Resisting Throwaway Culture

How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People

By: Charles C. Camosy

Narrated by: Charles C. Camosy

Length: 9 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

This is a book about hope in the midst of a polarized culture. Camosy begins with a hopeful starting point in the midst of a crumbling US political culture. Two of every three Americans constitute an “exhausted majority” who reject right/left polarization and are open to alternative viewpoints.

Especially at this time of realignment, we have been given a unique moment to put aside the frothy, angsty political debates and think harder about our deepest values. A consistent life ethic, especially one which embraces Pope Francis’ challenge to resist “throwaway culture”, has the capacity to unite people who, for the last several decades, imagined themselves in a polarized culture war.

On issues ranging from hook-up culture, reproductive technology, abortion, euthanasia, poverty, immigration, treatment of animals, and mass incarceration, this book articulates a new moral vision in which a culture of encounter and hospitality replaces a consumer culture in which the most vulnerable get used and discarded as so much trash. 

At the bottom, Camosy offers listeners a golden opportunity to dialogue about what kinds of values should serve as the foundation for a new political culture.

©2019 New City Press (P)2020 New City Press

Love the idea not executed well

The title , thesis and conclusion are inspiring however most everything in between, although allegedly giving two sides, is clearly weighted on the writers bias with many generalizations unsubstantiated statistics.

The book we need right now!

Camosy's book draws from the Consistent Life Ethic (CLE) and Pope Francis' culture of encounter to offer us a vision of the good and a vision of what life could look like that could transform our community's. He lays out the CLE and its key principles very clearly and then applies them to such crucial issues as sex and sex cultures, reproduction, abortion, duties to the poor, immigration, ecology, non-human animals, state sponsored violence. He acknowledges the complexity of addressing each of these issues while still offering a unifying vision that has the potential to invite us out of our polarized and polarizing silos into a new kind of engagement with one another. It's well worth a read (or a listen).

The performance of the text is done by the author, who reads it very well and very clearly. The content is very accessible and is easy to follow by listening. I will note that the print version has very helpful endnotes and appendices that scholars and teachers probably won't want to miss. If that's you, consider the print book or e-book instead of the audio version.