JB's initial comments on Crunchy Cons raise some of the same problems that I had with the book. The Crunchy moniker is a non-starter. And Dreher does spend far too much time discussing food. He prefers organic food. We get it. Now move on to something that matters. Like the last chapter of book on religion, which only begins to scratch the surface of the topic.
There's also a critique of Crunchy Cons in the May issue of FIRST THINGS by Gilbert Meilaender. Unlike some baseless criticism of the book that has appeared in the comments section of local blogs, Meilaender's review is thoughtful, serious, and largely accurate. His conclusion neatly summarizes Crunchy Cons principle shortcoming:
There is much that strikes me as on-target in "Crunchy Cons", along with a good bit that strikes me as misguided or ill informed, but where the book goes awry has less to do with the substance than with the tone. As Reinhold Niebuhr noted, if one really wants to be a prophet, one may need to be an itinerant; it is hard to hang around those who have been bludgeoned by our critique. No doubt such prophets are sometimes needed by all of us, but I wonder whether the tone of this book might not have been more successful had its author been less intent on demonstrating that those who live in ways different from his own are flawed souls--and more intent on depicting the goods he has found with invidious comparison with goods other enjoy.
It was after all G.K. Chesterton, who Dreher seems to regard as one of the patron saints of his manifesto, who noted that "it is not familiarity but comparison that breeds contempt."
JB OPINES ONCE AGAIN:
Reading more of Crunchy Cons last night Rod kind of lost me. He described his house (an Arts and Crafts bungalow in a transitional neighborhood in urban Dallas) as having "Dignity" and "Humanity". Wha? Hey, I dig the old houses as much as the next Tangletown Mansion Dweller but dignity--a rare quality for even many human beings--in a house?
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