“And when you stop and think about it, you won’t believe it’s true that all the love you’ve been giving has all been meant for you.” — Justin Hayward
There’s going to be a few of these and after each one I guarantee there will be a reader here and there that will think to themselves, “but I’m not a fascist and I support that.” This one will be a very important edition to read in that case. If you want an uneasy answer to that open question just ask yourself how you feel about Antifa.
See, Antifa stands for Anti-fascist. It isn’t some shadowy underground organization with an arch-villain pushing buttons and pointing fingers directing foot traffic. The fact that people think that’s true is ultimately another sign of what’s going on here. In fact, the fact that there is such a group now prominent in the United States should tell you something.
Controlled Mass Media
This one has taken on a mind of its own and has been in the works for about 40 years. The Fairness Doctrine was one that required media outlets to broadcast all sides if they were going to broadcast one of them. Ronald Reagan ended that and so Fox was born. However, you had talk radio before Fox and you would struggle to find left wing voices on the radio.
Yet, you see that is a large part of the con. We are constantly told that the media has a liberal bias. So, two things ultimately happen over time. First, we the consumers begin to assume that’s true. Yet, outside of MSNBC and maybe CNN you’d struggle to find any liberal sources in the mainstream. Sure, there are media out there like the Young Turks and other small outlets, but mass media and particularly broadcast media has become dominated by right wing sources.
Anyone around long enough can see the shift in attitudes that 40 years of constant bombardment has caused. Therefore, print media and typical corporate media bend over backwards so they don’t appear to be liberal. So, we get a “both sides” narrative based in a fantasy. Hillary’s emails become analogous do TFG’s life of crime. A few radicals outside of politics become analogous to those within politics on the other side. Fair and balanced suddenly means you can’t call crazy crazy. The fourth estate used to be about calling balls and strikes. Now it is about making sure you have just as many strikeouts as walks.
Religion and Government Intertwined
In one of her recent speeches, Lauren Boebert came out and said it. Just read the headline. If you aren’t sufficiently frightened then you should be. This one is very simple and fairly straightforward. It also leads directly into the next point. As citizens in a free society we have to have common rules that we can all agree on. Those common rules must be based on not only religious moral teaching but also moral and ethical standards all people religious and not agree on.
My college roommate (and best man at my wedding) asked me once how I could be a liberal (his term) and deeply religious. Ultimately, the answer is the same one I would give today when asked about any specific human right issue. The answer is that it is the choice I made. I made the choice to live my life according to a stricter code of conduct. I chose not to drink to excess, do other harder drugs, not have sex outside of marriage, have or support abortions, or anything of the sort.
I made that choice. I made it based on church teachings I chose to believe. Others are free to make their own choice. Anyone that is really a person of faith must come to the same conclusion. We were given free will. If we can’t choose our faith freely then is it really our faith? If we are to force that faith onto others through open prayer at school or through policies based on faith and faith alone then are we really free?
Disdain for human rights
This is the obvious payoff of both of the two planks above. Ultimately, I get that there has to be a line somewhere. We cannot let everyone literally do anything they want. There are common sense limitations to these things. Those common sense limitations almost exclusively involved children. Children deserve protection for coercion. They shouldn’t be subjugated into sexual relationships, marriage, or exploited for their innocence.
Given that, you really have to ask yourself why anyone really cares all that deeply about same sex individuals getting married. Assuming they are both 18 or older then why do we care about that? What is gained by preventing their relationship? What do we gain when we prevent someone from going through gender reassignment? What’s the payoff here?
I imagine when we look at new laws like the “don’t say gay” law in Florida what we are ultimately seeing is a perverse misunderstanding of human nature. It is the same misunderstanding that drives people in Texas to say that transgender teens are an example of child abuse. If my daughter wanted to become my son is that a decision I’m driving? Does anyone really believe that I would coach my daughter into going through all of that?
The ultimate human right is in being safe to be who you really are. It is in being proud of who you really are. It is in freely accepting the past so we can ultimately heal and do better. It is in allowing people to love themselves fully and also love someone else fully. The fact that we could move away from that has to be frightening. It is quickly becoming one white man with one white woman or one black man with one black woman. Anything outside of that paradigm is becoming verboten. So, ultimately we utilize religious zealotry and right wing media to reinforce the narrowing of our world view. See, these things all go hand in hand.
halloffameindex 