Source: Christianity Today
Both Ben and I have struggled somewhat with how to write about the
No Accident
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Powerful insights, thanks Rusty. I saw and shared a venn diagram floating around twitter last few days with a “you can think all of these things at the same time” message that dovetails with this piece.
https://twitter.com/Enoch_Root/status/1266786069795799042/photo/1
Also, that picture up top, wow. Was your selection there meant as an intentional contrast to another recent photo many viewed of a man holding a bible with the thumb facing the camera (a bit more awkwardly, perhaps, than Mr Floyd did)? It speaks as many words to me as the article, and I’m wondering if those words are all internally generated or if they’re prompted by any motivation on your part.
Awesome work Rusty , I will take issue with only one thing…I think the vast majority feel all those things in that paragraph, although maybe not equally.
It is good to see how we are herded into our thought lanes and recognizing a problem is the first step??.
I must admit, it didn’t occur to me at all until you just mention it. It is admittedly a powerful juxtaposition.
I hope you are right, Lawrence!
I have a problem with everybody pointing the finger at everybody else. Even this article trying to explain some path; what?
It’s very simple; those who create poverty are just as guilty as those who steal within it!!!
There were more protesters than rioter; why didn’t the protestors stand and protect life and property. Were they not protesting some kind of wrongdoing? Everybody standing around watching a man die and nobody stepped in … come on, why are they not arrested and charged? And I’m not talking about the 3 additional police officers.
Yet everybody protests, everybody riots, everybody writes about it! Hmm.
Both the Protestors and the Rioters are not only guilty but responsible. And both must be held accountable in a court of law!!!
Stand in front of a judge and explain yourself.
I like this word; culpability. The sword cuts both ways as far as I am concerned. No passing the buck here, it’s your fault too!!!
I joined a group of people, individuals years ago who gathered together to form a bigger part of a group of people, individuals trying to stop Monsanto’s from some issue Monsanto’s was involved with at that time. I thought I was doing something good. Only to discover that the courts, another battle beyond my ability to truly understand stopped Monsanto’s. I was happy because I felt bad … meaning there was something wrong with protesting. I could not put my finger on it at that moment but something was off. I was doing something wrong. Once the word got out that our effort were fruitless, the organizer called a meeting. This meeting was interesting and I quote; “Who do we go after next!” … I said what!!! Next!!! Not me!!! I made the connection …
Protestors are nothing but Rioters - Rioters are nothing but Protestors. Just a different color.
Total loss!!!
Tom
Tom, I’m not 100% sure that I understand what you’re saying here. I think you are saying that all members of a society share some responsibility for its state. Of course this is true. But despairing at pointing out what is wrong because it might be perceived as looking for someone to blame seems a bit too fatalistic for my tastes.
Meaning vs Definition? I made a discovery years ago, where I was convinced that during the Los Angles Riots three young men were charged with murder in the 1st degree which I agreed with. Only in my shock and horror, these three men go off! Instead, these three men got a lesser charge, I believe it was manslaughter. At that moment I could have been a rioter! I was angry. A week later the defense attorney was interviewed and in my shock and horror, I agreed with the defense attorney. To get a conviction of murder in the 1st degree you must prove “Intent” … and I knew immediately that there was no intent. I was changed forever. I discovered “Meaning” vs “Definition”.
“Fatalistic” … oops! Didn’t mean that what I meant is that if you choose to stand on either corner, right or wrong, yes or no, the error shows up, if you are going to charge the rioter then you must charge the protestors, both sides equal here.
Based on everything I see, hear, and read there is a lack of “Meaning”. I only see “Definition”. Meaning is missing.
I am trying to find meaning to all of this and I continually come up empty. What does all this mean?
I am no longer interested in being a protestor nor a rioter, thanks to that fateful day, fate if you will.
I want to choose something higher; “Law and Order” ?? These two words have meaning to me.
Am I being nieve?
Tom
excellent work here Rusty !
You’re actually looking at the Deep State, media division. Both narratives.
You’re also watching the beginning of state implosion. You can stop worrying about the cops now.
Or the military, which is now combat ineffective except for point self defense. Seriously, off the table.
Sergeant Major of the US Army is posting on his official Twitter:
https://mobile.twitter.com/16thSma
Trust me; your real problem is there are no men on the walls.
The good news is you’re going to be able to stop fretting about video brutality, the bad news is it will be in person. Better get a harsher mindset.
And a crew, one gun is not enough.
This incident–and let’s call it what it is, an extrajudicial killing of one of our fellow citizens by an agent of the state–has revealed an awful lot of the ugly underlying elements in society. The internet, and by extension some places within the flesh-and-blood world, are evidently filled with civil war fetishists and Nazi cosplayers who are just itching to jump into some conflict, ANY conflict, just for the thrill. That modern American life is so staggeringly comfortable for so many of these angry young men appears to mean nothing to them. The anger persists. Perhaps some of it is warranted. Quite a few of us aren’t happy with the institutions that are meant to serve us. But for young men who have the disposable income to spend thousands of dollars on guns and body armor, the notion that their Red Dawn LARPing is anything more than a sign of arrested development is hard to take seriously. And yet they are given an awful lot of media attention, almost as if we are being lead to believe that they represent some great, heretofore unawakened beast that is poised to take down our liberal order. How exactly that became the story rather than George Floyd and the suffering of our brothers and sisters in poverty and despair, is beyond me. If national media cared in the slightest about black lives, if they truly believed that they mattered, the coverage would not just be of protests, but would be wall-to-wall with experts in policing, community activism, and management. We’d have heard a dozen ideas already about how to approach policing in a way that balances the lives of the officers and the lives of the alleged perpetrators. We’d have heard from mayors in cities with low incidents of brutality as they tout their community-based policing strategy. We’d be hearing from mental health experts that would outline the importance of getting better services into poor communities, so that early detection of childhood problems–behavioral, learning, or environmental–could be addressed before they metastasize into a life of crime. We’d be discussing the disbanding of police unions and their powerful hold on local and statewide politics. We’d be figuring out how to purge departments of the bottom 20% of officers every year and replacing them with better-trained, more mentally fit people. But of course we aren’t discussing any of that. Instead it’s white supremacists and ANTIFA. It’s broken windows and looting, Donald Trump and tear gas. We are broken. We have chosen to be broken. We elected to be broken. We ASKED to be broken. Jeff Zucker and Donald Trump are playing the same game, the rewards for each are simply a little different.