Damnatio ad bestias
The people of the city were scared.
There had been nothing in their neighbors’ behavior to suggest that they held such dangerous beliefs, but there they were, being paraded through the center of the city under armed guard.
Inexplicably, their neighbors seemed happy to be on display where everyone could see them. As they rode through the streets on carts, they were waving and smiling and singing songs about freedom, while the people of the city screamed insults at them.
“The city hates you,” the people screamed. “The city hates you!”
Over and over and over again.
Some of the city people carried flags and signs, others wore masks, others blew whistles, other raised their middle fingers in salute. The noise was deafening, the hate palpable. And yet, still the passengers on the carts waved and smiled.
One of the passengers on the carts offered the people of the city lozenges, as their voices were hoarse with screaming.
What had the passengers on the carts done to excite so much hate?
Escorted by the guards, they were taken to an amphitheater, where they were put on display before the crowd and told to confess their crimes.
“I believe women and children should not be sold into sexual slavery,” one said.
“I believe human beings are made male and female,” another said.
“I believe men and women should get married and have children,” another said.
“I believe men should take pride in being fathers and women should take pride in being mothers,” another said.
Some spoke, some sang, but all confessed willingly, proud to proclaim their hated beliefs before the people of the city.
The people of the city grew ever more enraged, so much so that some of them had to be subdued by the guards and taken away.
“You threaten us,” the people of the city screamed. “You should be ashamed!”
“Don’t be ashamed of what God made you to be,” one of those being asked to confess replied.
Later reports would surface about others who had wanted to join their neighbors in the amphitheater but had not been present when the guards came round to take them there.
Had the guards meant to collect everyone who wanted to confess? Or had they purposefully only collected a few? How great was the support for those taken to the amphitheater? Nobody could be sure.
The crowd began to get restless. Would the spectacle never end? Would they not be allowed to judge thumbs up or thumbs down?
At last, a young man stood up to speak.
His knees were bare, and his head and feet glistened red, as if with blood. Two of those on the stage with him were commanded to kneel to either side of him and hold up a panel from which he read his confession.
He smiled and joked with his kneeling neighbors, almost as if it were ordinary for him to be the object of hate.
He invited the audience to study his words, for he had always spoken openly about his beliefs.
When the people exclaimed, he reassured them that they were allowed to laugh.
He spoke about his concern for the people of the city and how he had tried to comfort them with lozenges.
He assured everyone listening that his words about himself were true and that he had hidden nothing about his own life or pretended to be anything other than what he is.
And he declared himself in concord with the others who had confessed that afternoon, even as he promised his kneeling companions that he was going to make them suffer just as he had suffered, thus his blood-red feet, at which one of the people listening begged him, “Fix me!”
He thanked those who had had the courage to ride with him on the cart and encouraged them to stick fast in their beliefs. And he called to witness the way in which the city officials had treated them by banning their expressions of love. He prophesied that future confessions would be even larger, at which his neighbors cheered.
He cited the words of a previous confessor decrying the sacrifice that the people of the city demand, of the affirmation of life through the fertile intercourse of women and men.
He prophesied again that others would join the confession that he and his neighbors had made and that they would join together in other cities, too. He instructed them on how to build an institution on firmer ground.
He confessed himself a sinner and acknowledged how dangerous it was for those who had come to hear his confession, while thanking the city guards, whom he held blameless for the way the city had treated him and those with him on the carts.
He acknowledged the bravery of those who had been living openly with their beliefs in the value of being women who love men and men who love women.
He contrasted their beliefs with those of the city people, who sacrifice children for the sake of sexual license, insisting,
He exhorted his listeners to virtue as women and men, so that they might protect their children from those who would try to have sex with them, and he declared openly his love for mothers. He expressed his concern especially for women, that they not be misled by the chants of the city into thinking they were better off without men such that they turned to witchcraft and other evils, like Scrabble.
He admonished those who claim that he and his neighbors came to destroy the world. Rather, he insisted, I only want my neighbors to be included because without them, society will suffer—in proof of which he cited his own experience.
He called attention to the way in which those who wish to live according to the flesh put themselves and others in danger.
He congratulated again those who had been willing to be seen that day as holding firm in their beliefs so as to bear witness to the people of the city of their love for life and for each other.
He drew upon an ancient prophet to describe the danger of not paying proper attention to la différence between women and men “otherwise you get weak men and disreputable women,” and he pointed to the people of the city as proof: “And there they are!”
Having roused the audience to laughter, he concluded:
UPDATE: The Amazing Lucas says the Straight Pride Parade was AWESOME, but that he now understands why Milo needs personal security at all times.
There had been nothing in their neighbors’ behavior to suggest that they held such dangerous beliefs, but there they were, being paraded through the center of the city under armed guard.
Inexplicably, their neighbors seemed happy to be on display where everyone could see them. As they rode through the streets on carts, they were waving and smiling and singing songs about freedom, while the people of the city screamed insults at them.
“The city hates you,” the people screamed. “The city hates you!”
Over and over and over again.
Some of the city people carried flags and signs, others wore masks, others blew whistles, other raised their middle fingers in salute. The noise was deafening, the hate palpable. And yet, still the passengers on the carts waved and smiled.
One of the passengers on the carts offered the people of the city lozenges, as their voices were hoarse with screaming.
What had the passengers on the carts done to excite so much hate?
Escorted by the guards, they were taken to an amphitheater, where they were put on display before the crowd and told to confess their crimes.
“I believe human beings are made male and female,” another said.
“I believe men and women should get married and have children,” another said.
“I believe men should take pride in being fathers and women should take pride in being mothers,” another said.
Some spoke, some sang, but all confessed willingly, proud to proclaim their hated beliefs before the people of the city.The people of the city grew ever more enraged, so much so that some of them had to be subdued by the guards and taken away.
“You threaten us,” the people of the city screamed. “You should be ashamed!”
“Don’t be ashamed of what God made you to be,” one of those being asked to confess replied.
Later reports would surface about others who had wanted to join their neighbors in the amphitheater but had not been present when the guards came round to take them there.
Had the guards meant to collect everyone who wanted to confess? Or had they purposefully only collected a few? How great was the support for those taken to the amphitheater? Nobody could be sure.
The crowd began to get restless. Would the spectacle never end? Would they not be allowed to judge thumbs up or thumbs down?
At last, a young man stood up to speak.
His knees were bare, and his head and feet glistened red, as if with blood. Two of those on the stage with him were commanded to kneel to either side of him and hold up a panel from which he read his confession.
He smiled and joked with his kneeling neighbors, almost as if it were ordinary for him to be the object of hate.
He invited the audience to study his words, for he had always spoken openly about his beliefs.
When the people exclaimed, he reassured them that they were allowed to laugh.
He spoke about his concern for the people of the city and how he had tried to comfort them with lozenges.
He assured everyone listening that his words about himself were true and that he had hidden nothing about his own life or pretended to be anything other than what he is.
And he declared himself in concord with the others who had confessed that afternoon, even as he promised his kneeling companions that he was going to make them suffer just as he had suffered, thus his blood-red feet, at which one of the people listening begged him, “Fix me!”
He thanked those who had had the courage to ride with him on the cart and encouraged them to stick fast in their beliefs. And he called to witness the way in which the city officials had treated them by banning their expressions of love. He prophesied that future confessions would be even larger, at which his neighbors cheered.
He cited the words of a previous confessor decrying the sacrifice that the people of the city demand, of the affirmation of life through the fertile intercourse of women and men.
He prophesied again that others would join the confession that he and his neighbors had made and that they would join together in other cities, too. He instructed them on how to build an institution on firmer ground.
He confessed himself a sinner and acknowledged how dangerous it was for those who had come to hear his confession, while thanking the city guards, whom he held blameless for the way the city had treated him and those with him on the carts.
He acknowledged the bravery of those who had been living openly with their beliefs in the value of being women who love men and men who love women.
He contrasted their beliefs with those of the city people, who sacrifice children for the sake of sexual license, insisting,
We have something better! Women who embrace motherhood. Men who are not afraid to let their wild side out now and again. We have truth. We have beauty. And we have virtue. And we have something better than all of those things. We have me.
He exhorted his listeners to virtue as women and men, so that they might protect their children from those who would try to have sex with them, and he declared openly his love for mothers. He expressed his concern especially for women, that they not be misled by the chants of the city into thinking they were better off without men such that they turned to witchcraft and other evils, like Scrabble.
He admonished those who claim that he and his neighbors came to destroy the world. Rather, he insisted, I only want my neighbors to be included because without them, society will suffer—in proof of which he cited his own experience.
He called attention to the way in which those who wish to live according to the flesh put themselves and others in danger.
He congratulated again those who had been willing to be seen that day as holding firm in their beliefs so as to bear witness to the people of the city of their love for life and for each other.
He drew upon an ancient prophet to describe the danger of not paying proper attention to la différence between women and men “otherwise you get weak men and disreputable women,” and he pointed to the people of the city as proof: “And there they are!”
Having roused the audience to laughter, he concluded:
There has never been a society that has not been constructed on the backs of men and in the wombs of women, and it is a beautiful and glorious and wonderful thing! Women, I don’t want you to burn your bras. I want you to burn your briefcases! I want you to burn the shackles that are keeping you from being happy! And I want you to encourage the men around you to make you happy by being men. Not boys, and children, and neuters, and eunuchs, and betas, and cucks. You know you want your men to be men. The men know. All we have to do is unlock the cage by ignoring this insanity.Can you guess what the scribes of the city have to say about the witness the young man and his companions made in the amphitheater that day?
The young man speaking was, of course, Milo, pictured above with his fellow speakers at the Straight Pride Parade in Boston, August 31, 2019.
UPDATE: The Amazing Lucas says the Straight Pride Parade was AWESOME, but that he now understands why Milo needs personal security at all times.
For further meditations on the good news that Milo brings, see The MILO Chronicles.
For the meaning of the title of this post, see Damnatio ad bestias.
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F.B.