We don’t actually hear people say that often out loud, but the fact is that it happens daily. We manage to do it on a personal level with silly facebook memes and pics with text to define or orient a thought. We see one, and there’s really a yes or no decision when we notice one. We either drop it like a hot potato, or we forward it in emails, share it on facebook walls, retweet it on our twitter feed, love it on instagram, or flip flap it on snipsnap. Ok, there is no snipsnap. But there is snapchat, which is a real thing I’m told. So when we regurgitate that nonsense we’re shaping thought.
Would many of you be surprised to realize the vast majority of those pics and memes are probably wrong? And there’s the real secret. Even if they weren’t, why would anyone with brains and heart give them the time of day? I’ve got news for you. It goes deeper than that.
You see, we have those little pieces of trash for every occasion now. Fake news isn’t enough apparently, so we have inspirational pic generators now. Sure, if we leave conservative and liberal ideology and the never ending memes out of the picture, which are largely political by the way, then we can avoid it all, right? Nope. I’ve noticed just as many completely silly and stupid, if not harmful, inspirational pics floating around as the nasty ones.
We tend not to get too worried about the pics we see that have a beautiful sunset, laced edges, or come in pastel colors, but the fact is there is a lot of stupid out there. And worse, a lot of wrong. I’ve listened to my pastor mention and then discuss the ‘all dogs go to heaven’ ditty several times now. I think a lot of people believe that malarkey. I’ve got news for you. There is a short list of Heaven prerequisites whether you like it or not.
The pic below is a great example of wrong. If I’ve seen one of these pics, I’ve seen one hundred.
Take a peek above. The statement made is perfectly grammatical. It isn’t a bad thing at all. It is vague and some consider very true. The above isn’t a gross example of nonsense, but it certainly is the primer. Nowhere do you see the most basic things in creation… Family, friends, love, music, etc. are all listed. Do you see the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit there anywhere? Heck, I’d settle for God. Bueller? Bueller? Nothing…
When we’re encouraging one another to believe in something it better be belief in God. Some might say that is a given. I’d say it isn’t. We no longer live in a Theonomous (Theo – God, nomous – law) culture, therefor it is no longer a given that everyone believes in God and that God’s Law is a baseline. Even if it were the case that we embraced God’s law first and everything else second, would we not make that part of our silly motivational poster of the day? Of course we would…
What about this steaming pile of dog poo above? There is so much wrong with this one, I’m not sure where to start. Sure, it is a great little pic of a road or journey yet to come. The picture is carefully chosen to illicit a certain feeling or perspective from you and I. Smaller case narrative is used to set a baseline. “No human race is superior.” OK, I’d buy that one, so what follows must be true, correct? “No religious faith is inferior.” What a minute… Wiesel didn’t say one is superior and that would be wrong. Instead he says none is inferior. It kind of means the same thing, but he chose to dance around that one. He’s drawing a parallel between equality of race and equality within religion. Uhhhh, nope. Then he drops the propaganda bomb onto you. “All collective judgments are wrong.” A collective judgement is what? Collectives are assemblies of people, thought, expression, etc. as a whole. Judgments are considered decisions or sensible conclusions. So collective judgments are whole conclusions, and apparently since it is given in larger font, “only racists make them” must be true.
Man, I’m glad somebody told me that. I had no idea I was a racist because I was a Christian and believed with my heart and soul that Jesus rose from the grave and walked the Earth. Where has Elie Wiesel been all my life? What a crock…
On a side note, did anyone catch the ultimate irony of Wiesel’s blathering foolishness? All the statements made are that of collective judgement by the premise he’s set forth. If you assume his statement to be true, then the circumstances available to make it true are in place. Right? You can’t make a true statement without the supporting documentation for it, correct? So, since he’s right and everyone else who doesn’t believe it to be true is wrong, he’s speaking on behalf of the collective. He’s passing ‘judgement’ on those not within the collective. Ergo, he’s a racist… What a charlatan. I’m telling you what. These pseudo-intellectual misfits busy telling me how to think get on my nerves… As a holocaust survivor I’d expect more from his thoughts personally, but that’s a story for another day. He’s also quoted as saying “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Sounds inconsistent with the quote we just dealt with above huh? Well, that’s a side lesson. Those claiming ‘victim status’ whether they deserve it or not will always use propaganda to sway public perception of you and I.
Back on topic… There are people forwarding these around right now as some sort of enlightenment. They actually took time to read that junk and then alter their view as a result. Then, they wasted time they’ll never get back to push it out in front of the rest of us for consideration. That borders on criminal in my mind…
When we don’t like what we see, we like to go erase it. Where is Joe Paterno noticeable on the Penn State campus? No place. His bronze statue is gone. Maybe there shouldn’t have been one in the first place. I don’t know. But all the records are gone, the statue is gone, he’s been painted out of the mural in town, and even the entire entrance where all the Joe Paterno goodies were is gone.
That’s right. Penn State tore it out and if you didn’t know there was an entrance there to that legendary football field where millions of people had entered over the decades, you’d never know it.
I’m not passing thoughts on Penn State or any of that jazz. What I’m illustrating is our propensity to erase the truth and fact, and rewrite it in the fashion we’d prefer. It makes us feel better when Joe Paterno is gone. We erase the Virginia Battle Flag because some loser co-opted it as a racist symbol. If given enough time Cain will have given Abel a bouquet of flowers and Satan will just have been a misunderstood young man like Tupac and Biggie… Hogwash…
Pay attention folks. Haven’t you all heard “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” at some point? How are you supposed to learn history if your daddy changed it? What about if somebody two hundred years ago altered it. You’re not able to reflect on truth and fact any longer. You’re lost and you don’t even know it. When you don’t stay sharp and then allow the silly stuff to hold validity, even when it is portrayed as kindness, how can you balance scripture like this:
1 Corinthians 10:11 – Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Psalm 78:3-4 – Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
Romans 15:4 – For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
You don’t get to alter history and flip reality around and pass it about willy nilly. If you can do that and it holds validity, everything above is subject to subtle if not substantial distortion. …And since it isn’t, let’s quit with the peddling of nonsense on one another.
Be salt and light my friends…