A number of years ago I read a book describing worldviews. A major tenet of the book is that “ideas have consequences.”
Your post here is very good and especially because you rightly state that ideas are important. It is not the level of zeal, per se, but what that zeal is willing to do or not do for the sake of its goal. What is the zeal directed toward?
Clearly Farmer Bill and his ilk are anti-human. They are not governed by any glimmer of Judeo-Christian worldview that values humans - every single one - as a sacred creation made in the image of an almighty God. Actually, they have set themselves in the position of god of the universe.
That is an idea and it has consequences.
They have their belief system and are living in righteous accordance with that system.
What we need is a fundamental upending of people’s worldviews. Far too many people who call themselves Christians went along with this anti-human crap {pardon my language, I don’t normally speak this way} of the last two years, because they somehow have been brought up to believe that safety and compliance are the noblest ideals, that harming kids for the sake of adult needs is okay (hello, abortion, and no, I am not starting a discussion about that, but abortion is always prematurely ending the life of a child for some purpose determined by the adult), and that we can somehow continue to function as a society while engaging in very anti-human behaviors such as obscuring our faces and isolating our non-sick selves and staying inside away from God’s good creation.
It’s not just Farmer Bill but so many seemingly (until now) ordinary, harmless-appearing neighbors and co-workers and friends.
Zealotry is not always bad. It matters what people are zealous about, and whether their tactics are free of deception or coercion. Zealotry about Liberty and Christianity is not bad. Barry Goldwater said (actually his speechwriter Karl Hess) "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." The Apostle Peter said that God was "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance", so many Christian missionaries have been zealous about making sure that the Gospel goes out to the whole world.
Dead kittens are dead kittens no matter what the motive was for killing them. I'm working on an article about the importance of Religion, capital R, because Religion is the only thing that allowed me to keep my job as a public school teacher and stay un-jabbed. Philosophical and scientific objections were worthless. There were only religious exemptions. THAT made me a "zealot' for Christ and His church. I feel sorry I wasn't one long before now.
"...that humanity will be better off by being chipped and tracked and medicated and controlled and AI-censored and penniless and property-less and thoughtless." 🎯
Excellent article, James, and a great companion piece to my “Anatomy of a Philanthropath” series (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-a-philanthropath-dreams).
The only fault I can find is you missed a golden opportunity to use “philanthropath” :-)
“ ideas are important”
A number of years ago I read a book describing worldviews. A major tenet of the book is that “ideas have consequences.”
Your post here is very good and especially because you rightly state that ideas are important. It is not the level of zeal, per se, but what that zeal is willing to do or not do for the sake of its goal. What is the zeal directed toward?
Clearly Farmer Bill and his ilk are anti-human. They are not governed by any glimmer of Judeo-Christian worldview that values humans - every single one - as a sacred creation made in the image of an almighty God. Actually, they have set themselves in the position of god of the universe.
That is an idea and it has consequences.
They have their belief system and are living in righteous accordance with that system.
What we need is a fundamental upending of people’s worldviews. Far too many people who call themselves Christians went along with this anti-human crap {pardon my language, I don’t normally speak this way} of the last two years, because they somehow have been brought up to believe that safety and compliance are the noblest ideals, that harming kids for the sake of adult needs is okay (hello, abortion, and no, I am not starting a discussion about that, but abortion is always prematurely ending the life of a child for some purpose determined by the adult), and that we can somehow continue to function as a society while engaging in very anti-human behaviors such as obscuring our faces and isolating our non-sick selves and staying inside away from God’s good creation.
It’s not just Farmer Bill but so many seemingly (until now) ordinary, harmless-appearing neighbors and co-workers and friends.
Ideas matter. Ideas have consequences.
Amen! Good vs Evil. We cannot let them win.
Zealotry is not always bad. It matters what people are zealous about, and whether their tactics are free of deception or coercion. Zealotry about Liberty and Christianity is not bad. Barry Goldwater said (actually his speechwriter Karl Hess) "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." The Apostle Peter said that God was "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance", so many Christian missionaries have been zealous about making sure that the Gospel goes out to the whole world.
Salman Rushdie stabbed. Timely post. Well written.
Dead kittens are dead kittens no matter what the motive was for killing them. I'm working on an article about the importance of Religion, capital R, because Religion is the only thing that allowed me to keep my job as a public school teacher and stay un-jabbed. Philosophical and scientific objections were worthless. There were only religious exemptions. THAT made me a "zealot' for Christ and His church. I feel sorry I wasn't one long before now.
Great article. Thank you.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3vrkTl9Sv6Y
Another sicko
"...that humanity will be better off by being chipped and tracked and medicated and controlled and AI-censored and penniless and property-less and thoughtless." 🎯