The Four W's
In college, Gughunter took a subscription to the "Workers' Vanguard" for a lark. When a new issue arrived, he would usually put it on a flat surface somewhere and intend to read it eventually. On one occasion, he actually did read it; and what was most notable about it, aside from the strident calls to FREE MUMIA!, was a little article about the "Four W's of Polish Communism". Or maybe it was the "Three W's" -- he isn't clear on that point. What is clear is that the term apparently never really caught fire in the English language, at least if Google searches are any indication. Anyway, the only reason that article ranked in the "most notable" category is that, with the aid of a cartoon drawn to the size of one of the pictures accompanying the article, Gughunter was able to use that article to harass a fellow student with a Polish surname starting with W. It was never established whether anyone but Gughunter ever actually thought it was funny.

The reason I bring all this up is that yesterday, one of the at-least-two W's of Polish Anti-Communism passed away -- Karol Wojtyla, a.k.a. The Pope. And the reason I mention his opposition to communism first of all his achievements is that all the other blogs seem to be doing it, as it affords even the least religiously inclined blogger a reason to say "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's," metaphorically speaking.

The Pope also talked a lot about what he called a "Culture of Death." I think much of the recent commotion about the Schiavo case has been due, not to the fear of Death itself, but to the fear of a Culture of Death, which is different, but related inasmuch as such cultures like to set Death's schedule, like a mischievous personal assistant who is always scheduling irritating appointments for Death when he's in the middle of working on something else. Anyway, this is about the Pope, not the Schiavo case, so I will end that tangent and simply point you to Michael Schiavo's lawyer's book, Litigation as Spiritual Practice, for further information. Oh, and also I'd like to recommend the latest post from InstaPunk, which is almost certain to make you think if you're in the mood for that.

So, anyway, the Pope talked a lot about a "Culture of Death," and a lot of people thought he was full of hooey. A lot more people thought, well, he has a point, but what are you going to do? And pretty much all of us in first-world societies, even in America, have absorbed certain ideas that are crucial to a Culture of Death. The excellent Boomer Bible is in some ways a guidebook to the ideas underlying a Culture of Death -- perhaps the Punks might say that it is more strictly about a Culture of Meaninglessness or a Culture of Despair, but whatever you call it, there seems to be a fair amount of overlap.

Now that you've gotten to this point, I'll admit that I really don't have anything fresh or new to say about the Pope. I just wanted to note his passing and, even though I speak as a Protestant (and a rather self-indulgent one at that), offer my gratitude for all his hard work.