. Sorry, ladies, this is not your God-given role. This role is given to the man by the Creator. Biblically speaking, that is why the man was made the strong of the two.” Travis, you’re going to get nowhere posting stuff like this, brother.  Let me inform you, it’s 2013, sir.  This kind of stuff will not stand. “A man was made the stronger of the two. I know this may flare up some resistance, but you will not be arguing or disagreeing with me but the one who designed it this way. Men, we need to teach our sons time-honored traditions and foundations. We need to bring back what it means to be a man, a gentleman, a statesman. I found a ton of books that you need to read and The King Dude has them on his page. Check out the library link.”

Travis, thanks for the post and the plug.  I’m going to go out on a limb and guess — I reposted this.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say between me and between you, Travis, I guarantee you we have turned at least 13 people onto the pursuit of chivalry and gentleman-like behavior.  That is a hell of an accomplishment — heck of an accomplishment.  Did Mark Wahlberg have to be using that language?  The answer is no.  That’s the whole thing, there is no expectation.  The people in the audience just laugh.  What’s so funny about it?  What’s so darned funny?  Julie is in Colorado.  Hey, Julie, you’re first up today.  How are you?

Caller Julie:  I’m good, how are you?

Mike:  I’m well, thank you.

Caller Julie:  I was calling about your comment you were talking about that you face the door in the restaurant.

Mike:  I try to.

Caller Julie:  Well, Mrs. Church needs to get a grip.

Mike:  [laughing]

Caller Julie:  She really does.

Mike:  Wait, wait, I hope she’s listening right now.  Let me click over to my instant message.  I’ll let you know in about eight seconds whether she heard that.  Go ahead.

Caller Julie:  Here’s the deal.  If she puts her life in your hands, if she expects you to provide and care for her, that’s only one part.  That’s one small part.  Putting food on the table or anything else of your expectation of being a husband, one part of it is to protect her out in public.  It’s no different than you should be walking closer to the street when you’re walking hand in hand down the street.  You should be the one that’s going to take it by the car if somebody hops the curb and gets wiped out.  It should be you, not her.

Mike:  Hey, what if I don’t want to be wiped out by the madman in the car?

Caller Julie:  That’s your responsibility, I’m sorry.  I’m an anti-feminist, so I’m the other way around, and I’m a gun-toting anti-feminist.  I’ve been married twice.  I’m on my second marriage.  My first husband was former military and a police officer.  From square one of 16 years of that marriage, it was understood that he faced the door in the restaurant.  He expected me to also know as much as him so that when I was out alone or with our children, I faced the door to protect myself and my children.  It was his job when we were together.  It was my job when I’m protecting my kids.  I think it should be a welcomed thing for someone else to man the door.  She should be glad that you’re willing to take that post.

Mike:  Let me ask you something, Julie.  Where do you glean such knowledge and mannerisms?  I guarantee you right now, people are heading for the exits right now, [mocking] “Why aren’t you bashing Obama?  Get back to politics.  We don’t give a . . ..”  I bet people are cursing right now, using expletives right now because I dared to stray from the course.

Caller Julie:  It’s all tied together.  Tell me it’s not.

Mike:  Try to bring that up at a Tea Party rally or a meeting like that and see what kind of reception you get.  There are things that matter outside of angling for politics and political salvation in a nonstop, never-ending, eternal fashion.

Caller Julie:  I think it’s all tied together.

Mike:  Julie, I agree.  I’m just playing devil’s advocate.  I’m playing sheeple’s advocate.  My buddy Stephen Klugewicz, he appears on the show infrequently.  I’m going to have him put together a new trivia quiz at Franklin’s Opus to test your American history skills, and we’ll add some Christmas trivia into that.  Stephen has written some really great essays on this subject.  He’s the one that alerted me.  I didn’t even know this.  He alerted me that major league baseball players actually have a gentleman’s code.  There is a code of conduct and if you break it, they will kick your you-know-what.  There are still some customs and traditions that are observed in that code in baseball.  Football doesn’t have a code.  Basketball and football have no code.  Baseball has an actual code.

Stephen and I are talking about this.  There needs to be a little handbook that you can carry around, maybe stick in your back pocket, and refer to it from time to time, a little gentleman’s book of manners and traditions.  It ought to be pretty easy to put together, ought to have some historical stuff in it.  I think Andrew Wilkow has actually talked about this on the Wilkow Majority before.  I seem to recall that he read from that manual that George Washington carried around with him.  There’s another manual, and I’ve actually seen it, that was carried around by Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson.  As a matter of fact, you can get it at Amazon in print form today.  It’s called Jackson’s Book of Maxims.

Julie, there is something to it, and there’s something very important to it.  I don’t think it’s a stretch to tie the degradation of culture or the rise of anti-cult and tie that to manners and dress.  I think they’re all interrelated.  I agree with you.

End Mike Church Show Transcript

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