To Be Based or Not to Be Based, by Eric Sammons

By Eric Sammons, Crisis Magazine, Sept. 25, 2023

Eric Sammons is the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine.

To be Catholic today often means to be “based.” But there are dangers to chasing after baseness.

Are you based?

A few years ago, such a question was nonsensical; after all, what does it even mean to be “based?” Based on what? But now it’s the term thrown around on social media and the basis (no pun intended) of a way of living.

For those of you, like me, who are no longer of the generation that automatically understands new slang by osmosis, to be “based” means to be “courageous and unique or not caring what others think” (Thanks, Urban Dictionary). In practice, it often means going against the woke hegemony by saying something thoroughly offensive to woke ears.   …