Dan If you had told me ten years ago that people praying in a time of tragedy would be criticized, I wouldn’t have believed you. Yet, here we are, after witnessing a terrorist attack that left fifty people dead, and offers of prayer are being rejected and ridiculed.
I just want to assure the liberals out there that prayer is not the culprit. Prayer is not the perpetrator of violence. Prayer is the calm in midst of chaos. Prayer is not an empty gesture, and there is no justification for questioning the sincerity of another’s prayer. Prayer is not inaction. It is by its very nature action. It is by the faith of the believer, the greatest action they can take. Prayer is no small task. It is a great undertaking and a strenuous exercise of the soul. Prayer is not cowardice. It is an act of faith in something greater than yourself. Prayer is not just a chosen response, it is a required response for believers. Finally, try to remember that everything isn’t about you, and you don’t get to reject prayers made on behalf of victims and their families. It’s really not your place at all. Ironically, liberals fail to see that prayer is a unifier, or at least, it is intended to be, and I am fairly certain it used to be. We are witnessing a cultural shift. It is disheartening to see that the left is angered that anyone would have the desire to pray to God in the face of a horrific evil, but governments made of men have a distaste for the anything higher than themselves. Critical attacks on prayer from the left arise from their increasing disdain of God, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. There is a great misconception among the liberals who have started this assault on prayer, and that is, that prayer is somehow easy. Prayer in the wake of a disaster is not easy. It requires discipline, the ability to be still In the midst of chaos, the ability to be patient. The best way I can defend against the argument that prayers are worthless is probably to let you know what people are praying for. Safety, Comfort, Protection, Love, Guidance. These are things that God gives. We should not pretend that the “prayers aren’t enough” chant isn’t grounded in a disdain for God. It is clearly is. The government made of men is always interested in uprooting the providence of God. We can never forget this.
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CDP “They accept Law as their Master. And they respect this master more than your subjects respect you. Whatever he commands, they do. And His command never changes….” - Demaratus Donald Trump’s recent accusations of bias against Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel has drawn fire from both sides due in large part to Trump’s insistence that Curiel’s inability to remain impartial in overseeing the lawsuit against Mr. Trump and his eponymous university is due to Judge Curiel’s Mexican heritage. Trump has also made statements implying he would have similar concerns if the judge were Muslim, another group he has been criticized for attacking in his public pronouncements.
The Left has of course taken their expected swings at this hanging curve ball. The more interesting reaction has come from the Right, where leading Republicans have stumbled over one another to distance themselves from Trump’s accusations directed at Judge Curiel. The interesting part is that elected officials on the Right, while being quite vocal in damning Trump’s perceived racial animus, have not seemed particularly interested in discussing the more disturbing aspects of what Trump is doing: using identity politics and his status as a presidential candidate and probable nominee to attempt to influence the outcome of a pending civil case against him. What Donald Trump is suggesting, the direction in which he seems to want to nudge our legal system, is antithetical to the principles Americans, particularly presidential candidates, should personify. It’s dangerous, shortsighted, unbelievably selfish, and despicably cynical….and it’s all the Left’s fault. Full disclosure: I don’t like Donald Trump. I won’t be voting for him. In my opinion he’s no better than Hillary Clinton, and the way he’s gone after Judge Curiel proves it, because this is the sort of tactic the left uses. The implication that a judge cannot remain impartial just because his ancestors were Mexican (Judge Curiel is himself actually from Indiana) and thus may disagree with the defendant politically is the exact sort of identity politics that conservatives have rightly decried for decades. It’s really the logical conclusion of a lot of that thinking; if someone isn’t like me, racially, sexually, politically, then they surely can’t impartially judge me in a matter of law. It’s the “live your truth” thinking run amok. In the law, there can be only two sides: the truth, and everything else. Of course, Trump supporters fall back on Curiel being a member of La Raza or otherwise radicalized. The racial angle to the story has served to make both sides even less reasonable than normal. White Trump supporters, sick of years of the left and the media always employing the knee jerk they-must-just-be-racists card, dig in their heels in support of the candidate they think they can trust to stop illegal immigration. A decent percentage of them may even have been open to the argument that what Trump is suggesting is wrong not because it’s “racist” but because of the way it undermines the law, but not anymore. The leftists who might once have actually listened to any possible real complaints about Judge Curiel (if any actually exist) certainly won’t when it’s Trump making the accusations, since for them anything Trump says is de facto racism. The truth is the Left isn’t upset with the tactic of accusing a judge of some sort of racial bias, they’re just upset with who’s using the tactic in this case. The government isn’t blameless, either. Years of judicial activism and “legislating from the bench” (typically seen as mainly a left wing phenomenon, though right leaning judges aren’t pure either) has made the Right highly distrustful of judges. The legislative branch has largely ceded its oversight role of the Federal judiciary below the Supreme Court. Taking some power and influence away from the judiciary, which doesn’t belong there in the first place, could go a long way towards possibly restoring trust in the people tasked with administering legal decisions. Voters should also vote for the politicians most likely to keep legislative power where it belongs, and not allow the judiciary such free rein. What it boils down to is that Trump is cynically using the racially charged political environment and the (earned) distrust of liberal judges on the Right against one specific judge to help himself win a lawsuit. But if the rule of law is followed it shouldn’t much matter if Judge Curiel gave a speech to La Raza. Judges are just people, subject to the same foibles as anybody else. Which is why the law exists, why it’s so important. It’s the guidebook which allows flawed men to judge other flawed men when necessary to keep our society civilized. That’s something we all would do well to keep in mind. There are probably plenty of people howling about Trump being a racist who, deep down, believe a white man isn’t capable of impartially judging a black man. That thinking comes from seeing people as mere members of a group and not as unique individuals. It comes from not accepting that Law must be our Master, and that his command never changes. Avi Woolf "You're just a kid, you don't have the faintest idea what you're talkin' about."
– Robin Williams, Good Will Hunting "When I was 18, I thought my father was an idiot. By 21, it was amazing what the old man had learned in three years." – Anonymous I'm going to tell you something that seems very hurtful, but which is for your own good: You're a moron. So is pretty much everyone your age. It's OK, I was also a moron. I still am at 34, in ways I am aware of and not. What’s worse, you and all your friends are steeped in a culture that venerates young morons as the great geniuses of the age and holds "older folks" in contempt as yesterday's news. You think that access to tons of information on the internet makes you wiser than the previous generation; you are dead wrong. There is a human wisdom born of personal, physical, and emotional experience which cannot be replaced even by consuming every library on earth. And constantly turning to people your age for advice is like the blind leading the blind off a cliff. Older generations of men, the ones before the 1960s, knew better. Every human culture you can think of respected not just knowledge but human experience; it was not for nothing that the elderly were respected and often trusted more in positions of leadership. Moreover, the tradition of older men showing young people the ropes goes back as far as humanity has existed. Why? Because the young are and always have been the overenthusiastic greenhorns who think they know everything and want to "think out of the box" and "break the rules." They're the new recruit to the army who thinks he can charge a machine-gun nest single-handedly with his bare hands. Previous generations understood that such a greenhorn needs a wizened master sergeant or officer who's seen a thing or two in his life (and who was once an overenthusiastic moron himself) to temper that greenhorn, teach him what the box looks like and what the rules are and why they exist, and help turn callow youths into confident, mature, and effective men. Your friends who are addicted to youth culture may be hopeless. You are not. If you wish to improve and have a better, more fulfilling, and purposeful life, you need to seek out older male mentors to help get you there. Yes, male mentors. Just as daughters often need female mentors to teach them to become a woman, the same is true of you and men. Ideally, your first port of call should be your dad. Unless he's an SOB who's abusive or neglectful or what-have-you, even an "average" father can be a boon for giving advice, a source of pride and encouragement, and just someone whom you naturally gravitate towards and trust to discuss "guy issues." Yes, you think he "doesn't get it" now, but in all likelihood you'll eventually realize he's smarter than you think. But there are plenty of other sources of male mentorship out there, if you only look for them. Even the west's female-dominated education system tends to have some men on hand, even if only as handymen or gym teachers. I've heard of how both often serve as mentors for kids in school. That's to say nothing of the army, university (professors really do love helping those who want their advice and instruction; I know, I'm the son of an academic), and all sorts of clubs. I say mentors in the plural form because I don't think it healthy to become too dependent on any one person for inspiration or instruction. This can often lead to hero worship bordering on the pathological, which paradoxically may leave you as immature and childish as before. Even if only one or two people "really" teach you most of what you know, have a varied toolbox of people you learn from. Ideally, you will outgrow mentors at least partially, and always seek out others to grow even more. You have a choice: deliberately remain a clueless kid, or learn to become a confident, mature man—from men who've already taken the journey. Choose wisely. |
MisfitsJust a gaggle of people from all over who have similar interests and loud opinions mixed with a dose of humor. We met on Twitter. Archives
January 2024
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