I guess I missed the part where the media pivoted away from calling this an attack on Asians. That's what I keep hearing, even though the suspect has, as you said, admitted to why he did what he did.
I want to specifically address the portion of your post regarding the Atlanta/Atlanta area spa shootings. I am an Asian American female. To see the post of a white male stating that the shootings at three “Asian themed spas, which tend to serve as houses of prostitution” (to quote you) are not hate crimes or racially motivated really hurt me. To me, the evidence is not "overwhelming". On my end, I never heard that white supremacy was involved in this incident. I did hear the shooter was “having a bad day”. But words and actions matter. The shooter may not hate or even dislike Asians. However, he specifically targeted Asian spas. The shooter may not realize he held stereotypes, but that does not mean they did not exist. He likely has psychiatric issues but it does not change the fact that he targeted Asian spas and wanted to eliminate temptation. In doing so he killed eight people.
Over the years in my workplace, I have had several comments made about offers for “massages” in my parents country of origin followed by “you know what I’m talking about!!”. (No, I did not go to HR about that despite the great offense I took to those comments.) This all said knowing I am of that particular background. I am sure this physician does not feel he is racist. I would not label him as racist. But those comments are. WORDS matter. Actions matter. One does not need to be a part of a formal hate/racist organization for it to be a racist or a hate action (on a legal level, I am sure there are specific criteria that exist).
Especially in the past year, anti-Asian sentiments and aggressions are alive and well in many areas of the country. Not just California but also experienced here in New York as well as by my friends throughout the country. And yes, our experiences HAVE included caucasians. Not exclusively, but without question from caucasians. While my experiences and those of my friends have not been physical or violent, must we wait for actual physical action or violence? I will mention James 3:5-6, 8 (ESV): “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison”.
I do not believe that you wrote this post to give pain and anger. But that is the effect the post had on a fellow sister in Christ who happens to be Asian American. I ask that you take a look at the comfort you have as a white male. Try to look at things from a different perspective. Acknowledging that you cannot fully understand another’s perspective and lived experience would be a good place to start. I want to go back to your words “Asian themed spas, which tend to serve as houses of prostitution”. With that comment alone, you just played up to and supported another hurtful and dangerous stereotype.
Between 2011 and 2014, APD records show there were multiple arrests made at the “Gold Spa” for prostitution related offenses, where employees of the spa offered to perform sex acts for money to undercover officers. All three spas advertised on “Rubmaps”, an erotic review site where people can search for massage parlors that offer “full service”, aka sex acts. It’s not a “stereotype” when it’s true...it’s just a fact.
You have gotten caught up in a sentence that you are taking the wrong way. In the state of Georgia, there is a problem at these "spas". They are just what was said, houses of prostitution. For the most part, they are "Asian themed"...meaning, it is generally Asians who work there. I don't know why. I don't don't the background. You can take offense to this is simple fact, but rather than that, I'd suggest studying the problem of these "spas", why there are so many Asians working in them, and maybe see if there is a way to solve it. Why the state doesn't do a better job of squashing this issue is beyond me.
I just can't with this nonsense. Elliot Page received ACTRESS nominations/awards? Right up there with Caitlin Jenner winning the MEN's decathlon. Frankly, "dead-naming" is an insult to parents who have lost children everywhere.
Truth has become a four-letter word.
I'm currently reading a pre-release of Voddie Baucham's book, *Faultlines,* wherein he discusses Critical Theory as the source of the current socially-acceptable cult. Everybody worships something.
On Thursday my boyfriend and my daughter were excoriating me and in an uproar that I refused to call the shooting in Atlanta a crime against Asians. Now the truth comes out. I am a mental health professional and I deal with sexual addictions. Mental illness in real. What the wokes could not admit that these Asian women are exploited by their own kind. Namely putting Young's Pretty Asian women on the sign. Who does that? Further the children of the woman shot were told to tell people their mother did nails. Massage therapists in Atlanta who are professional and went to school and have a license ought to be outraged. Say his name, he did not commit a hate crime.
Very well said, sir. I still don't understand why the media and our elected leaders insist on calling it what it isn't. They are supposed to print and speak the truth.
Erick, thank you for your leadership in this area of public controversy.
There is only one person that I have noticed--Jordan Peterson--whose experience and response in these issues has been more effectively presented than yours.
Keep up the good work. What you are saying needs to be said.
But your boldly vocal approach is not the course for all of us who have lesser media visibility.
With that said, my Christian gut feeling is that the most effective response to such widespread foolishness is the cross of Christ.
Just ignore all the gender-bending acrobatics. Preach Christ crucified, risen from the dead.
More importantly, however, is the necessity for Christians to adjust their emphasis in teaching and preaching.
We need to present more of Christ's teaching concerning how humans relate to one another, and the power of Jesus' truth, rather than striving to pigeonhole our own religious so-called rights into constitutional and legal loopholes.
It's not about us. It's about Jesus, crucified and resurrected--the most important, the most powerful event in all of human history.
Our public presentation ought to be less about our supposed place at the table of public discourse and Law--and more about Christ himself and his message: Love your enemy. Pray for those who despitefully use you. Turn the other cheek, Sermon the Mount, Blessed are the Peacemakers.
The Truth--and our bold presentation of it--has far more spiritual power and authority than these media acrobatics with tweetified, contorted pseudo-controversies driven to the brink of facebook foolishness.
Ignore these gender-contortions as much as possible. Their arguments are not worth our precious time.
I can only pray this is true, Eric....."The truth demands we speak up and more and more we are having to speak up against an elite that controls cultural, technological, and news outlets. At some point very soon, what the elite will find is that society has built up a seething resentment to them. It will end badly for a lot of people. The present course is not sustainable." I'm not sure the 'elites' give a rip that we have built up a seething resentment to them. They have all the power. But I applaud your advice to stand up for what we know is true. Persecution of Christians is not a new thing....I just NEVER thought I would experience it in my beloved country.
The outrage couldn't possibly be intended to 'win the argument' - you'd have to be nuts to believe such an approach could be persuasive. It's just outrage for the sake of outrage - to excuse other very serious personal shortcomings. In high school I decided that there could be no higher calling than being a musician, so I practiced all day and blew off school. Fortunately, unlike 'wokeness' which is fluid and can be many things, good violin playing is not a matter of personal preference. That was a very bad turn that I quickly got past and started doing things I actually was somewhat good at. Not so for these woke-aholics
I am shouting from the roof top, I am a CHRISTIAN, I am white, I am a conservative, and I love my neighbor, even though he thinks I am a Bible thumping, gun toting, racist. How did we get here? Thank you Lord for your Son. (actually I am a Bible thumper)
When my company's HR department actively promotes LGBTQ+ issues and demands I attend diversity trainings, should I refuse to go?
When the woke mob comes for me, my family, my job, and my professional and personal reputations, how will my principled stand feed, house and clothe us?
When my next door neighbor has a transgender daughter who was cutting herself until her tearful parents finally relented and let her wear a dress in public, what does "speaking up" and "loving my neighbor" look like then?
The view is always great from the bleachers, y'all.
Not everyone has similarly minded neighbors or a radio show that pays you to say what you like, & that can survive a woke mob onslaught.
@Lanier......In the Bible book of Revelation chapter three, there is a letter written by Jesus to the church in Philadelphia. (not the city in Pennsylvania) The church in Philadelphia was faithful in carrying out God’s ministry. They received received pushback from the community......people spread lies about the church. (Sound familiar?) God’s encouragement to the church in Philadelphia was this:
I would say that in the workplace you and we try to find a place to sue. We have rights too.
If you are assaulting and assailing me for my beliefs then isn't that just as agregious? and as aggrieved as not being accepted for having transgender issues? I have a fantasy that men would dress up like women and parade around with heels and lipstick and boobs and the like and then just see them try to get a corporate job and be in the board room? See the wokes and the white elites are just hypocrites.
Completely lost in this whole narrative is that the killer targeted the source of his temptation--women. I am 70 years old and, when I was growing up Catholic, women and girls were assigned the thankless and often dangerous role of protecting men from their own uncontrollable natures. (This was, of course, damaging to men as well, but they were usually not in physical danger because of it.) That is what this murderer did. He could not control his sinful urges so he killed the objects of them. Never mind that murder is also a sin and that giving in to one sinful urge to avoid giving in to another is no moral victory.
The "woke-o-haram" is clearly wrong and working in over-drive on this but, Mr. Erickson, I believe you have also the plot this time as this has nothing to do with transgenderism. Purity culture is not new, it is as old as the hills and continues to be extremely dangerous to women.
Nevertheless, this murderer, alone, is responsible for his actions.
You say a lot of true things in this essay, but another true thing is that few groups were as monolithic in their blind, unconditional, sycophantic support of Trump as white nationalists and Evangelicals.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I guess I missed the part where the media pivoted away from calling this an attack on Asians. That's what I keep hearing, even though the suspect has, as you said, admitted to why he did what he did.
Mr. Erickson,
I want to specifically address the portion of your post regarding the Atlanta/Atlanta area spa shootings. I am an Asian American female. To see the post of a white male stating that the shootings at three “Asian themed spas, which tend to serve as houses of prostitution” (to quote you) are not hate crimes or racially motivated really hurt me. To me, the evidence is not "overwhelming". On my end, I never heard that white supremacy was involved in this incident. I did hear the shooter was “having a bad day”. But words and actions matter. The shooter may not hate or even dislike Asians. However, he specifically targeted Asian spas. The shooter may not realize he held stereotypes, but that does not mean they did not exist. He likely has psychiatric issues but it does not change the fact that he targeted Asian spas and wanted to eliminate temptation. In doing so he killed eight people.
Over the years in my workplace, I have had several comments made about offers for “massages” in my parents country of origin followed by “you know what I’m talking about!!”. (No, I did not go to HR about that despite the great offense I took to those comments.) This all said knowing I am of that particular background. I am sure this physician does not feel he is racist. I would not label him as racist. But those comments are. WORDS matter. Actions matter. One does not need to be a part of a formal hate/racist organization for it to be a racist or a hate action (on a legal level, I am sure there are specific criteria that exist).
Especially in the past year, anti-Asian sentiments and aggressions are alive and well in many areas of the country. Not just California but also experienced here in New York as well as by my friends throughout the country. And yes, our experiences HAVE included caucasians. Not exclusively, but without question from caucasians. While my experiences and those of my friends have not been physical or violent, must we wait for actual physical action or violence? I will mention James 3:5-6, 8 (ESV): “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison”.
I do not believe that you wrote this post to give pain and anger. But that is the effect the post had on a fellow sister in Christ who happens to be Asian American. I ask that you take a look at the comfort you have as a white male. Try to look at things from a different perspective. Acknowledging that you cannot fully understand another’s perspective and lived experience would be a good place to start. I want to go back to your words “Asian themed spas, which tend to serve as houses of prostitution”. With that comment alone, you just played up to and supported another hurtful and dangerous stereotype.
Between 2011 and 2014, APD records show there were multiple arrests made at the “Gold Spa” for prostitution related offenses, where employees of the spa offered to perform sex acts for money to undercover officers. All three spas advertised on “Rubmaps”, an erotic review site where people can search for massage parlors that offer “full service”, aka sex acts. It’s not a “stereotype” when it’s true...it’s just a fact.
You have gotten caught up in a sentence that you are taking the wrong way. In the state of Georgia, there is a problem at these "spas". They are just what was said, houses of prostitution. For the most part, they are "Asian themed"...meaning, it is generally Asians who work there. I don't know why. I don't don't the background. You can take offense to this is simple fact, but rather than that, I'd suggest studying the problem of these "spas", why there are so many Asians working in them, and maybe see if there is a way to solve it. Why the state doesn't do a better job of squashing this issue is beyond me.
I think you are right. May the Lord help us to confront these matters with the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
I just can't with this nonsense. Elliot Page received ACTRESS nominations/awards? Right up there with Caitlin Jenner winning the MEN's decathlon. Frankly, "dead-naming" is an insult to parents who have lost children everywhere.
Truth has become a four-letter word.
I'm currently reading a pre-release of Voddie Baucham's book, *Faultlines,* wherein he discusses Critical Theory as the source of the current socially-acceptable cult. Everybody worships something.
On Thursday my boyfriend and my daughter were excoriating me and in an uproar that I refused to call the shooting in Atlanta a crime against Asians. Now the truth comes out. I am a mental health professional and I deal with sexual addictions. Mental illness in real. What the wokes could not admit that these Asian women are exploited by their own kind. Namely putting Young's Pretty Asian women on the sign. Who does that? Further the children of the woman shot were told to tell people their mother did nails. Massage therapists in Atlanta who are professional and went to school and have a license ought to be outraged. Say his name, he did not commit a hate crime.
Very well said, sir. I still don't understand why the media and our elected leaders insist on calling it what it isn't. They are supposed to print and speak the truth.
Erick, thank you for your leadership in this area of public controversy.
There is only one person that I have noticed--Jordan Peterson--whose experience and response in these issues has been more effectively presented than yours.
Keep up the good work. What you are saying needs to be said.
But your boldly vocal approach is not the course for all of us who have lesser media visibility.
With that said, my Christian gut feeling is that the most effective response to such widespread foolishness is the cross of Christ.
Just ignore all the gender-bending acrobatics. Preach Christ crucified, risen from the dead.
More importantly, however, is the necessity for Christians to adjust their emphasis in teaching and preaching.
We need to present more of Christ's teaching concerning how humans relate to one another, and the power of Jesus' truth, rather than striving to pigeonhole our own religious so-called rights into constitutional and legal loopholes.
It's not about us. It's about Jesus, crucified and resurrected--the most important, the most powerful event in all of human history.
Our public presentation ought to be less about our supposed place at the table of public discourse and Law--and more about Christ himself and his message: Love your enemy. Pray for those who despitefully use you. Turn the other cheek, Sermon the Mount, Blessed are the Peacemakers.
The Truth--and our bold presentation of it--has far more spiritual power and authority than these media acrobatics with tweetified, contorted pseudo-controversies driven to the brink of facebook foolishness.
Ignore these gender-contortions as much as possible. Their arguments are not worth our precious time.
I can only pray this is true, Eric....."The truth demands we speak up and more and more we are having to speak up against an elite that controls cultural, technological, and news outlets. At some point very soon, what the elite will find is that society has built up a seething resentment to them. It will end badly for a lot of people. The present course is not sustainable." I'm not sure the 'elites' give a rip that we have built up a seething resentment to them. They have all the power. But I applaud your advice to stand up for what we know is true. Persecution of Christians is not a new thing....I just NEVER thought I would experience it in my beloved country.
The outrage couldn't possibly be intended to 'win the argument' - you'd have to be nuts to believe such an approach could be persuasive. It's just outrage for the sake of outrage - to excuse other very serious personal shortcomings. In high school I decided that there could be no higher calling than being a musician, so I practiced all day and blew off school. Fortunately, unlike 'wokeness' which is fluid and can be many things, good violin playing is not a matter of personal preference. That was a very bad turn that I quickly got past and started doing things I actually was somewhat good at. Not so for these woke-aholics
The Elite White Woke have spoken
Yes, we've turned Ms. Ellen's Page.
Strong delusions gain momentum...
Buckle-up...It's all The Rage.
There's new truth to re-imagine.
(Never mind reality!)
"Social Justice!" is our mantra.
All our comrades now agree.
It's a crisis worse than ISIS!
Have you heard the latest news?
Evil people reading Bibles (!)
Plotting mayhem in the pews.
We'll invent new intersections
Where before 'twas nothing there.
It's The Narrative we're pushing...
CNN is on the air!
Watch the West, friend, de-transition
Back to paganism's pall....
Disregard "Judeo-Christian"
And that writing on the wall.
I am shouting from the roof top, I am a CHRISTIAN, I am white, I am a conservative, and I love my neighbor, even though he thinks I am a Bible thumping, gun toting, racist. How did we get here? Thank you Lord for your Son. (actually I am a Bible thumper)
Playing devil's advocate:
When my company's HR department actively promotes LGBTQ+ issues and demands I attend diversity trainings, should I refuse to go?
When the woke mob comes for me, my family, my job, and my professional and personal reputations, how will my principled stand feed, house and clothe us?
When my next door neighbor has a transgender daughter who was cutting herself until her tearful parents finally relented and let her wear a dress in public, what does "speaking up" and "loving my neighbor" look like then?
The view is always great from the bleachers, y'all.
Not everyone has similarly minded neighbors or a radio show that pays you to say what you like, & that can survive a woke mob onslaught.
@Lanier......In the Bible book of Revelation chapter three, there is a letter written by Jesus to the church in Philadelphia. (not the city in Pennsylvania) The church in Philadelphia was faithful in carrying out God’s ministry. They received received pushback from the community......people spread lies about the church. (Sound familiar?) God’s encouragement to the church in Philadelphia was this:
1. God would take care of their enemies.
2. God would keep them from the tribulation.
3. God would honor them.
Follow the example of the church of Philadelphia.
I would say that in the workplace you and we try to find a place to sue. We have rights too.
If you are assaulting and assailing me for my beliefs then isn't that just as agregious? and as aggrieved as not being accepted for having transgender issues? I have a fantasy that men would dress up like women and parade around with heels and lipstick and boobs and the like and then just see them try to get a corporate job and be in the board room? See the wokes and the white elites are just hypocrites.
I have always said transgenderism is a mental health issue.
Completely lost in this whole narrative is that the killer targeted the source of his temptation--women. I am 70 years old and, when I was growing up Catholic, women and girls were assigned the thankless and often dangerous role of protecting men from their own uncontrollable natures. (This was, of course, damaging to men as well, but they were usually not in physical danger because of it.) That is what this murderer did. He could not control his sinful urges so he killed the objects of them. Never mind that murder is also a sin and that giving in to one sinful urge to avoid giving in to another is no moral victory.
The "woke-o-haram" is clearly wrong and working in over-drive on this but, Mr. Erickson, I believe you have also the plot this time as this has nothing to do with transgenderism. Purity culture is not new, it is as old as the hills and continues to be extremely dangerous to women.
Nevertheless, this murderer, alone, is responsible for his actions.
You say a lot of true things in this essay, but another true thing is that few groups were as monolithic in their blind, unconditional, sycophantic support of Trump as white nationalists and Evangelicals.