Look, I'm fine with this. This isn't a complaint. It is an observation. It was a first last weekend when all four guest-acting statues went to black actors at the 2018 Creative Arts Emmys. Touted as a sign of increasing diversity, I noticed that no one is saying, "Hey, wait a minute! A black sweep? Sounds racist to me." Trust me; if it had been all whites, we would have heard about it.
A What Competition?
They crowned a new Miss America this last week. Nia Imani Franklin was crowned Miss America 2019 in the first "no swimsuit" competition ever. Wait ... what kind of competition? A competition without swimsuits?? Oh, okay, I get it now. The competition did not include a swimsuit competition. I get it now. Of course, in today's society, I'm not entirely sure that there could not have been a "no swimsuit" competition.
More Dangerous Weapons
Some people go fishing ... you know, to catch fish. Other people go deer hunting. A guy I know went bow hunting but, apparently, didn't catch a single bow. Now we get news of a knife attack in France. Seven injured; four seriously. When will the government do something about these knives and their violent assaults?
In A Perfect World
Marian Avila fulfilled her dream of becoming a fashion model this week when she modeled for New York Fashion Week. It is a news item because Marian is a 21-year-old Spanish model with Down syndrome. Of course, in a perfect world she would have been aborted prior to birth because everyone knows Down syndrome babies are too much trouble to care for and cannot have a fulfilling life, what with all the cognitive impairments, special education programs and social ostracism. Apparently Marian didn't get the memo.
Religious Freedom
China would like to tell us that they allow religious freedom in their country. Reuters disagrees. The report is that Beijing has banned the largest underground church in the city and confiscated "illegal promotional materials" in their crackdown on underground churches. Why? The government demanded closed-circuit cameras; they refused. While "China's constitution guarantees religious freedom," China appears to disagree. Is this where we're headed? "Yes, our constitution guarantees religious freedom ... just not to you."
One Piece at a Time
California leads the way in a lot of areas, most of them leftist. Now they're on the verge of mandating corporate quotas for women. Specifically, Senate Bill 826 on Governor Brown's desk requires that all public companies must have at least one woman on their board of directors.
Now, of course, that seems ludicrous. They're aiming at bringing "gender equity to our corporate boards." In what world is one woman "gender equity"? Ludicrous. On the other hand, if the "free market" is our mode of operation, it would seem that the mandate of "one woman" would be a step toward dismantling it, since "free market" suggests that the enterprise should be allowed to determine how they do business, not the gender. But that's just one more of the things we once held dear but are now dismantling one piece at a time.
I Don't Even ... What??
The news item is about how San Francisco removed a 19th century racially offensive statue. Fine. Whatever. If we can, we should remove all that offends any, I guess. (Good luck with that.) It wasn't really that story that got my attention. It was a paragraph in the story that really caught my eye. "Earlier this year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to end the Columbus Day holiday and celebrate indigenous people and Italian Americans on the second Monday of October." Ummm, okay, wait ... what? I get it. People are offended that Columbus existed. People are upset with his supposed treatment of indigenous people. People in California want to celebrate indigenous people of California. Fine. I'm tracking here. But ... "Italian Americans"? Where did that come from? Why them? Why just them? I don't even have a clue here. I worry sometimes about the people in charge of San Francisco.
Unclear on the Concepts
A Methodist minister, self-identified as a "pro-life Christian", testified against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. Part of her testimony from the official transcript:
Jesus directs us to advocate for a just society that allows people to live their lives to the fullest. In John 10:10, Jesus says, “I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full.” In this passage, Jesus is not referring merely to personal salvation; He also intends for us to seek justice for the poor and the oppressed here on Earth. One such way of accomplishing this is by supporting policies to assist mothers, single parents, and low-income families both before and after babies are born. And this means supporting access to affordable birth control, because by permitting individuals to plan if, whether, and when to become pregnant, birth control allows us to live our fullest lives.Another "Christian" unclear on the concept. By this logic, if murder gives us a fuller life, they ought to allow us to steal because we can live "the abundant life" if only we can steal what we need. And so on. It's amazing what "ordained" and "pro-life" and "Christian" has come to mean ... or not mean ... these days.
In Other News
This week NASA met with the president in an all-out effort to show him that the solar system does not revolve around him. NASA was confident of the outcome; I'm not as optimistic.
Must be true; I saw it on the Internet.
7 comments:
Minutes ago I saw complaints on social media about the behavior of a white girl. A video had been posted of her unwrapping a gift and being disappointed because the doll was black.
I have some sympathy for the side that is complaining about how the girl reacted... But the next thought I had was that the ticket-buying fans at NBA games are a WHOLE lot more white than the ticket-buying fans at NHL games are black. Not close even when accounting for the general population's racial breakdown. Will anybody hold your breath waiting for liberals to complain about black folks (adults for the most part, presumably more accountable than children are for their behavior) shunning ice hockey games?
Oh, and I've also seen black Americans on social media pulling for a black foreign athlete in a competition where the opponent is a white American. Wonder what that's all about.
We all know (and even agree) that white people can be very racist. Not everyone agrees these days that black people can. The current definition of "racist" includes "being in power," where you can't be "racist" if you're not part of the power group. Very odd. Interesting double standard. But, that's the way our society is in places today.
I was unaware that living the Christian life to the fullest involved simply giving ourselves over to our base, selfish,urges and ending the ability of others to live their lives to the fullest.
Been so confused so long, eh?
Yup. I naively thought is was about fully embracing God’s plans, following His commandments, and loving sacrificially.
Who knew if was really giving free reign to my selfish desires, and getting rid of anyone or anything that might impinge in the least on the free expression of whatever seems to provided pleasure.
Indiversity
"Touted as a sign of increasing diversity"? Was that the point, or were the recipients merely considered the best in the category? Please, please tell me it was the latter! (I hold out little hope)
A What Competition?
I'm pretty darned certain this was begun as what they used to call "beauty pageants". Thus, having women present themselves in swimsuits was done to better present their beauty for judgement. While one doesn't really need women to be naked to judge their looks, I don't see the point of these contests if beauty is no longer the defining criteria.
More Dangerous Weapons
Funny thing...a troll who refuses to abide easy to follow standards of behavior and discourse at my blog responded at his own to my series on "gun control" by referring to Scotland and some programs they've begun to reduce violence. Well, they outlaw handguns there, so what do you suppose the Scots have found was the result? Tons of people showing up at hospital ERs with various knife wounds. Killings by knife there is quite high. It ain't the weapon. It's never the weapon.
In A Perfect World
With a granddaughter who has Down Syndrome, my family is very aware of stories like these (not necessarily this particular one). I saw on FB a story of a young man with Downs who has his own photography gallery in Galena, IL, a favorite quick getaway destination for the wife, daughter and me (a three hour drive). We stopped in to look at his stuff and came away with a couple. The kid has a great eye for composition and natural lighting and such. All his stuff were suitable for hanging as far as I was concerned. His folks run the gallery for him and help choose different ways to display his art. Too bad he's not supposed to have such a fulfilling life and career.
Religious Freedom
While the heathens in this country would probably prefer that all religions were to vanish from American, they (and foolish religious people who don't understand either their religion or the Constitution) will satisfy themselves that the faithful keep that religious stuff to themselves and never speak of it in public.
One Piece at a Time
&
I Don't Even ... What??
"I worry sometimes about the people in charge of San Francisco"...and the whole state, to? I worry more about the people who put those people in charge.
Unclear on the Concepts
Ah! Another "progressive" Christian. *gag*
"The current definition of "racist" includes "being in power,""
I was just talking to a black co-worker the other day who said he was almost thrown out of his neighborhood barber shop for disagreeing with that definition. He was foolish enough to insist that "racism" is simply judging based on race.
(Wish I knew how to edit out blank lines.) :)
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