A Cultural Darkness: Ill-Defined Love

A new low in the etymological history of the word love has been achieved in the phrase, “No glove, no love!” Provocateur Mike McNeilly, using “Art as a Weapon” (Dec. 15), has further trivialized the meaning of love .

McNeilly, whose goal is “to grab people by the jugular” for three seconds and force them to “think,” needs to cultivate the art of critical thought himself. Cultivate is the key word. It takes time, discipline and even love.

In a popular culture where sex is treated as a bodily function somewhere between eating and excreting, love is now defined as a potential moment of sensation used as leverage to protect oneself. No sacrifice, no vulnerability, no commitment, no deep communication, no promises and no planning for the future except to “try” to make sure nothing terrible happens, such as getting a disease or pregnant.

McNeilly’s use of art as a weapon is just one more means of cursing the darkness rather than lighting a candle in a culture dying of superficiality and moral suicide.

JOEL MARK SOLLIDAY

Moorpark