Hakas, TradCaths & Levels of Meaning
A ‘Factory Tour’ of My Mind After a Viral News Event This Weekend
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One of my fondest memories of getting more involved in music decades ago was touring the factory of the U.S.’s oldest continuous guitar manufacturer (C.F. Martin & Co.).
While I don’t own a Martin — they’re high-end, expensive instruments — I appreciate the hard work and fine crafting that goes into building them. I like learning how the things that interest me get made. Knowing about the process can be as fascinating (or moreso!) for me as encountering the finished product.
In that vein, today I’m writing about how I formulated my thoughts on a viral news event this weekend, from initial reaction through reflecting and conversing with others to arriving at a conclusion.
Even if you reached different conclusions at different points of the unfolding story, I hope there’s some value in revealing my process to you.
Consider this the “factory tour” of my news-consuming mental facility!
‘Māori protest the rainbow parade!’
I spend more time on Substack than I do on any other social-media site, because I prefer the longer-form content and better-than-average quality of work here. Besides going through all the stacks to which I subscribe, I like to browse the Notes feed.
On Sunday, I saw a Notes post from a creator I follow, Christopher Cook, about a protest during a parade organized by Rainbow Pride Auckland in New Zealand (watch embedded video below, or click here to view it at YouTube):
The group of mostly men momentarily halted the parade with a performance of a traditional dance, the Haka. They opposed the very modern ideology surrounding sexual and gender issues by summoning a very traditional tribal ritual.
I first learned of the Haka from New Zealand sports teams; men’s and women’s rugby squads are especially famous for the pre-match ceremonies. And who can forget the Haka that erupted in the New Zealand Parliament in November over a disputed interpretation of a centuries-old treaty between the formerly colonizing British officials and the native Maori people?
The Haka at the parade Sunday looked like a clash of worldviews. Some Commenters on YouTube and on Notes wrote about how it felt to watch the display; most were inspired by the Haka. One of the more articulate Notes commenters put it thusly: “Deep cultural history meeting with contrived modern ideology.”
This sparked my intellect. As I wrote:
Seems to me that when the meaning is largely faked — as modern ideological movements tend to be — then it tends to push people who see through the bullshit back to genuine meaning, even if that genuine meaning is limited and could use some tempering.
Humans are divisive by nature; we don’t need any help finding reasons to be warily tribal. We need help being more humanely human.
Meaning: discovered vs. contrived
The search for meaning is universal, and meaning does seem more real when it is discovered rather than contrived. The Haka, with its roots in tribal affiliation and lineage, seems more discovered than the contrived politicization of celebrating sexuality and gender ideology.
But simply being old doesn’t make something virtuous.
Most of human history is marked by things that are very traditional, very stupid, and very evil.
I wrote a one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-part series on Rene Girard and mimetic cycles, and how things that are unfathomably old and universal in human development — and therefore can seem very meaningful — have hampered human flourishing for the entire span of human history.
But my criticism of tradition-for-tradition’s-sake doesn’t mean I take the radically different view in support of hyper-novelty and its shiny new thing. When it comes to ultra-modern sexual and gender norms, for example, the contradictions are too much to ignore. I’m told that gender detached from biological sex is simultaneously a social construct and something innately personal; something so subjective that it can be “fluid” while also demanding to be objectively acknowledged by everyone else.
It’s contrived nonsense.
Can traditional Christianity be contrived nonsense, too?
The more I worked through my thoughts on the matter, sometimes aided by conversations in the Comments section, the more I looked away from the Haka exclusively and considered something more familiar to me: the bubbling popularity of traditional Christianity, including traditional and often Latin-language rituals of Catholicism (sometimes called “TradCath”).
How much of this return to older forms of Christianity is a discovery of genuine Early Church morality and resilience? How much is merely a return to the Christendom model that reeks of imperial-looking orderliness?
The former would be a wonderful development, but I observe more of the unfortunate latter in the world.
I see the deep, discoverable meaning vs. the contrived, politicized meaning as the neighbor vs. citizen tension I’ve regularly written about since publishing my book in Oct. 2023 and my first Substack article a few weeks later. Natural human rights are deep, discoverable aspects of what it means to be human, grounded in the innate worth (dignity) of each person. All politics are comparatively shallow and contrived.
The solution to modern identity politics isn’t traditional identity politics (or vice-versa!), but steadfast, dignity-affirming, good neighborliness.
After some honest criticism and dialogue, I supported neither the paraders nor the protesters from Sunday’s Haka confrontation.
I had no visceral reaction, no hot take; nothing to write about, except writing about how I arrived at nothing.
What about you?
This concludes the factory tour of Dom’s mind.
Thank you for not littering (it’s messy enough in here already, heh!).
Please share your thoughts as a souvenir in the Comments section …
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I find this encapsulates how I view things too. I feel like an observer of the goings on and not a great participant. I listen and read valid points and hypocrisy from all sides of issues, where some want me to take a hard stance or I’m deemed a “fence sitter”. But I won’t be goaded into any stance, I realise the complexities that are often overlooked (sometimes on purpose) and refuse to believe that divide is the answer, it’s a symptom, it’s not a cure! However 😆 I recognise symptoms can highlight the need for cure and can assist in leading to one 😵💫😅
I’m not clever enough to have the “cure”, but I certainly don’t want to be part of the problem.
I’m strong in my beliefs around political sphere, again I want solutions! Social complexities, not so much.
My contribution is merely that the moment one stance stomps all over another’s rights or freedoms or way of living, then it loses the merit of its plight (if that’s the right word).
I enjoyed this read 🤝
What a wonderfully thoughtful article!
The culture of "TEH DEMOCRACY" pressures us all to proselytize each other by "speaking out" our strong (yet conventional!) opinions on every issue. It's as if the machine feeds on the carbon dioxide expelled when an approved opinion--whether establishment or controlled opposition--is voiced and ripples up into the ozone layer... or something. I am always encouraged when someone resists. +100