You might want to reconsider where you've ended up in life:
Yep. Lewis is one of the contributors over at Where Peter Is. Mostly that site exists to remind us that only reprobates dare question the singular orthodox awesomeness of Pope Francis, with not infrequent reminders that the Left's appraisal of anyone or anything right of center is a reliable witness.
Nonetheless, Lewis's apparent defense of his dig is a good remedy for those who labor under the delusion that somehow one side of the ideological divide is where the beautiful people are, and the other side are the meanies. An argument not a few former conservatives have used over the years to justify their alliance with advocates of what those conservatives once so strongly condemned.
Despite those who try to insist that is why they have aligned the way they have, however, Mr. Lewis does yeoman's work showing why appeals to the better behavior on one side or the other as justification for taking a stand is generally a fool's argument. I suppose that's something.
BTW, we won't even get into the irony that, once again, those on the modern Left today sound more and more like the old fundamentalist stereotypes of yesterday - "they're suffering because God decreed it!" We'll leave it with Lewis's defense that he was only joking about Gibson losing his home in the LA fires.
UPDATE: So already I need to clarify. I'm not saying that this only happens to the left of center. Of course not. I'm pointing out that 1) those former conservatives who cling to the idea that history shows progressives are the good guys as opposed to those nasty rightwing types have reality against them and, 2) increasingly the modern Left acts very much like all the things it warned us about ages ago with its stereotypes of what conservatives and fundamentalists were all about. With that extra twist being that this is demonstrated here by none other than a former conservative.
Where even is the joke? Is Mel Gibson famous for mocking God? The creator of The Passion of the Christ? I haven't watched the whole interview yet but I saw a clip and it seems like Mel was doing his best to present Christianity as good as he could.
ReplyDeleteLet's even assume God is involved in this as some way to try and send a message to Mel - what is that message supposed to be? What did Mel Gibson do to deserve this from God? Is there any answer from Mike Lewis that doesn't amount to "be a sinner"?
increasingly the modern Left acts very much like all the things it warned us about ages ago with its stereotypes of what conservatives and fundamentalists were all about. With that extra twist being that this is demonstrated here by none other than a former conservative.
I think the real story is that they ALWAYS acted like the things they warned us about - the only difference nowadays is the spin machine is too weak to hide or distort this.
Gibson and The Passion have long fallen out of favor among many to the left of center. I recall Greydanus blasting Gibson a year or two ago, saying he was the most incoherent rambler he ever saw (as opposed to his statements from way back in the day when he praised Gibson's insights - see 100% conformity or else below). And I know back at Patheos there were not a few who, by that time, had dismissed The Passion as your typical fascist and racist bilge that warped the true message of the Gospel.
DeleteBut you're right. In hindsight it was the con job of the century. The side that told us we can never judge others judged others like no tomorrow. The side that gave endless middle fingers to anything they didn't like demanded respect for all views. The side that said we must have unchecked freedom of speech and expression was building a laundry list of words and phrase that must be banned, and on and on. The success of that was because by decades ago, they already held the scepter, orb and crown by way of our pop culture outlets, education and media. So they could literally talk out of all three sides of their mouths, because the institutions that should have called them out were, in fact, the ones doing it for them.
"Luke 13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
ReplyDeleteI remember also all those times Pat Robertson blamed catastrophe's on the sinfulness of the victims. Remember the near destruction of New Orleans by a mega hurricane? Pat blamed the sinfulness of the residents. Sounds a lot like Mike Lewis. Maybe Mike shouldn't be so quick on the trigger of blame. He just needs to open the Gospel of Luke.
Yeah, I remember the Robertson case specifically. All across St. Blogs, Catholics blasted Robertson for playing with God as a toy like that, as if God was there to only whack our opponents one way or another. Blasphemy and mocking God I recall were charges. Not that I care for those who act as if God has nothing to do with the real world. But I get the danger of always seeing God as my muscle ready to step in and only squash those I disagree with. And that was driven home time and again across the Catholic blogosphere when people said things like 'this happened because of them.' Again, many on the Left are becoming more than the religious right was ever accused of being, and that's saying something.
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