If you sound like this when someone on the other side does something wrong:
But sound like this when someone on your side does the same thing or worse:
Then yeah, you're a big part of the problem. I thought of that when I saw this:
Pretty rough condemnation. And not unwarranted. I know little of the reporter in question who was murdered. I recall it from back in the day. But I think that, unless the guy was Himmler redux, he deserves a little more than a shrug and 'things happen'. Especially from our president. And I'll stand by that. But I don't think Trump's response is anywhere near what we have seen regarding some activists' and prominent professionals' reaction to transgender shooters in schools, or women who cross transgender activism, or heck, the Charlie Kirk murder. Yet regarding such things as the Charlie Kirk murder, the good deacon's response was:
Now, maybe it's me, but I see a definite tonal difference in how the actual murder of Kirk was addressed versus responding to President Trump's statement. Again, I think, as usual, President Trump's response was lousy. It goes a long way toward conveying a disregard for human life and suffering at a time when we need just the opposite.
But so did the murder of Charlie Kirk, only a million times more! And that includes those who defended and celebrated it. But what did you get from Deacon Greydanus the day Kirk was murdered? A platitude. Something that would fit on a bumper sticker. And not even his own. He had to quote others, saying he was too busy to address Kirk's murder. I note he wasn't too busy to comment on President Trump's statement. As for condemning such things as, say, the horrifying attacks on JK Rowling from transgender activists, I've asked for examples from him doing so but as of now have not received any.
That sort of morals by partisan plot point has no place in the Church, or decent society. If we want to bemoan President Trump or the society we've built that saw Trump's ascent, by all means. But that is only worth anything if we look at the broader culture and society we've built, even if the evidence for that declines points sharply back to the side with which we clearly sympathize.
To me 'things happen' is very much like saying, with a shrug, 'Well, this is the Middle East. What did you expect? Civilized behavior?'
ReplyDeleteAnd just to be clear about it, this sort of atrocity disgusts me. And I am happy that I am not the person given the job of negotiating with these people. Maybe we should send Greydanus. Maybe the savages would respect his moral purity.
And the best recitation ever of the phrase 'These things happen' was from Peter Sellers in his role as Dr. Strangelove.
In international politics, you're always dealing with cut-throats somewhere.
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The street-level Democrats in fora in which I participate were content with Charlie Kirk's murder. They fancy that's what you should expect for promoting dissent from the official idea on college campuses. ("What goes around comes around", blah blah). Greydanus does not object to that mentality.
(Tom New Poster)
ReplyDeleteWe have no direct power over the Saudis, unless someone wants a Crusade (which Greydanus does not). The Islamic world is caught in an iron triangle with royal tyrants in one corner, secular tyrants (like Saddam) in another, and fanatics (like Hamas and Iran's clerics) in the third. Bang it hard enough and all you do is shake things to another corner. So beat up on the Saudis (and in principle, yes, they deserve it) and the fanatics take over. How will that make things better? Until the grip of Mohammed's heresy on their minds is broken, that won't change and the President of the United States can't be pope. (A pope who acts like a pope and preaches to covert the infidel would be a good thing, so where can we find one?)
We can do something about our own snotty abettors of the domestic madmen who shoot their opponents in the neck. Get cracking, Steve.