An addendum...

(Sigh…) You know, I think that it’s probably time that we just honestly assess where we’re at as a nation and sign the deed to our country over to China, the Islamo-fascists, or whoever is next in line. Why draw out the suspense? Why keep us waiting on baited breath to see what’s going to happen? I’m so tired of mob rule coercion in this country. This is hopefully my last entry on this Imus thing, but I’m just so disgusted with the whole way this went down. The double standards for judging anything in this country are baffling me. What do I mean?

Don Imus got fired first by NBC from his TV gig. Then CBS followed suit with his radio show. Now, I don’t listen to this guy. I don’t even think we can get him in the Minneapolis area. Plus, he’s not been a bastion of good will over the years. Nonetheless, I feel that he got the shaft. If NBC and CBS really wanted to fire him over these comments, great. It’s their right to do so as a private business. This is capitalism at work. But the delay in doing so tells me that there probably wasn’t the outrage at network that would have led to this. Instead, there was an endless protest to have him fired. The phone calls, e-mails, letters, and picketing didn’t stop. What he said was stupid and awful, but I really don’t think that many people in America were so outraged that these words ruined their lives. How many people stayed up at night with their stomachs churning over this? I’ll tell you who. It’s the same people every time. People like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton that need to be in front of the cameras to keep their fragile egos going. This is the kind of thing that they made their reputation on. They are the equivalent of ambulance chasers, looking for any reason at all to whip people up into a frenzy and keep race relations strained.

It was the endless protests that coerced the networks into firing Don Imus. That, to me, is wrong. Use your free speech to voice your disdain for what he said, and leave it at that. In fact, don’t listen to Don Imus anymore if you feel that way. Let his ratings plummet. Let the system work itself out. This mob rule coercion… this playground bullying has to stop. If you don’t like what I have to say, don’t read my blog, don’t download my music, forget I exist.

Here’s the other thing. Al and Jesse, as Christians shouldn’t we forgive him? He apologized. We haven’t even given him a chance to see if he is truly repentant or not. That is today’s world. One screw up and you’re done. There are no such things as second chances. Isn’t Christianity all about second chances? Where would we be, if God had not forgiven us?

I just don’t see any consistency here. I don’t see Al and Jesse whipping up the troops to protest broadcast companies that play offensive music. I's like to know how many of these protesters listen to rap music? How degrading is rap to African Americans and women? Yet, these people aren’t protesting to have these vile songs pulled off the air. Our children are exposed to these songs everyday. Is that not more important than one misguided statement on a single radio show? I guess not. The shoe doesn’t fit on the other foot. These rappers have the right to make any music they want. I’m not saying censor them. It's their own duty to be responsible citizens. I’m saying, if you really believe that words that incite ill will among race and gender have no place in the public forum, then go after music with the derogatory message that is broadcast over these same air waves. Stop listening to it yourselves if the message is so offensive. It won’t ever happen. There’s a double standard in this country, and the world-at-large.

One more thing, did you see this morning that the governor of New Jersey was critically injured in a car crash? (I hope that he's okay, and has a speedy recovery.) And where was he headed? Why, on his way to take part in the meeting between Imus and the Rutgers girl’s basketball team. Was it worth it, Jon? Does the government really need to get involved in this? Shouldn’t adults be able go give and receive apologies on their own? It’s those New Jersey tax dollars hard at work! I’ve been offended a number of times, yet I’ve never had the governor of Minnesota come facilitate an apology session on my behalf. (And with the astronomical tax burden in the state of Minnesota, I know you’ve got the money sitting around to fund the thirty minute drive.) Oh, I get it. I’m not as important, because my offense wasn’t in the media. It’s the whole “I’ve-gotta-be-in-the-camera-lights” complex again.

We’ve got to stop politicizing events to create some sort of a show for things that happen on an everyday basis. There are normal people who suffer everyday, and no camera will ever capture their pain. No person will ever step in to make sure that everything is made right. Those are the real injustices, if you ask me. Jesse and Al, you got Don fired. Congratulations. Do you feel happy now? Is the world better off for your work? Have you eased the pain and suffering of the multitudes? When are we going to get down to the basics of our duty on earth to help the underprivileged, and stop acting like we’re winning the war on evil in the world by forcing our own agendas on something as inconsequential as Don Imus?

Free Speech vs. Criminalizing Hate Speech

How much is freedom worth to you? I mean, would you trade in your rights to free speech just to avoid being offended yourself? Some people would, and that is scary. One of the beautiful things about America is that we can say anything we want at all, provided we’re not leaking national secrets, using lies to ruin someone’s reputation, threatening someone else with bodily harm, or harassing someone in a way that it cripples their ability to live freely. I can tell you that I don’t agree with something you’re doing, and not be punished for it… for now.

We’re going down a slippery slope here. When people like Al Sharpton want to come up with a set of words that no one, under any circumstances, can use (unless you are part of that group, which makes it completely alright then), it leaves us in a place to consider what else might offend someone and ban that too. I want to preface this with the following: I believe that it is our duty to be respectful of one another, and that true diversity is a beautiful thing. We should embrace our differences and magnify our similarities. Our cultural differences give the world color in a sea of blah. This fake, forced, diversity that is mandated upon us from the powers that be, however, is insulting. I think that what Don Imus said about the Rutgers women’s basketball team was offensive and despicable. He should be subject to whatever punishment his employers (NBC and CBS) want to undertake to protect their private business. To suggest, however, that he was speaking his views on all women or African Americans is absurd. It’s possible that is what he believes, but to infer that from what he said is quite presumptuous. He was speaking about a specific group of girls; the basketball team.

The second that we decide that there needs to be oversight on the things we say, we’re done; our freedoms are over. The moment we start to criminalize speech that someone might find offensive, we’re all in trouble. Everybody has offended someone in their lifetime. Take the recent marriage of Liz Hurley to Indian Arun Nayar. One local citizen was offended that they had a “showcase” wedding and that they insulted Hindu traditions by sitting on a couch, rather than the floor, kissed near the sacred fire, and had taken alcohol before the ceremony. In India, section 295 of the penal code makes it an offence punishable by three years in prison to “outrage” any group’s religion with deliberate and malicious intention.” Liz Hurley is looking at jail time for this!

In other countries, there are laws in place to uphold the major culture of that country. In the United States, we protect the weak and indefensible. The majority is often told to go take a flying leap in favor of anyone that doesn’t like how we do things. America bends to every fleeting fancy of any group not in the majority. I believe that the weak and indefensible need protection. They need to be made to feel safe and welcome in America, but that does not include changing way 85-95% of the population lives in order to accommodate a few people. That does not include allowing Sharia law to trump American law in some communities. That does not include eliminating Christmas, because a small population does not celebrate it. And it certainly does not include having to avoid offending someone with your speech! In America, a law similar to the Indian one would not protect the majority; it would protect minorities and alternative lifestyles. I want to restate my views: we should be kind to everyone and do our best not to offend. We can not, however, control what others will be offended at. For Christians, this may mean that we would face jail time for speaking such “bigoted” beliefs as Jesus claiming, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)” or Paul saying, “In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. (Romans 1:27).” (I’m sorry if those passages offend you, but they are parts of Christian scripture, staples of our faith, the very words of God, himself.) Do you think it sounds inconceivable to go to jail for teaching these things? Believers in Europe and Canada have already been coming under fire for preaching things like this. Some are spending time in jail.

So, whether you are brown, red, yellow, black, or white, let us come together and realize that it is our free speech that keeps America free. It is our right to be offended at what others say, that gives us the right to speak freely. Censorship will only hurt each of us in the long run. It will only benefit the groups whose lobbyists spend the most money at Capitol Hill. Criminalizing speech will eventually make criminals of you and me.

Good-By-Default?

Forgive my being forward, but this is something that’s been on my mind. How much good have you done lately? Now by good, I don’t mean “good-by-default”. I’m not talking about how much trouble have you stayed out of, or how many times have you kept from doing something that is impolite, impatient, or crass. I actually mean how much proactive good have you done? Have you been pulling your weight to make this world a better place? I’m not pointing fingers here. This is the question on my mind. What have I done lately? I always feel like not enough.

As a Christian, it can be confusing to balance doctrines such as “saved by grace” with “faith without works is dead”. It’s all in the frame of reference, you see. When we try to make ourselves “good-by-default”, we can never be made good. There will always be sin in our lives. This is where the saving grace of Jesus’ death and resurrection come in to play. We need Him to overcome the crappy things that we do on a daily basis. We’ll never be free of that while on this earth. That doesn’t give us a pass from self-improvement.

Rather, I argue that we improve ourselves the more we take the focus off of trying to be “good-by-default” and start being proactively good. The more we look for opportunities in the world to meet the needs of others, the more love we will feel for the people around us. See what I mean? The more we live in love, the less we act in our selfish, sinful nature. It’s not enough to just go through the motions every day. There are plenty of needs, both big and little, all around us. That’s what Jesus did while He was here. He did not sin because He was so focused on others that His “self” never got in the way. As God, He was fully capable of doing that perfectly.

We must protect the people. That is our job. We are to mend broken hearts, be there when our friends need our help, defend the defenseless, and other such activities. Now, I’m not advocating for social welfare programs, and such. That’s pawning off our work on the government. When is the Church going to start acting like the Church and take care of these things ourselves? We gave away THE thing that drew people to us. It wasn’t the music, the sermons, or the pot luck dinners. It was being proactively good in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in the world. We gave that responsibility away to the government. Now everybody turns to the government, and expects money from them to fix whatever ills have befallen them. The government should never be the first place people turn for help. It should be us. When your community floods, when violent crime rises, when the local factory goes under, when children a half a world away are being forced into an army and made to kill their own families, when your child has a bad day… it’s up to us to be the first ones that these people turn to. If we’re not, we’ve lost our salt. We’ve become flavorless, and fit only to be trampled underfoot. We’ve become, at best, a pretentious social club no better than the Elks, the local knitting club, or Ducks Unlimited. But we are supposed to be the church of Jesus Christ! The living God affecting our world through us! Can you grasp how big a statement that is? I barely can, myself.

We, in the church, are so worried about not lying, staying pure, not cursing, etc. that we forget about others. I contend that the more proactive good we do for others, the less we will do selfish things that cause sin. Because then we are entering the kind of life that the Holy Spirit is urging us into; one He can use. So, I urge you in all faithfulness to not fall asleep. Do not become discouraged. Rather just find a need and fill it. Be proactively good. I am willing to guess that there are few American communities without churches in them, and even fewer without church-goers in them. Think of the difference we all could make! Start at home, start down the street, start anywhere. Just start! I know that we’re all busy. But you know, that can be a trap for us. It becomes an excuse, but not one that I think will sit well when we finally see God face to face. There, all excuses end. Our lives are laid out in black and white before yourself and God. What will you answer Him? You can’t get a doctor’s note to get excused from life, like you could from swimming lessons with an ear infection. The time has come. Humanity is on the brink of some place we can not come back from. Be strong. Finish well, my friends. Somebody out there is counting on your selflessness. Don’t let them down.