Mark Shea takes me to task...
...and refers to yours truly as "bitchy" in the process. Well, I won't deny that I can be sometimes. Charity is a virtue I'm always struggling with, and sometimes I choose to be perhaps overly emotional and inflammatory. It's too bad that that's the only part of my post that Mr. Shea chose to highlight.
Below is some of what I left in his comments, along with some other thoughts:
My problem with the crunchies is the lack of (dare I say it) nuance. Either you are "crunchy", which means you are deep and spiritual, or you are some mindless idiot who maxes out all your credit cards to have all the latest and greatest stuff. There is a lot of territory between those two extremes.
Without going into details, I put family first every day. I try to make a good living, but I'm not someone who chases after money and power. I love beauty as well. But I also live in the dreaded suburbs and I have been known to shop at K-Mart on occasion (I avoid Walmart -- too crowded and it's hard to find a parking place.) I have a hard enough time making myself eat my vegetables in the first place, so forget organic vegetables. And I shop at regular grocery stores because I just want to get the task over with before my bad back starts plotting a rebellion. I do try to make my home look attractive and I work with getting my roses to bloom every year. I like to make soap and other bath things as a hobby. I do it because it's fun, not to be "crunchy". If I ever make any money off of it, I would be happy just to make enough to support the hobby. I'm not perfect. I struggle with my faith and I admit I seem to be losing the struggle right now. And I get frustrated with what I perceive as judgemental arrogance and I say things like "bite me".
So there I am...neither crunchy nor a mindless consumerist. Is there a nice little label for me?
Finally, while the idea that I have any kind of power to "excommunicate" someone from conservatism is flattering, I assure you that a peon like me doesn't have that kind of power. Mr. Dreher and company have nothing to fear from me.
One receives more attention being nasty than nice. Sad fact.
I guess if the crunchies' stance is, not all conservatives are rich, selfish, status-seeking, mindless consumers, my reply is, "Who ever said we were, besides democrats? And who cares what they think? :)"
Ironically, being gung ho on the family can and often does cancel out that whole crunchy lifestyle. We know a family at church who has five kids. You'd better believe they do a *lot* of shopping at Wal-Mart! They're also extremely "right" in their views, and even prefer foods without hormones or additives. They just can't always afford them. Life, for those of us blessed enough to live with the myriad of options in the United States, is a series of choices. There a lot of things more important than where you buy your vegetables.