Monsters do not see themselves as monsters. Hitler did not see himself as a monster. He was a man of the people, protecting the Germans. Mao did what had to be done to fight off the capitalists. He was no monster. To monsters, others are monsters.
Eric wrote "Given the left’s epistemic beliefs, it is not a far step at all that they decide they must slay the monsters." I have no idea when the loony left will attempt to start the "slaughter". But I do know this: It will end very quickly when the highly armed right decides to shoot back. The huge mistake the left has made if this is indeed the ultimate goal is to not take the guns away from the people. Having pissed off the police, military, etc. what chance do you think the left has in getting the guns now? This is EXACTLY why our Founders created the 2nd Amendment.
My concern is, at what point do they make the leap from "slaying monsters" in a figurative sense to "purging" in a literal sense? Because they've already made the leap to looting and rioting, burning buildings, and ambushing cops.
The progressive mindset is indeed a religion. Yet, as you have averred, the right also has its religious extremism. The commonality is not the extreme. The commonality is vacuum. Once a culture removes Yahweh-God, something will fill the void. We are left with runaway emotional fervor with the control rods gone……..
While I agree with this entire post, I feel compelled to explicitly state the same exact problem exists on the right.
Whenever one person vilifies anyone with contrary beliefs/positions, that person inevitably sees a monster while remaining blind to the possibility there is a monster in the mirror.
That can be seen quite clearly in the term librard or snowflake.
I am sick and tired of each side trying to WIN or even just deny the other side a WIN. People are hurting. There is a place for government to help. But no one seems to want to work to solve a problem. To work across ideology is to admit the other side isn’t monstrous. And that idea is all too often heresy.
When I was a child in the 1950’s, the end of our existence was at the end of the century due to acid rain, pollution, new ice age, over population, food shortages, etc. Nothing has changed. People are happy being told what to think for the daily two minute hate (1984).
Here in New Jermany, Gauleiter Murphy was re elected. I expect that people will be required to wear colored triangles to show their vaccination status. Like the biblical lepers, they can be seen and avoided. (Sarcasm)
We no longer have 10 years - it is now 9 years… All the climate activists flying their carbon polluting private jets to the climate summit demonstrated just how precarious is the threat we face.
I expect the progressives to double down because that is what we do. The next 12 months will be very ugly politically. The one question is will Biden still be President? Cognitive decline starts slowly and then happens quite quickly.
Scripture paints the reality and tension between the temporal worldview of reason versus the reality of the Creator's Providence. The temporal, while available, is impotent. Providence, while equally available, is certain. It's the business of the Church (not a building but the body of Believers) to love others into the conversation that gently draws the comparison between these two worldviews. More effort devoted to loving our neighbors will produce a more gracious body politic. Let's extend hands rather than point fingers. The Church has (and will always have this side of Glory) work to do in this matter.
Eric wrote "Given the left’s epistemic beliefs, it is not a far step at all that they decide they must slay the monsters." I have no idea when the loony left will attempt to start the "slaughter". But I do know this: It will end very quickly when the highly armed right decides to shoot back. The huge mistake the left has made if this is indeed the ultimate goal is to not take the guns away from the people. Having pissed off the police, military, etc. what chance do you think the left has in getting the guns now? This is EXACTLY why our Founders created the 2nd Amendment.
My concern is, at what point do they make the leap from "slaying monsters" in a figurative sense to "purging" in a literal sense? Because they've already made the leap to looting and rioting, burning buildings, and ambushing cops.
The progressive mindset is indeed a religion. Yet, as you have averred, the right also has its religious extremism. The commonality is not the extreme. The commonality is vacuum. Once a culture removes Yahweh-God, something will fill the void. We are left with runaway emotional fervor with the control rods gone……..
While I agree with this entire post, I feel compelled to explicitly state the same exact problem exists on the right.
Whenever one person vilifies anyone with contrary beliefs/positions, that person inevitably sees a monster while remaining blind to the possibility there is a monster in the mirror.
That can be seen quite clearly in the term librard or snowflake.
I am sick and tired of each side trying to WIN or even just deny the other side a WIN. People are hurting. There is a place for government to help. But no one seems to want to work to solve a problem. To work across ideology is to admit the other side isn’t monstrous. And that idea is all too often heresy.
When I was a child in the 1950’s, the end of our existence was at the end of the century due to acid rain, pollution, new ice age, over population, food shortages, etc. Nothing has changed. People are happy being told what to think for the daily two minute hate (1984).
Here in New Jermany, Gauleiter Murphy was re elected. I expect that people will be required to wear colored triangles to show their vaccination status. Like the biblical lepers, they can be seen and avoided. (Sarcasm)
"Epistemic"...nice. Crazy times...crazy...times.
We no longer have 10 years - it is now 9 years… All the climate activists flying their carbon polluting private jets to the climate summit demonstrated just how precarious is the threat we face.
I expect the progressives to double down because that is what we do. The next 12 months will be very ugly politically. The one question is will Biden still be President? Cognitive decline starts slowly and then happens quite quickly.
Scripture paints the reality and tension between the temporal worldview of reason versus the reality of the Creator's Providence. The temporal, while available, is impotent. Providence, while equally available, is certain. It's the business of the Church (not a building but the body of Believers) to love others into the conversation that gently draws the comparison between these two worldviews. More effort devoted to loving our neighbors will produce a more gracious body politic. Let's extend hands rather than point fingers. The Church has (and will always have this side of Glory) work to do in this matter.