The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Revisions: Four Faces West, based on Pasó Por Aquí by Eugene Manlove Rhodes Ray Olson and Thomas Fleming I had intended to begin the discussion almost a week ago, but the film arrived late and I wanted to show it to our friend Mark Kennedy, who does not even possess the primitive television set I have for watching films. Ray Olson A variant of the brilliant western short novel, Paso por aqui, by Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Four Faces West retains the characters’ names and approximate roles but sets up a new set of relationships. Ross McEwan (Joel McCrae) and Jay (in the...
Defending Marriage, a Speech delivered (and revised) by Thomas Fleming, June 13 2013 Let us begin by finding out where we stand on the subject of marriage. I am going to list a series of propositions. If you are willing, please raise your hand for as long as you agree with the statement. Marriage is: 1) a binding relationship between one man and one woman. To include Muslims and Middle-Eastern Jews, let us even say—one or more women. 2)for the primary though not necessarily exclusive purpose of begetting and rearing children; 3) a life-long commitment entered into voluntarily by people...
Getting Marriage Straight, an essential prolegomenon to any future discussion of marriage… Thomas Fleming “All’s over then, does truth sound bitter as was at first believed?” My first response to the Supreme Court’s decision to give legal sanction to the fantasy of same-sex marriage is to say, “I told you so.” For over two decades, I have been arguing both in print and in lectures, first, that the modern state, which declared war on marriage since the late 18th century, has no business involving itself in a human institution that is rooted in nature and confirmed by Revelation; and, second, that in...
See full text of complete series here: https://fleming.foundation/2022/01/the-autodidact-homer/
From Under the Rubble Put Out More Flags by Thomas Fleming The only good thing to come out of the controversy over the flag is that I cannot turn on radio or television, much less look at Google News. It’s not so much that the chant of “Take it Down, Take it Down!” is particularly offensive. Viewed from the right perspective, it is almost amusing. Imagine a happily married man dragged to a strip show. He is not interested in the homely painted hussies, but, if he is cruel enough, the spectacle of his buddies shouting “Take it off, Take...
Coming Soon to a Theater Near You by Thomas Fleming Thursday evening, I am going to be watching one of my favorite westerns: Four Faces West, based on a novella by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Our friend Mark Kennedy will be joining us, and Ray Olson is willing to post some remarks. If you have a chance, try to see the movie, and we can start a discussion either over the weekend or next week.
I asked Robert Peters to share his thoughts on the renewed demand to take down the Battle Flag in South Carolina. This is his response. TJF A False Flag Operation by Robert Peters Since the advent of abolitionism we have been plagued by a false narrative about the South and things Southern. This narrative has ebbed and flowed throughout American history from its advent to the present. Since the late 1960’s there has been a resurgence of the narrative, with its now being at high tide and raging. Within that narrative, particularly since the late 1980’s, the Confederate Battle Flag or...
See full text of complete series here: https://fleming.foundation/2022/01/the-autodidact-homer/
See full text of complete series here: https://fleming.foundation/2022/01/the-autodidact-homer/
Reading After the Movies: William Wister Haines By Ray Olson Every so often, instead of reading a book before I see the movie made of it, I’ll read it afterward because I want to see whether it’s as good or better. Often the same kind of clue that gets me to read before—the writer’s reputation, the book’s, or even, in the case I’m going to present, a name—boosts my curiosity to read after. In Command Decision (1948), bomb group CO K. C. Dennis (Clark Gable) is sending his planes deep into Germany to destroy three separate facilities involved in producing jet aircraft....
