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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026

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Culture War or not, I don't know.

I've finished watching the Good Friday service from the Vatican and I want to quote this part of the service, sections of Psalm 21 (which includes the famous "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" quotation which is part of the Seven Last Words from the Cross).

Ego autem sum vermis et non homo,
Opprobrium hominum et abiectio plebis.
Omnes videntes me deriserunt me;
torquentes labia moverunt caput:
«Speravit in Domino; eripiat eum,
salvum faciat eum, quoniam vult eum”.

But I am a worm and no man, scorned
by everyone, despised by the people. All
who see me deride me; they curl their
lips, they toss their heads; “He trusted in
the LORD, let him save him, let him
release him, for in him he delights”.

Something which Nietzsche would despise, at least going by the discussions about this we've had on here before. The triumph of the weak. Slave morality. "I am a worm and no man" is not what the Strong, the Aristoi, say of themselves, such types are the ones trampled underfoot and rightfully so, pity being wasted on them.

And yet. And yet. This is the God of all Creation, the Maker of the Universe, the ground of all being, the Power beyond power, the True, the Beautiful and the Good who emptied Himself out, who became a slave and lower than a slave, to die a criminal's death.

Maybe true power is not trampling all others underfoot. The wretch who died the slave's death is venerated and remembered in the most gorgeous, opulent setting. Maybe the Strong look tawdry by comparison in their tinsel crowns.

Something, something. Tickling at my brain, to think about it.

The wretch who died the slave's death is venerated and remembered in the most gorgeous, opulent setting.

And where did all those riches come from? From the works of Nietzchean virtue - conquest and craft and cunning.