This is fundamentally a spiritual war. Never forget that. Ever.
Ephesians 6:10-18 (bold added) 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; In his post today, William M. Briggs firmly asserts the non-existence of systemic racism against blacks. In the post Briggs writes:
Every major corporation, celebrity, university, politician, association, and even the American Meteorological Society, which just started a Culture and Inclusion Cabinet, issued statements professing their solidarity with blacks and lamenting with them the “systemic racism” they experience. (I challenge you to find a large professional organization that hasn’t.) This “systemic racism” was the natural and understandable justification for the looting, pillaging, violence, and mayhem the rabble engaged in for more than a week. There is no such thing as “systemic racism” against blacks. The statements from every entity in the Cathedral—the web of elites who rule us—-proves it. If there was “systemic racism” emanating from the system, which is comprised of corporations, celebrities, universities, the bureaucracy, professional associations, and even weathermen, the system could never have issued all those statements condemning it. And supporting the riots. Instead, whatever is the most orthogonal extreme opposite of “systemic racism” for blacks exists. Every corporation, as far as I know without exception, have a plethora of diversity officers on staff, whose singular purpose is to ensure blacks are given positions, even to the extent of weakening job requirements. Success is measured by quota. Enough diversity is never sufficient, either. Routine HR announcements swearing fealty to Diversity and condemning “systemic racism” are issued. Virtue signaling by officers and HR is omnipresent. Every university, college, seminary, and academy hungers for greater “diversity”, which everybody knows means more blacks, fewer whites, fewer Asians, and more people who embrace various sexual perversions. Students are labeled “diverse” is they are not white or Asian. The amounts of money spent to ensure greater positions for blacks is vast. Blacks score less well than any other group on SATs, ACTs, MCATs, GREs, and other tests, yet are allowed lower scores for matriculation and graduation. Indoctrination of all students against racism, systemic or otherwise, is mandatory. Every academician proclaims “systemic racism”, and holds the theory that only whites can be racist, because (presumably) whites have mysterious powers. Every political organization goes out of its way to ensure blacks are “visible”. Appointments to committees, the judiciary, boards, and on and on have quotas, stated and unstated. The military is open about its quotas, and has been for a long time. Every media and Big Teach organization regularly and routinely and as a matter of strict policy shades coverage and searches in favor of blacks, either by not reporting black crime, especially against whites (black crimes against whites is larger than whites against blacks), or by repeating endlessly the fiction that “systemic racism” is pervasive. The “1619 Project” from the New York Times stating that America’s founding purpose is racism is bad historical fiction, filled with purposeful lies and disinformation. It won the Pulitzer prize, the highest journalistic honor. Even the least of us, Hollywood celebrities, chant endlessly about the evils of “systemic racism.” These negligible thinkers have fully assimilated the propaganda that it is impossible to be racist against whites. Movies and TV go out of their way to disproportionately feature blacks. Critics compete to praise, or overlook flaws, in projects predominately featuring blacks. And did I mention Affirmative Action and the loss of Freedom of Assembly? The entire culture is saturated with the idea that racism against blacks is everywhere, constant, and debilitating. Now, if “systemic racism” is so pervasive and obvious and constant, where is it? Where—exactly where? Is it in business? No. Is it in schools? No. The military? No. On TV? No. Is it in any official organization of any kind? No. It is nowhere to be found, yet it is everywhere. That is what systemic means. We are told it is everywhere. People believe it is everywhere. It therefore must be everywhere. But nobody can find it. Read the rest here. Mr. Briggs' encapsulation of the non-existence of systemic racism more or less matches my own personal experiences with the phenomenon throughout my life. Though I could easily detect what could be classified as racism among certain individuals and some small groups, I never succeeded in identifying let alone locating the pervasive systemic racism leftists the world over vehemently scream about. Of course, the flippant and automatic response to this observation is a simple - of course you don't, you're white - which implies my 'whiteness' is firmly entrenched within the racist system, rendering me blind to the injustice, oppression, and violence that permeates the world around me. I had encountered the term systemic racism when I was a university student, but I did not have to deal with the concept on a daily basis until I became an inner city high school teacher in the Bronx. Now when I say deal with the concept, I mean just that - a concept. As a concept, systemic racism was everywhere. It formed the core focus of my pedagogical training in New York and became a persistent presence in my day-to-day working life as a teacher of 'underprivileged youth of color'. Though the concept was ubiquitous, I had an extremely difficult time finding actual evidence of systemic racism anywhere. For five years I worked for a black principal in a high school in the Bronx. He made a six-figure salary, lived in Westchester County, drove to work in a sporty Mercedes-Benz, and eventually earned a doctorate at UPenn. All-in-all, he was a decent fellow, but he was quite convinced of the existence of systemic racism. The vice-principal of the school was a black woman who drove a BMW SUV to school and also earned a doctorate eventually. Once again, a decent person, but firmly entrenched in the notion that the system was inherently racist against all people of color. One of my former colleagues, a young, black science teacher, earned a doctorate and went on to become a much-celebrated urban education professor at Columbia University. He wears really snappy suits complete with bowties and stylish hats. He's been featured in Ted Talks and has written a couple of best-selling books. The subject matter of his books? The relentless evil and violence of systemic racism. I worked at that school in the Bronx for five years and had fairly positive experiences overall, but the shadow of 'systemic racism' darkened everything I encountered. Even when it was not spoken of openly, it was implied. Though my supervisors appreciated my work at the school, they often bemoaned the lack of 'teachers of color' in inner city schools, insinuating that students would be far more engaged in learning if the person at the front of the room looked like them. When students failed to perform, which was all-too-common, systemic racism was often cited as the culprit. Teaching Shakespeare was considered colonial and insensitive. I heard this not from my black supervisors, but from a half-insane white literacy coach who insisted I was insensitive to systemic racism and that I had nothing but scorn for my black and hispanic students. The school was housed in a relatively old school building on Sedgewick Avenue. Though it could have used a little refurbishment and maintenance here and there, it was a functional building, complete with blackboards, books, desks, chairs, laptop computers, smartboards, and free breakfasts and lunches for nearly every student. Despite this, educators in New York bemoaned the conditions and cited them as a cause for student underperformance, which entailed it was evidence of systemic racism. It was evidence of systemic racism because schools in white neighborhoods were infinitely better equipped and funded, which helped explain why white kids did better academically. The problems the students brought to school in the Bronx were mostly attributed to systemic racism. Oddly enough, I encountered these same problems when I worked in a small mining community in the northeast of England. Almost all of the students there were white, but to a greater or lesser degree they displayed the same sorts of problems the kids in the Bronx did. These problems were pinned on economic inequality and domestic issues in the northeast of England. Strange. Of course, systemic racism was still prevalent in the northeast of England as well, as evidenced by an Ofsted report filed during my time there that cited a lack of diversity at the nearly completely white school and peremptorily docked marks from the institution as a result. I can't imagine how the school could have remedied this grievous lack of diversity considering that 98% of the people living in the area were of white British descent. It mattered little that the administration had a Holocaust remembrance day and invited several African artists and priests to the school for cultural and diversity events. None of that alleviated the unbearable whiteness of the place. I mean, it was a glaring example of systemic racism if there ever was one. I could go on for pages, but most of it would be about matters that have already been discussed and debated in countless other places before. To sum up, I heard about systemic racism throughout my teaching career, but I never once uncovered any evidence of the kind of extensive racism that was perpetually being promulgated by all those around me. That can only mean one of two things - either systemic racism really does not exist or, conversely, I am so irrevocably embedded within the system that I have become essentially blind to this most pernicious evil of evils. Though I never encountered systematic racism per se when I taught, I became acutely aware of the System and how the System employs lies like systemic racism to ensure perpetual resentment, inversion, and conflict. You see, I don't believe in the existence of systemic racism, but I do believe in systemic soul damnation - and that's something almost no one sees, let alone believes in. Hell is empty, and all the devils are here. Ariel's declaration from The Tempest has become a meme all to itself; I have seen it employed countless times online over the past decade-and-a-half to describe a variety of evil circumstances and events. But in this time and place I can't help but feel that these previous applications of the quote did not do it full justice. Yes, evil circumstances certainly existed in the past ten or twenty years, but were they truly evil enough to empty hell of all its devils?
Ariel's statement is primarily one of recognition - a sudden awareness of the existence of men who are essentially evil - but the language he employs is supernatural in scope. In this respect, it mirrors what some people must be experiencing today - a cold, perhaps even reluctant realization of evil in their midst. Like Ariel, I imagine some would even use demonic imagery to describe this evil, but I suspect such language would remain firmly grounded in the metaphorical in the minds of most. In other words, evil men are merely like devils; hell, the imaginary place from which they spawn. Though metaphoric comprehension denotes a step in the right direction, it offers only a partial understanding of the reality we are currently experiencing. It is hard to know if all the devils are here in this time and place, but one thing is certain - many are. And their numbers are increasing by the day. The pressure they are building and the chaos they are fomenting is undeniable. If hell is not empty yet, then we must be getting close - awfully close. In a recent post I described the abundance of common cuckoos around my village this year. True to form, the males' famous cu-coo calls continue to fill the air, but in recent days the calls have started to decrease. Every now and then I hear the not-so-famous three tone cuckoo call - cu-coo-coo - which many regard as an indication of spring giving way to summer. I tried to find a recording of the cuckoo's 'changed tune in June', but to no avail. In any case, I imagine the female cuckoos have already placed their eggs in the nests of other birds. If they haven't, I suspect they will do so very shortly. Apparently, a female cuckoo will place its egg in the nest of the species that reared the female cuckoo itself. Thus, if a female cuckoo was reared by sparrows, it will inevitable place its egg in a sparrow's nest. Cuckoos are notorious brood parasites, but the behavior of the cuckoo chick after it hatches is truly something to behold. Immediately after hatching, the cuckoo chick systematically eliminates whatever competition it happens to find. If it hatches early enough, it pushes the other eggs out of the nest (as the short video below shows). If it hatches at the same time as or slightly later than the host hatchlings, it will doggedly eject its step brothers and sisters from the nest until none remain, thereby ensuring that it alone will be the sole beneficiary of its hosts incessant feeding. The cuckoo chick in the video reminded me of Sisyphus; however, unlike Sisyphus, the cuckoo chick's efforts ultimately proved fruitful, at least for it. |
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April 2024
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