Where have we gone?

"We have educated ourselves into imbecility," said the famous journalist Malcolm Muggeridge as he mourned over the many ideas currently shaping our modern culture. It is true that in many ways, people in America today are obese on knowledge. We know so much that we don't even know what to do with it, and practical application of simple wisdom has become something quaint, often associated with the days of horses and carts. No longer do we have men such as Benjamin Franklin, who seemed to gain insight about this world and willingly shared the practical wisdom necessary to live in it fruitfully. Where are such men today? Where do we turn for wisdom and guidance in a time filled with deceit and sordid gain?

Only a couple hundred years ago, a short time for a nation so young, 3 million Americans produced men such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Quincy Adams. Today, 300 million Americans have produced...nothing quite as impressive. Is there a reason for this? Is there an explanation? Have we degraded so much over time?

While I am confident that the evil side of man existed as much then as it does today, I have to recognize the shocking degree of the atrocities around me. On the morning news, one is told that a few blocks away some estranged boy-friend murdered a young lady, cut her into pieces, and then burned her remains on an outside grill in order to cover his crime. We hear of the rapists, the child molesters, and the sexual predators...and it becomes almost normal. There is an alarming level of desensitization in the modern mind. What is most shocking to me, is the fact that there is no more any wrongdoing for which some professor cannot offer an explanation, as pointed out by Ravi Zacharias. For any crime that is committed, there is an explanation for it which bids us to "understand."

The parallel I see, is that over the years we have witnessed our higher learning institutions bent on making a one-sided case against God with the goal of developing a serious prejudice in the minds of young learners. Theistic belief has been portrayed as lacking any form of reason, and if any shred of doubt could be cast upon any Biblical subject, it was gleefully proclaimed that the entire system of thought should be thrown out. For instance, I have read a group of essays which were supposed to prove that God was an illusion, based on the confusion about why He didn't heal amputees. The essays were strewn with nice language, and even did a fair job of appearing to be unbiased. The essays sought to disprove the existence of God by asking why He does not heal amputees. A fair question, but a question does not prove a conclusion, and a lack of understanding does not propel oneself into greater knowledge. And this has been the goal of this movement as I see it: to give the impression that new saviors will deliver us from an "old" way of thinking, and provide the freedom from moral constraint that has for so long held sway. God has been made into a tyrant, and the distortion of language and misrepresentation of truth have been the main weapons used by those who claim to lead us into a bright future. Without a doubt, it has been a successful tactic to take over our universities and colleges, and to infuse this thinking into the young minds of this generation. Sadly, this was predictable, as it was the logical outcome from the thinking of men like Nietzsche. We have seen the results of a generation that "killed" God. Who can forget the acts of Stalin, or the Third Reich?

Islam and Our New Administration- Part 2

I realize that my last post could have come off a bit one-sided, and so I'd like to balance it a bit. There is a great deal about Islam and the Muslim world that I do not understand, but I do understand enough to know that Obama was trying to make a good move when he made the statements about the U.S. not being their enemy.

In Islamic countries, the "Freedom Fighters" are portrayed as heroes. The populace in Islamic countries will be totally loyal to their leaders, based upon an ideology that is nearly impossible to change. They view us as their hated enemy, as shown through history time and time again. So, I understand that Obama is trying to negate some of that intense and deep-rooted brainwashing. We are not the enemy of these people, at least from our point of view, and it will be difficult to convince them otherwise. I suppose that it just needs to be communicated that their view isn't any fault of ours. Their religion bids them to hate us, and few people are willing to admit it.

I just hope that Obama's plan to reduce the level of anxiety in this situation goes further than trying to hold hands. He's going to have to stand for the truths of the matter. But I appreciate what he is trying to do.

Islam and Our New Administration

Our new administration in the White House has a distinct desire to start steering this country in a different direction, a fact about which we are all aware. That was the basis of Obama's entire campaign-- "Something Different." There were a large number of people who asked some critical questions during the campaign, and unfortunately these questions went unheard among the General Public. These questions included ones like, "What change will be made" and "How will we make these changes". Or, even better, "What are the details behind that?". It cannot be denied that Obama was swept into the White House under the historically dangerous "Leader as a movement" motif, a tendency which America used to resist. He was selected into office while in my estimation the majority of voters had no idea just how exactly Obama planned to change our health care, world standing, economic situation, education, and countless other social programs. The point is, that now we all get to see for ourselves what we get with President Obama. Unlike the vast majority of past U.S. Presidents, Obama gets to start revealing himself only after he has been elected into office. Usually, you have to do that before people vote for you. Nevertheless, I promised that I would wait and see what he did and said. And so I have.

I was reading an article about how the Obama administration wants to stop using the phrase "War on Terror", because it has such a negative feel to it. Yes, that negative, safe feeling that we have been basking in for 7 years now. That one. That's the connotation that Obama wants to dissolve. Speaking about the war on terror, here is the White House's current viewpoint with regard to the war:

"The thinking has evolved, he said, to focus on avoiding the kind of rhetoric "which could imply that this was a struggle against a religion or a culture."

Obama has made it clear in his first days in office that he is courting the Muslim community and making what is at least a symbolic shift away from the previous administration's often more combative tone.

He chose an Arab network for his first televised interview, declaring that "Americans are not your enemy." Before his first full week in office ended, he named former Sen. George J. Mitchell as his special envoy for the Middle East and sent him to the region for talks with leaders.

According to the White House, Obama is intent on repairing America's image in the eyes of the Islamic world and addressing issues such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, unrest in Pakistan and India, Arab-Israeli peace talks and tensions with Iran."

If this doesn't bother you, then you don't have a pulse. I get frustrated when I read that we should avoid the "rhetoric" that "implies this is a struggle against a religion or culture." Well, that's precisely what this is, no matter how we feel about it. Being honest enough to see that the religion of Islam wants Americans and Western Society destroyed is not "rhetoric." It's common sense. It is frightening to me that this truth is now labeled as "rhetoric." And I fear that this is the beginning of one of Obama's changes. No longer will we as a country be allowed to stand for moral truths that concern the reality of Islam. Our president is too busy trying to get a squeeze in with the Muslims, like an excited little school-boy at his first dance trying to get his arm around his favorite girl. It's embarrassing. Obama is foolishly giving our enemies leeway, and there will likely be severe consequences. I can guarantee you that they see this as a struggle against a culture--our culture. What was 9/11? An attack against the buildings?

If you find it offensive, for some odd reason, that I suggest we ought to realistically view the Islamic culture as a danger, consider this: After the recent attacks in Mumbai, not a single Islamic country or entity denounced the killing of so many innocent people. There was no word from any Muslim country, no outcry at the murder of so many. Think about it. Consider any attack you can remember that has been proven to be an act of terrorism by Islamic people (a long list indeed), and you see that no Islamic country ever says much about it. That is because they are held under control and fear by their religious/militant leaders. I will have to write more about this separately, but you cannot tell me that we are only dealing with a sliver of the Islamic people when it comes to defining our threats to National Security. Witness for yourself an entire culture, spanning many countries, that holds its people under a level of control that ought to frighten you.


I am glad that Obama wants to tell Eastern nations that we are not their enemy. But we need to have the courage to understand that Muslims don't really care about our view on that. And we are making a mockery of ourselves as the beacon of Freedom when we have our president kissing up to nations that enjoy Islam. The Islamic world has one image of us--infidels. You cannot "repair" that, because their is nothing to repair. People act like Islam was peaceable with the West until they attacked us again on 9/11 and we actually did something about it for once. It may shock you, but Islam hated us before that, and they will always hate us. If some Americans don't like that fact, then its tough cookies. That's just the way it is, and Islam will not be convinced otherwise. George Bush seemed to understand this reality, and he managed somehow to keep America free from attacks after 9/11. But NOW we need to drastically change all that, right? Our "image" in the eyes of the Islamic world will not be repaired, because its not broken. Our image in their eyes is what it has always been. I am afraid for how much damage we will experience before Obama gets a grip on that.

This is going to get very ugly, just like the weak kid on the playground always seems to get beaten up by the bullies. There are facts about reality that seem to have been ignored in all the hype about "change". I can only hope that Obama does not wait until we experience another major attack to realize that he can't say enough nice words to thwart off a religion of hate.