Sunday, October 17, 2021

The Right To Be An Idiot


Examples of the continuing insanity of our society can be seen all around us. It is nearly impossible to turn on the TV (or whatever you use to stream news and programs these days) without hearing some story about how this or that celebrity has come out, or said some stupid stuff 20 years ago and will now be fired for it, or any number of such idiocies. If one didn't know better, one would be tempted to think that our culture's national pastime is to spend their time researching everyone else's lives to find something that is "racist, homophobic, sexist" etc., etc., etc.

What motivates this rant, however, is not relegated to the leftist side of the arena. How many right-leaning people have you heard say or, more likely, post some sort of meme or article about the evils of COVID vaccines. To hear some tell it, the vaccines are loaded with poison or some other nefarious substance or, as has been heard from some quarters (no doubt the looniest among them) that they contain some sort of liquid chip that will be implanted in their recipients that will give the government control over the individual. As can be guessed by now, many are claiming that this is the "mark of the beast."

Ibram X Kendi is, by all measures, and intelligent man. Intelligence, however, does not guarantee that someone will have even a modicum of common sense. In a recent interview, Kendi claimed that Jesus was a "revolutionary" that came, not to give His life for the sins of the world and certainly not to save sinners, but to create social upheaval. In Kendi's telling, Jesus was one of the original Marxists who came to bring equality; but just not any equality, but the equality that effectively places those "oppressed races" in charge of society. Kendi and those who share his philosophy, believe that the only way that the egregious faults of our "white supremacist" society can be addressed is by giving power to the oppressed masses (who are of minority race status, of course).

One may look at the landscape of such "moronity" and want to silence such nonsense. It is hard to pick up a paper, hear a newscast, or read a magazine when every other story deal with this or that oppressed or marginalized group. If it is not something about race, it's about sexuality. If it is not about sexuality, it's about white supremacy. It's enough to make one's head spin. But we cannot give in to the urge to silence those voices. That is exactly what the great majority of people who hold such views would want to do with those of us who do not. People have a right to be idiots, so long as they don't infringe on the rights of others. A person can say all the stupid stuff that I just mentioned Kendi said, and he has an absolute right to say it. To paraphrase the biblical writer, "let those who will be wicked, be wicked still."

This tendency to want to silence the other side is a product of the push by a very large segment of our society to "protect" everyone within it. And the form that such protection takes is to silence anything and anyone that disagrees with them. You think homosexuality and transgenderism are sins, you must be silenced. You think abortion is murder, you must be silenced. You think that your children should not be subjected to "Trans reading hours" at their school's library, you must be silenced. That segment of society long ago abandoned any pretense to what they really want to do. They simply want to do it under the guise of helping those who are vulnerable, presumably anyone who agrees with them. That is why you seldom see them engage in any kind of meaningful debate. Things are the way they say they are simply because they say so. Science is an absolute...until it says something they disagree with. Thus, if science says that you must wear a mask, then they are all for it. But if science says that gender is a fact that cannot be changed, then they ignore the science and go their merry way.

Perhaps the most important lesson to be learned from all this is that, to the left and the perverse, no matter what you do to accommodate their aberrant behavior it is never enough. You either embrace it all or you will be tagged as a homophobe, a transphobe, blah, blah, blah (how is that for redefining language!). Thus, if Christians think that compromising a little here and there will somehow gain them favor with the radicals then they are in for a rude awakening. Truth is a stubborn thing and, regardless of how much people may try to deny it, you're either for the truth or you're not. If you're not, then you will find yourself bouncing about with little purpose and a life devoid of meaning!

 



4 comments:

  1. Wow! Great! Wise words! As regards the adamant and vocal (and sometimes angry) anti-vax crowd, I am somewhat amused how they as mostly political and social conservatives - seem to be using the same brow-beating, abusive & shaming tactics as the Left.

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  2. Calling your neighbors who are not convinced the vaccine is safe and therefore wish not to be vaccinated "loonies" seems harsh and unkind. I agree with the points you make in the rest of your article.

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    1. You seem not to understand the import of what I said. If you believe the vaccine to be unsafe, that is one thing. The examples I cited, however, and which you can see a plethora of all over the internet, are on the fringe, to say the least. You may not agree they are safe and you’re entitled to your opinion. To say that they are the mark of the beast, for example, goes way beyond simply not being convinced of their safety. Thanks!

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