Things I Think
1. After this weekend, I don’t know what to think…
I’m used to getting beat on by the political right, but this weekend the political left matched any whipping I’ve ever received form across the aisle.
For those of you that missed it, I made a comment on Facebook where I said that the now famous clock that a Muslim student made looked like a bomb to me and that precautions should have been taken to assure that it wasn’t.
I didn’t defend the actions taken beyond that…I think we all agree that those are open to scrutiny.
For this statement I was accused of racism by multiple people, none of which have ever met me or know much about me beyond the fact that I supported putting the safety of children in a school above all else.
My character and intelligence were trashed and a demonic caricature was created and named after me.
There was no discussion, no middle ground, no nuance of thought allowed.
You were either a wonderful progressive opposed to oppression or you were a damned racist trying to crush an innocent child out of pure mendacity.
It was both incredibly painful and terribly frustrating.
A wise person will avoid such arguments and simply retreat to whatever thought ghetto will allow them in.
That will save you much grief, but it also gives the platform over to those who believe the only solution to our many ills is to crush those on the other side of the divide… who want to do the same to them.
Those who would hope to bring civil discourse between those divided to reach real solutions to real problems will be torn asunder in the middle by both sides.
We no longer seek the exchange of ideas for the purpose of finding solutions…we only seek to win and utterly ruin our “opponents”.
We are on dangerous ground and the destruction of our society is at hand.
We no longer divide while holding much in common…we divide wanting the silencing of all voices except our own.
I’ve watched this for sometime now…and frankly, I’m scared of what we’re becoming and what we will be.
To be more honest…I’m afraid if what I will become if the choice is between picking a side or staying in the middle where destruction is certain.
Both sides are right about some things and wrong about some others, so either side is a compromise of personal values and ethics.
My answer will be centered around the recognition that I belong to another kingdom where the lines are drawn differently…and praying for the soon coming of my king.
That’s all I’ve got today.
Michael, I completely agree with you. and I believe further research may prove that the whole thing with the kid’s “clock” was a set up with his politically inclined father.
One of the best decisions I’ve made recently was to get off facebook. It is simply a pointless distraction, IMO.
Richard,
It’s possible and it’s also possible that the actions taken afterwards were tinged by profiling and discrimination.
This is more than two sided…and there is a real sense in which everybody involved has a point to make.
All the points complete the picture…half is only a caricature of the truth.
JoelG,
I like the interaction with real life friends and family…and the cat videos. 🙂
What Facebook shows is what we are all about and that can’t be ignored.
I forgot about the cat videos lol. Good post thank you.
Yea Michael, free speech is pretty much dead now unless it aligns with the progressive viewpoints of our secular culture. We live in such an ultra-sensitive PC environment that no matter what you say someone is offended. Everyday people across multiple fronts are called out to apologize for something. It’s reached the point of absolute absurdity. I stopped caring about it a while ago and now I say and stand on what I believe without fear or apology. If it offends, oh well, be offended. It’s my opinion and free speech.
PB,
The right will shout you down just as fast and with just as much vitriol.
Trust me on that…
I was opposed to the school acting in the manner it did…until I saw a picture of his clock. Then I think they acted entirely appropriately.
You don’t build a clock to look like a bomb if you are not expecting trouble. I think his religion and race played into it a bit, but I think if a white kid had build that same contraption, they would have been in just as much trouble.
Probably wouldn’t have gotten the same amount of media coverage though.
That may be true Michael, but the right doesn’t have the big media behind them like the left.
Both will eviscerate you, you are right there, but the news media and Hollywood are the biggest players in this driving the vast majority of the progressive agenda and they tilt heavily left.
PB,
I think it’s a pretty even playing field…Fox News is huge and AM radio and conservative evangelicals are not exactly quiet.
I’m getting pounded on facebook as we speak 🙂
London,
If that contraption had been brought into a school here all hell would’ve broke loose.
They get crazy here if you wear a t-shirt with an “inappropriate” graphic…
Josh,
I’ve had my whupping and I’m sticking to kitty videos for a while… 🙂
Fox is quite vocal but they are the only major news media outlet that tilts right. Compared to all the other media and Hollywood, they are the proverbial pimple on the elephant’s butt, or is it the donkey’s butt?
PB,
Have you seen a ratings sheet lately?
The problem isn’t that one side or the other controls the media.
The problem is what both sides are doing with the media they have.
I saw what went down, and while not surprised, given the point of origin, it is hurtful and hateful and full of anger and aggression. It hurt to see you treated that way and honestly, I “unfriended” some people over it. I had two other, separate conversations that day, about completely unrelated things, but all boiled down to the same thing. those who are the loudest about wanting equality are usually the least tolerant and open minded. When you know so little about why you believe what you believe, you blindly lash out, because you can not have a civil discussion about the merits of your argument.
You were treated poorly and I am sorry for it.
Had a similar experience this weekend too. I regularly read a blog dedicated to the writing and publishing industry. It’s a great source of news and trends in the industry. However, lately I’ve seen the comments turning vicious, where before there had been civil disagreement among professionals. Without even realizing it, I had begun withdrawing from that community, commenting less and less.
This weekend a post was put up about being more civil in your comments, which highly offended a particular group who saw it as an attempt to quash their views. When I wrote that I agreed with the need to be more civil, I was mocked by one and accused of Nazism by another.
My parents migrated here from Germany, so Nazism had a direct impact on my family. Such an accusation, if done to my face, could easily result in a punch in the face- even though I’m not a man prone to physical violence. It is a foul word, especially when thrown at anyone who is of German descent.
Unfortunately, these accusers were hiding behind pseudonyms, while my postings where done in my full name. Any attempt to rebuke these fools could have easily resulted in them anonymously trashing my books, my websites, and my business endeavors. I was furious and unable to fight back, beyond an angry email to the website’s proprietor. (Who banned the worst offender and put the others on notice- thankfully)
I don’t know how you do it, Michael, trying to run down the center between two feuding sides. I know all those rocks and arrows aren’t bouncing off you harmlessly.
I have, but I’m telling you Michael 90% of Hollywood is far left and so is the Media – I used to work in that industry. It is far from being even close to balanced. And whoever controls the media controls the message and shapes culture, that’s just a fact.
gomergirl,
Thanks…it was harsh…but I learned some lessons that I need to, evidently.
The thing that just flummoxed me was the demand to defend myself against accusation that were simply improper to even make.
The people of color and different ethnicities that know and live around me have every right to ask those questions if need be…strangers on social media don’t.
The problem is that the media has “sides” at all.
EricL,
You bring up another point which is that disagreement on social media can now lead to people creating real personal consequences for you.
It’s not about winning a debate, it’s about destroying people and ruining reputations.
It’s insane…
London,
True…
I have wondered if the responses to people writing/speaking from the “other side” isn’t somewhat analogous to public “struggles” against a member of a targeted class during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Frightening, in that I suspect it may not be too far down the road when many earlier unthinkable things will not be merely said, but done.
I wonder if Carolyn Moore’s word on Christian maturity wouldn’t be appropriate in this context: http://artofholiness.com/2015/09/20/grow-up-please/
i see that Dr. Ben Carson stated that a Muslim would not make a good president because of the tenants of the Muslim religion… he’s dropping in those polls now, too
let’s start a like Michael poll 🙂 BTW does that ‘like’ button up there at the foot of the post do anything?
gonna go click on it
in my view, publicly spoken words need to be carefully considered in anticipation of how others will hear them. It may be sad that it is our reality, but to ignore it is to be misunderstood, judged, mischaracterized, then skewered. It is the climate in which we live. To establish a more truly tolerant society, those who see the problems as identified in Michael’s comments today must model the forbearance and patience we wish to see practiced towards us. Perhaps Jesus was right. 😉
Amen. Another kingdom. “My Kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight”….. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called, the children of God”. “As far as it lies with you, be at peace with all men”.
I’m a conflict avoider most of the time. My crushed spirit simply can’t take negativity or contention…..
“Even a fool seems wise when s/he keeps silent”. I’ll stick with that one.
“a fool seems wise when s/he keep silent”… (and it is a good model for folks like me to follow) – trouble is, if everyone is silent, then what happens?
It’s true that whether “conservative” or “liberal,” each bias has its own radical and reactive elements. Our own biases cause us to see one more than the other.
I see two big causes that AREN’T big media:
1) The educational system is fraught with biases that shape the younger generation’s opinions to certain outcomes. My bet is that 90% of the rude and reactive comments you experienced, Michael, were from people under 40.
2) The internet means that everyone is now an author. Not everyone should be.
I can’t speak to what things were like 40 years ago or 70 or 100. But I do know from my perspective, that the level of public and political discourse has significantly worsened over the past 20-25 years since I first became aware of and/or involved in such things. It seems like more and more nowadays, that it is all about stating your opinion as undeniable fact and then demonizing anybody who disagrees with you, even to a small degree. There is no room for reasonable dialogue. It is all or nothing.
As a minor participant on that Facebook post, I would have been lumped in with the racists because I thought the school was right in taking precautions. No matter that I stated I thought they should have taken the same steps with the child no matter what their race, ethnicity, or religion. I was still somehow a racist, I was just unable to see it. Sad state of affairs we currently live in.
This may have already been said, but, while I think that his clock did indeed look similar to a bomb, I do not believe for a second that any adults at the school thought that it was. There was no protocol followed, which is in place at every school in every state, for when a potential bomb has been found, or even when a bomb scare has been called in (a FL teen did it to our local high school in MA two years ago, evacuating the school which had no hard evidence). There was hard evidence here, if they really believed it could be a bomb. Yet no evacuation, no protocol followed at all. Why can we not be ok with the excellent mind of an inquisitive freshman who was on the middle school robotics team last year simply making a mistake?
So in this case I was a racist because I was “against” the Muslim boy. In other past conversations I have been accused of being a dangerously open minded flaming liberal because I defended President Obama against charges of being a Muslim. There is no allowance for reason or moderation.
“wise as a serpent, innocent as a dove” strikes an enviable balance.
Two issues I have with the way the school acted though is that no one was evacuated and the bomb squad was not called in. In fact, the police were driving around with it.
Know as to free speech…Yes both sides are guilty.
However, Michael, as I pointed out above the police and school’s actions showed me they are either inept in terms of protecting people when a bomb is around, God help them if there ever is a real one, or, they went off the deep end.
I suspect there is a little of both causes in the reaction to this non-threat and then everyone doubled down so as not too look foolish.
Considering what we did as kids, we’d be in jail for life nowadays. We are just so sensitive.
Again, I will say if everyone was so scared, why no fire drill or evac for the school and no bomb squad for the “Hey let’s drive it around to the station” police.
I guess I am just sick of this society being afraid of its own shadow. Yeah, I know it is a school, but my arguments for the two procedures not carried out tell me a lot. I am not saying there were racist, just covering themselves when they realized what had happened.
Oh well, Orwell was right. To paraphrase ya’ gotta have a bogeyman so everyone is always afraid of something. Geez, as the actions of the police and teachers show, you are on your own if something like this is for real.
Rather than government, I trust God. And as my maternal uncle, who saw enough death in WWII used to say, when He punches your ticket, it doesn’t matter what you do.
Sorry if this reads like a rant, I just think this kid got jobbed. Unlike both sides I am willing to listen. I just think the actions of the adults speak louder than their words in handling this situation.
Meant now as to free speech…
Donn at 30, you beat me to it.
The adults in the room scare me more than a clock than a homemade clock.
God help what those kids in that district are learning.
Robotics class anyone?
We as a society are doomed by what amounts to the daily war of tyranny versus counter-tyranny. It has killed collaboration and consensus.
People lost their minds about 10 years ago and left all reason behind, but they really lost them in the past 5 years. It really is only about destroying the opposition, not listening, not being tolerant. I think the left wants to wipe out conservatives — at least they sure act like that.
I have found that if I cannot bring a word of peace to something like that, I’m better off not speaking. I am really working on that. God says we are to be the peacemakers, so I’m trying to find ways to bring even one word of peace to these arguments, but when it’s not possible, I walk away.
Michael: There are instigators on the right and on the left. Their only job is to stir things up. I’m learning to recognize them quickly since the Lord pointed that out to me. There are sincere people on each side, but these instigators are only there to create chaos.
Although there was less vitriol overall, I feel like the same basic thing happened when you posted the John Gibson suicide article. Those who did not go along with the premise that a lack of grace by those around him lead him to commit suicide where reacted to with shock and horror. Some comments were made that implied that those of us who did not go along with the narrative being presented were part of the problem. It’s not very cool, but I guess it’s just something that happens when people disagree.
I agree with this guy is right on regarding the clock.
There is no doubt except among the willfully obtuse or those who close their eyes to the evidence now shown that this was a ploy from start to finish.
Considering the leader of CAIR who was so quick to respond was very clear in saying he did not blame either the school or the police, maybe it would be good for others to do the same.
Of course, he did turn the blame on national Islamophobia that leads to such events..which I am sure many dutifully nod their heads in agreement.
My guess is the CAIR guy was in on the scam, at least immediately after the fact if not before with the Imam/Dad, and knew when word eventually got out there better not be too much negativity expressed towards policemen and school teachers….the goal is the national agenda, not to take down some school in some police district.
Tokyo Rose had nothing on some of these guys.
I write the above remembering that Dan Rather still to this day insists on standing by his original Bush National Guard story involving clearly proven, fake, documents….of course that attempt was just to sway a Presidential election in the final days leading to the vote….chump change to what is happening in this nation with Islam and the slavish media carrying the water..
So I am not exactly expecting a national retraction and apology over the kid and his Radio Shack clock.
That last Josh was not me.
Let every man.
“Were this a general sentence, the inference would be farfetched; but as he immediately adds a sentence respecting the word of truth suitable to the last verse, I doubt not but that he accommodates this exhortation peculiarly to the subject in hand. Having then set before us the goodness of God, he shews how it becomes us to be prepared to receive the blessing which he exhibits towards us. And this doctrine is very useful, for spiritual generation is not a work of one moment. Since some remnants of the old man ever abide in us, we must necessarily be through life renewed, until the flesh be abolished; for either our perverseness, or arrogance, or sloth, is a great impediment to God in perfecting in us his work. Hence, when James would have us to be swift to hear, he commends promptitude, as though he had said, “When God so freely and kindly presents himself to you, you also ought to render yourselves teachable, lest your slowness should cause him to desist from speaking.”
But inasmuch as we do not calmly hear God speaking to us, when we seem to ourselves to be very wise, but by our haste interrupt him when addressing us, the Apostle requires us to be silent, to be slow to speak. And, doubtless, no one can be a true disciple of God, except he hears him in silence. He does not, however, require the silence of the Pythagorean school, so that it should not be right to inquire whenever we desire to learn what is necessary to be known; but he would only have us to correct and restrain our forwardness, that we may not, as it commonly happens, unseasonably interrupt God, and that as long as he opens his sacred mouth, we may open to him our hearts and our ears, and not prevent him to speak.
Slow to wrath. Wrath also, I think, is condemned with regard to the hearing which God demands to be given to him, as though making a tumult it disturbed and impeded him, for God cannot be heard except when the mind is calm and sedate. Hence, he adds, that as long as wrath bears rule there is no place for the righteousness of God. In short, except the heat of contention be banished, we shall never observe towards God that calm silence of which he has just spoken.”
Calvin commentary on James 1:19
Links will be late today…I have medical apps all morning.
Well, there is something worse than Calvary Chapel.
It’s called Islam.
And it’s pushing to infiltrate our Western Culture. We’re battling a big influx here. I moved once to get away from Commie bull***t and bad air and bad cult-like Ideology. Not moving again. Gonna stand and fight this time around.
#45-one thing i’ve noticed is that most of the rest of the world considers “nice” to be devious or weak… to stand, to declare for Christ – perhaps, to be in your face, as it were – is respected, appreciated and, i think, validates one…
even now i have trouble with this… we need to teach as MLD would say, what the Bible instructs… we are to stand – doing so does not entail being obnoxious – i know we can do so with grace in most situations, we just need practice, perhaps? dunno
if i had my life to live over … yada, yada 🙂
Well, well, well…
Look what’s comin’ to the heart of Mormon country…of course they’re participating.
http://www.parliamentofreligions.org///content/salt-lake-2015?p=speakers