I haven't blogged for months and am starting to feel myself get more anxious again about things on my mind. I hesitate to even write again as I know that it is really putting myself out there for people to criticize me, but if I can get even one person to look at another side of the story, then I feel like I should do it. I want to write all the time, but having a family and another job and everything else makes it hard for me to find the time. I'm going to try to find the time from now on though. Some weeks at least!
I know we're all way more excited about our TV shows, or books we're reading, but this is so important. Why don't we talk about real things anymore? Why is it taboo to discuss ideas? And why can't people have differing opinions without being ostracized for it? What in the world is going on? I'm feeling more and more like a fish out of water and I've been really struggling with it. My brain must just think very differently than anyone else's and I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing I'm sure of is that I know that absolute truth exists. There is right and wrong, and there are consequences for individuals and our society as a whole for denying truth.
I want to help people understand each other because I think our society is on the brink of something terrible if we can't get it together. If that sounds like an exaggerated statement, then I would like you to consider whether or not you have close friends with whom you disagree on issues. How many of us have close friends that are on the opposite of the political spectrum, or the religious spectrum? Now consider whether or not you ever read or listen to people or ideas that you consider to be untrue, or misguided? If you can't say you have a friend (in real life), who disagrees with you on something, maybe you should think on that for awhile. Why is that? I would argue it is because we have been dehumanizing each other far too much and people are starting to believe the lie that because you disagree on some policy or on how to implement a program, or even how to worship or what words to use, then this means you cannot possibly get along and the other person is awful.
If we have nothing in common in society, then what is our motivation to keep our society going? Unfortunately, I believe that this is the common goal of some of the forces behind this push to make the only important thing about America be our differences. Intersectionality and diversity are the words of the day-- and they don't sound like bad things on their heads, but once you get deeper in, you should realize quickly that things aren't always as they seem. All the buzz words that people think make them sound tolerant are really only ways to avoid having to actually think rationally about a topic. If you call someone a name, you can shut down an argument and not have to explain why you actually believe what you say you believe. You see this take place all over college campuses where students protest at speaking events because the speaker uses "hate speech". The term is so vague and is so subjective. What "hate speech" is to one person, does not equate to what another person feels is "hate speech". I agree that there is objectionable speech, but I also believe that those who say things that offend me, or other people in general, still deserve to say what they believe. Thomas Sowell said, “The concept of 'microaggression' is just one of many tactics used to stifle differences of opinion by declaring some opinions to be 'hate speech,' instead of debating those differences in a marketplace of ideas. To accuse people of aggression for not marching in lockstep with political correctness is to set the stage for justifying real aggression against them.”
We have to have common ground in order to make this country work- we need to have some basic belief that keeps us together. So I guess my concern is, do we still have any? What values or ideals do we have that join us as Americans? Do we still "hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these, are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"? The state of New York just passed a law that would allow abortions to happen anytime during pregnancy if a physician decides one "is necessary to protect the patients life or health" nysenate.gov and the Virginia governor proposed legislation which would allow third trimester abortions if one doctor concluded that it would impair the woman's mental health. Governor Northam even went on radio to discuss how if a woman went into labor and then decided she didn't want the baby, "the baby would be kept comfortable" while it's fate was decided between the mother and the physician. TheHill I've got news for you...a woman giving birth is not as rational as you might think. I know, I've done it four times. Our mental health is for sure impaired...that does not give me a right to end another human's life. Especially one I helped to create. Also, where is the father in this situation? Does he have any rights to say that he wants his child to live? I understand people are saying that this is in "rare" cases, but I don't think it should be happening in any cases. Nor do many Americans. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2018, when respondents were asked when they felt abortion should be legal, 60% responded that it should be legal in the first trimester, 28% believed it should be legal in the second trimester, and just 13% felt it should be legal in the third trimester! Gallup Poll To say that this legislation is a little more extreme than the average American agrees with, is not a stretch. Thankfully, it was not passed. However, I'm concerned that it was even considered. Do we believe that infants who are born (even with deformaties) have a right to life? Life should trump convenience or fear in my opinion.
The Covington Catholic School went viral and were deemed racist and hateful for smiling at a man banging a drum in one of their faces, even though there was WAY more to the story, and yet most of the media hasn't corrected themselves on their coverage. Covington Could it be that it was because of the hats some of them were wearing? Or because they were at a Pro-Life march? Do those boys have a right to Liberty, and the freedom to wear what they want, when they want? Even if you don't agree with the MAGA message, can you support the boys' right to wear it?
We have comedians and politicians left and right whose lives are being destroyed because they told a joke 10 years ago that is deemed "hateful" in today's politically correct culture. Let's be honest...if everyone who has ever said something they regret in their life is going to be drug out and lambasted socially for it, there will be very few of us left. This is not an excuse for real racism, or bigotry, but it is a plea for people to think about whether or not what someone said a decade ago (or three) should destroy their lives and careers for the next 40 years. Let us slow down and gather our facts and see if what we assume happened actually happened, or whether we could possibly be wrong in our assumptions. Or even, look at it through the lense of history, and see if maybe things were different back then and we can't judge history based on our current worldview.
Luckily, I am reminded daily by my sweet husband that I am something of a pessimist about these issues, and so hopefully he's right and it's not as bad as it seems. I am also hopeful, that even if it is as bad as it seems, that we can turn it around. It will take hard work and courage, and it will require people to listen and accept that they may not like everything spoken to them. But I think it could work! Do we have common ground? Can we look past our differences and agree on anything? I'm willing to give it a chance, and that's why I'm writing this. We need to stand up for what we believe, but also be willing to allow others the chance to do the same.
I know we're all way more excited about our TV shows, or books we're reading, but this is so important. Why don't we talk about real things anymore? Why is it taboo to discuss ideas? And why can't people have differing opinions without being ostracized for it? What in the world is going on? I'm feeling more and more like a fish out of water and I've been really struggling with it. My brain must just think very differently than anyone else's and I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing I'm sure of is that I know that absolute truth exists. There is right and wrong, and there are consequences for individuals and our society as a whole for denying truth.
I want to help people understand each other because I think our society is on the brink of something terrible if we can't get it together. If that sounds like an exaggerated statement, then I would like you to consider whether or not you have close friends with whom you disagree on issues. How many of us have close friends that are on the opposite of the political spectrum, or the religious spectrum? Now consider whether or not you ever read or listen to people or ideas that you consider to be untrue, or misguided? If you can't say you have a friend (in real life), who disagrees with you on something, maybe you should think on that for awhile. Why is that? I would argue it is because we have been dehumanizing each other far too much and people are starting to believe the lie that because you disagree on some policy or on how to implement a program, or even how to worship or what words to use, then this means you cannot possibly get along and the other person is awful.
If we have nothing in common in society, then what is our motivation to keep our society going? Unfortunately, I believe that this is the common goal of some of the forces behind this push to make the only important thing about America be our differences. Intersectionality and diversity are the words of the day-- and they don't sound like bad things on their heads, but once you get deeper in, you should realize quickly that things aren't always as they seem. All the buzz words that people think make them sound tolerant are really only ways to avoid having to actually think rationally about a topic. If you call someone a name, you can shut down an argument and not have to explain why you actually believe what you say you believe. You see this take place all over college campuses where students protest at speaking events because the speaker uses "hate speech". The term is so vague and is so subjective. What "hate speech" is to one person, does not equate to what another person feels is "hate speech". I agree that there is objectionable speech, but I also believe that those who say things that offend me, or other people in general, still deserve to say what they believe. Thomas Sowell said, “The concept of 'microaggression' is just one of many tactics used to stifle differences of opinion by declaring some opinions to be 'hate speech,' instead of debating those differences in a marketplace of ideas. To accuse people of aggression for not marching in lockstep with political correctness is to set the stage for justifying real aggression against them.”
We have to have common ground in order to make this country work- we need to have some basic belief that keeps us together. So I guess my concern is, do we still have any? What values or ideals do we have that join us as Americans? Do we still "hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these, are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"? The state of New York just passed a law that would allow abortions to happen anytime during pregnancy if a physician decides one "is necessary to protect the patients life or health" nysenate.gov and the Virginia governor proposed legislation which would allow third trimester abortions if one doctor concluded that it would impair the woman's mental health. Governor Northam even went on radio to discuss how if a woman went into labor and then decided she didn't want the baby, "the baby would be kept comfortable" while it's fate was decided between the mother and the physician. TheHill I've got news for you...a woman giving birth is not as rational as you might think. I know, I've done it four times. Our mental health is for sure impaired...that does not give me a right to end another human's life. Especially one I helped to create. Also, where is the father in this situation? Does he have any rights to say that he wants his child to live? I understand people are saying that this is in "rare" cases, but I don't think it should be happening in any cases. Nor do many Americans. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2018, when respondents were asked when they felt abortion should be legal, 60% responded that it should be legal in the first trimester, 28% believed it should be legal in the second trimester, and just 13% felt it should be legal in the third trimester! Gallup Poll To say that this legislation is a little more extreme than the average American agrees with, is not a stretch. Thankfully, it was not passed. However, I'm concerned that it was even considered. Do we believe that infants who are born (even with deformaties) have a right to life? Life should trump convenience or fear in my opinion.
The Covington Catholic School went viral and were deemed racist and hateful for smiling at a man banging a drum in one of their faces, even though there was WAY more to the story, and yet most of the media hasn't corrected themselves on their coverage. Covington Could it be that it was because of the hats some of them were wearing? Or because they were at a Pro-Life march? Do those boys have a right to Liberty, and the freedom to wear what they want, when they want? Even if you don't agree with the MAGA message, can you support the boys' right to wear it?
We have comedians and politicians left and right whose lives are being destroyed because they told a joke 10 years ago that is deemed "hateful" in today's politically correct culture. Let's be honest...if everyone who has ever said something they regret in their life is going to be drug out and lambasted socially for it, there will be very few of us left. This is not an excuse for real racism, or bigotry, but it is a plea for people to think about whether or not what someone said a decade ago (or three) should destroy their lives and careers for the next 40 years. Let us slow down and gather our facts and see if what we assume happened actually happened, or whether we could possibly be wrong in our assumptions. Or even, look at it through the lense of history, and see if maybe things were different back then and we can't judge history based on our current worldview.
Luckily, I am reminded daily by my sweet husband that I am something of a pessimist about these issues, and so hopefully he's right and it's not as bad as it seems. I am also hopeful, that even if it is as bad as it seems, that we can turn it around. It will take hard work and courage, and it will require people to listen and accept that they may not like everything spoken to them. But I think it could work! Do we have common ground? Can we look past our differences and agree on anything? I'm willing to give it a chance, and that's why I'm writing this. We need to stand up for what we believe, but also be willing to allow others the chance to do the same.
I think something super important to remember is that the world is in many ways doing way better than we anecdotally think it is. I had someone suggest a book for me recently called Factfullness. The gist of this book is that if we actually consider the facts of things, rather than how we feel or how we are told to feel, we find that things are generally better than we assume they are.
ReplyDeleteThat's not to discount the fact that there are some troubling things happening in the world, but the focus on sensationalism and negativity often suppresses the reality that there is often just as much good in the world balancing out the bad.
Part of the reason I think there is so much disharmony in the world is that we've been encouraged to react viscerally and emotionally to a topic, rather than take time to consider the actual facts of the matter. So much of news coverage seems to be trying to tell you how to feel, rather than presenting the facts and letting us make up our own mind. Rather than take the time to understand and process a situation, the immediate gut reactions often seem to be given as much, if not more weight than the actual circumstance. For example, I hadn't heard anything about the new abortion laws passed in New York until I saw tons of people posting their outrage about it. For a sillier example, did you know there was supposed to be a Sponge Bob tribute of some kind during the Super Bowl? I didn't, and don't care, but I woke up Monday to literally dozens of articles telling me I should be mad that it didn't happen. That, and that Adam Lavine's shirt looked stupid, which I guess it did?
It's worth reminding ourselves that people are better than we often see. In the midst of the disaster that was the recent government shutdown, literally thousands of people donated time and money and compassion to help those who were being impacted. Thousands of people went out of their way to stop what they were doing, just to try and be helpful to the people being impacted. That's just one small example of the difference point of view can make. I can focus on the political drama, and rant about the other side being intransigent, or I can remind myself that there is still good trying to balance out the bad.
For my two cents, if we'd just slow down and realize that it's OK to not have to have a hot take on all things at all times, we'd be so much happier. We have to decide which battles are worth fighting, which is going to be different for different people, but I literally don't have enough emotions inside me for all the feelings people tell me I should feel strongly about. It does help me to remind myself that it's OK to be wrong about something, and it's OK to disagree with people, and it's also OK to decide that something just isn't worth my time or energy. I will never be right about everything, and not all strife is worth my time and attention.
Things are better than you think they are, if we can just allow ourselves to see it.
You're awesome. And yes, I totally get sucked into feeling the bad stuff more than the good. I got a book called "It's Better Than It Looks" and I definitely need to read it! Factfullness sounds like a good one as well. Thanks for your input. With all the bad, hopefully there is more good.
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