Buddy Can You Spare a Dimes²?
Rad-Trad Punkers
8-19-22
What is Dimes² or better known as Dimes Square? I never heard of it because I'm not a NYC hipster, but rather an Upstate NY hickster. Apparently, Dimes Square has been in the news lately for being the hip neighborhood in NYC (at the intersection of Ludlow and Canal on the Lower East Side), but for a reason that seems counter-intuitive to "hip." Dimes Square is supposedly chock full of Rad-Trad Catholics.
Icky, poo, blech, if NYC wasn’t creepy enough, now this!
What is a Rad-Trad Catholic you say? Well that is the shorthand term for a Traditional Catholic, a person who follows the Teachings and Liturgy of the Church prior to Vatican II in 1969, which destroyed the Church and turned it into just another Protestant Denomination. Traditional Catholics also attend the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), with all its accompanying Sacraments, Rites and Festivals. The "Rad" part stands for "radical" meant as a right-wing extremist derogratory term used by some non-Catholics, Catholics and the Pope alike. Full disclosure - I am considered a Rad-Trad Catholic because I attend an SSPX Church (Society of Saint Pius the Tenth). Plus, I'm sure most people would consider me a right-wing radical because I treasure liberty, freedom and our God-given rights.
But I digress.
So, who cares if Dimes Square is full of Rad-Trad Catholics? Well, I don't really, I just thought I'd write a post about why I think such a weird thing has happened and why the media is so fascinated with it lately. I believe it's God's sense of humor popping up yet again to further His plans, not ours. "Man plans, and God laughs."
So this all began during the “covid "me-too freakout™." Dimes Square was the place the zoomers and other hipsters went to in order to socialize when the rest of NYC complied with the moronic shut downs and shot passports. Why? Because they were young and "sticking it to the man" just as young people should, and just like the punkers of the 1970's did in the doom and gloom Nixon/Ford/Carter-era NYC. But, as history usually goes, the world has now turned so that the 70’s punkers are now "the man" with their "just get the damn vaccine!" cries and their stupid compliance with face diapers and shot mandates in order to pretend that they are never going to die. And the zoomers said "screw you!" and found out that one of the only places that fought to stay open and fought against face diapers (even when threatened with fines and penalties) during the “covid "me-too freakout™" was the Traditional Catholic Church.
One of few groups of people that railed and continue to rail against the medical-industrial complex are Traditional Catholics with their religious and home schooling, rejection of shot mandates, and going to Mass without a face diaper, etc. Oh, how things change, yet remain the same. Rad-Trad Catholics are now the new punkers of the 2020’s.
Say what? Punkers of the 1970's are nothing like the crazy religious nut-cases of 2022. No? Punkers in 1970's NYC (Ramones, Velvet Underground, Blondie, etc) were anti-establishment, with a DIY attitude, who believed in freedom of expression and living life to the fullest. Rad-Trad Catholics in 2022 believe the very same things. We may not be into the same sex, drugs and rock and roll activities, but the underpinnings of a belief in God-given freedoms and an aversion to government overreach is EXACTLY the same. Club CBGB reigned in 1970's punk, while Club SSPX or FSSP or IKSP reigns in 2020's Rad-Trad.
Who knew if you raised kids in an atmosphere of compliance with government and the woke leftist, secular society, that those same kids would rebel and tell the government to shove it and look toward traditional and unwokeness religious societies. That's the nature of humans - to want to be free. That's the nature of God as well - to want you to be free.
OK, so what. Dimes Square is a fad and will fade away fast when the zoomers and hipsters find out what Traditional Catholicism really means right? Probably. Rad-Trad Catholics don't always live in fun and games. It's a hard life following Christ and God’s Commandments. It was a hard life living as a punker in the 70's as well following drugs, alcohol and other sordid activities. Freedom, in whatever format you choose, is not easy. Stepping outside the safety of the herd is not easy. Many zoomers and hipsters will give up and toss the Rosary Beads, Daily Missals and Chapel Veils into the garbage soon, and look back at this phase in their lives as just a "lark" and "something to do."
But... but.. but...
Many will return to the Church decades later. I did. Thirty years after I tossed the Church to the curb. They will look back at their youth playing as Rad-Trad Catholics as the best time in their lives, as many say about the punk period of the 1970's. They will remember it as the only time they really felt free and alive. They will want that feeling back and for their children.
That is what God is doing with Dimes Square. A tiny little block in NYC with a small contingent of youngsters playing at Traditional Catholicism. God is laying the groundwork for these "punkers" to keep Traditional Catholicism alive in the future, when the Church will surely need warriors to keep the faith against the onslaught of secular transhumanism that is and will continue to sweep the globe in all its fury.
Funny how the Sex Pistols' song "God Save the Queen" from the 1970’s punkers is still relevant today to the 2020’s Rad-Trad punkers:
God save the Queen The fascist regime They made you a moron Potential H-bomb God save the Queen She ain't no human being There is no future In England's dreaming Don't be told what you want to want to And don't be told what you want to need There's no future, no future No future for you God save the Queen We mean it, man We love our Queen God saves God save the Queen 'Cause tourists are money And our figurehead Is not what she seems Oh, God save history God save your mad parade Oh, Lord, God have mercy All crimes are paid When there's no future how can there be sin? We're the flowers in the dustbin We're the poison in your human machine We're the future, your future God save the Queen We mean it man We love our Queen God saves
Good post. Simple. To the point. Lately I have been reading a lot of Substack posts from various authors that make no sense to me. I question if I am going crazy because I cannot understand a lick of what people are saying.
God's work is complicated (human biology, nature, etc) yet God's truth (faith and love) is simple. We don't need to play God and complicate things, simple writing works best for me, because obviously I am brain dead and I like to draw cartoons.
Kind of weird you mentioned CBGB as I just watched a movie about it two days ago. Times were simpler back in the 70's even with Vietnam War, inflation and a useless President. Today things are supposedly more complicated yet we still have wars, inflation and a useless President. Plus no fun is allowed, unlike the 70's.
I liked your comment on another stack, so here I am. I did the punk thing, although an outlier because I didn't play dress up. The seeds of conformism were there despite or because the rebellion and disgust with the system. I played base then, old time fiddle tunes now. In between, perhaps a few too many books were read. But Abraham Heschel and Morris Berman are remembered fondly because they show how our consciousness is expressed over time and possible ways to improve those expressions.
I realized that my understanding was simple and because our Creator speaks to us in terms of our understanding, it behooves us to improve our understanding. So I pray for (experiences that produce) better understanding with the expectation that the prayer is in line with God's will. There is also some self training involved where I aspire to balance order(law) and liberty(spontaneity) so as to reduce internal conflict. I do what needs to be done so that I feel good when doing what I want to do.
Anybody that finds interest in words like these is invited to visit my stack.
Thanks for your efforts Napoleon and your picture of the rad-trad world.