Kevin O'Brien does a good thing

Yep.  It was on a post I wrote from last year that was, I'll admit, pretty brutal towards Mr. O'Brien.  It was in response to an article he wrote that I felt was way too partisan despite its surface content which seemed to be condemning partisanship.  I also felt it was at the expense of calling out the particularly egregious things we're seeing to the Left of center.  In that case, the Left/Media's decision to sweep under the carpet those non-MAGA types celebrating the October 7th slaughter of over 1000 Israeli Jews.   Or, for that matter, sweeping under the carpet the actual slaughter of over 1000 Israeli Jews.  Compare that to the media saturation over the Unite the Right rally of 2017, or George Floyd, or the weeks of stories about that teen who supposedly committed suicide over gender.

Anyhoo, I admitted I was lacking in knowledge of the 'Latest of Kevin O'Brien Writings' department.  That one article coming to my attention after many years of not really keeping up with his thoughts.  I also explained why I had stopped reading him.  If you go back here, you can read my post and background and the comment.

Well, for whatever reason, I missed that Mr. O'Brien swung by and responded.  It wasn't a bad response in the least.  It was almost creepily normal and mature.  Almost like someone came to a gathering I was at, walked over, and corrected something he heard me say.  Or at least put it into context.  You know.  How people behaved before the Internet.  Nowadays that sort of behavior is more like a Big Foot sighting.  You hear rumors but never expect to experience it yourself.  

But the really crazy thing?  He admitted he was wrong about the whole 'Lying for Jesus' issue from way back when.  He admitted he was too inflexible.  Which is true.  That was always the problem.  I don't recall anyone saying 'Hey!  Let's lie for Jesus!  Isn't lying awesome?'  They were merely saying that, in a pinch when the innocent are suffering, shouldn't we be pardoned if, in our passion to do the right thing and save the suffering innocents, the best we could do is be less than straight as an arrow?   Are we sure it's better to let a thousand children be slaughtered than to tell a white lie to save them?

Of course logic and 'God is not a machine' thinking suggests if the worst reason you ever lie was making a false statement in order to protect the innocent from suffering and death, you're probably walking a darn righteous path.  But the amazing thing is that Mr. O'Brien admits he was too inflexible in that department.  And I want that to sink in.

One of the side effects of the virtual lynch mobs we call 'wokesters' is a mounting hatred for anyone or anything that is less than perfect.  Since we move from accuse, condemn and then eradicate those reprehensible imperfect types, it stands to reason that such wokesters, and everyone around them, will be less than ready to admit fault.  After all, they've established the standard that there is no forgiveness or understanding for the sinner.  There is only eradication, erasure, and extermination.  Don't hold your breath for many apologies when that approach to failure and sin is all the rage in a society.

Yet Mr. O'Brien did it.  Which isn't bad. That alone warrants another look at his musings.  Not that I will agree with him about Bueller.  I didn't like Ferris Bueller's Day Off when I was a godless liberal agnostic in college.  Something about the layers of lying and mockery of the good heartedness of a city just didn't sit well with me.  Plus I had to wonder why the principal who wanted Bueller to be a responsible student was the bad guy.  I fear that movies like that, even back then, were canaries in the coal mine.  It just didn't bode well if that was what my generation thought was good and bad. 

Nonetheless, kudos to Mr. O'Brien.  He did a rare thing nowadays, and acted like a man.  He admitted fault where he saw it and clarified for me the situation as he understood it.  It's a sad read in that respect, but all too common nowadays.   The Internet does corrupt I'm afraid, even friendships.  And obviously, if you read Mr. O'Brien's comment, it's likely more common than we care to admit. 

Sometimes I think the Internet is a big joke Satan played on us just when we thought things were bad enough.