Anger continued on past its usefulness becomes unjust, then
dangerous…it fuels not positive activism but regression, obsession, vengeance, self-righteousness.
Corrosive, it feeds of itself, destroying its host in the process.
Ursula K Le Guin
I've seen this quote a couple of times and it sparked something we talked about in Bible study last week. We're doing a study around the seven "deadly" sins and the topic was wrath. The author talked bout how "righteous" anger can turn into something else entirely. I was struck by how much of the disgust and revulsion at the parade of public figures caught up in various sexual misbehaviors has generated a tide of appropriate anger at the harm done, the lies told, and the misuse of power and authority. Yet, I'm also struck by how much of the people expressing this "justified" anger seem to revel in it. To almost use the lack of what they consider an appropriate degree of anger as a litmus test to affirm their superiority. I wondered than, and still do, how much of what started out as righteous indignation and anger, is turning into something else entirely.
Seems like Ursula just might agree with my take.
21 comments:
I would suggest that for some actions/practices - rape, assault, slavery, sexual assault, child abuse, abuse of power by the rich and powerful... - that we have plenty of room for righteous anger before going "too far..." We don't see Jesus every cutting the rich, powerful and religious leadership/pharisees much in the way of slack and kept plenty of righteous indignation at their behaviors.
Everything they [pharisees] do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries [scripture verses] wide and the tassels on their garments long;
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are!
Woe to you, blind guides!
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.
...You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
You snakes!
You brood of vipers!
How will you escape being condemned to hell?
Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them
you will kill and crucify;
others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
And so
upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth,
from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Da-yum. And that was just him starting his ministry.
He didn't let up.
Yeah, for those who oppress and harm and do not turn from these harmful, oppressive, raping, child molesting, sexual assaulting, lying ways, we have some good amount of wiggle room on letting loose with some righteous anger.
Indeed, I'd be wary about anyone encouraging us to go easy on those who actively practice and promote harm.
For instance, here's a Kentucky pastor (someone I knew back in my conservative days... having known him as a rather flighty and arrogant charismatic/fundamentalist type, this news does not surprise me) and Trump supporter and Kentucky politician! in the news for the grossest of abuses of power...
"That night, she [then a 17 year old young woman at her pastor's - Danny Johnson - house] woke after settling in on the sofa. She was groggy, unfocused. But she saw Johnson kneeling above her. He gave her a kiss on the head. She thought it fatherly, nothing out of the ordinary, simply one last goodnight gesture.
Then he started to stroke her arm. He slid his hands up, under her shirt and bra, and groped her. He stuck his tongue in her mouth. Then, he forced his hands down her pants, underneath her underwear, and penetrated her with his finger."
http://longcon.kycir.org/
Unfortunately, there is much, much more of this pastor, state representative and Trump supporter. And racist and sexual assailant and general creep.
This sort of damnable behavior deserves quite vocal condemnation. Seems to me. Righteous indignation is a good thing, especially when we're talking about harmful behavior.
Roy Moore, Danny Johnson and Trump are all cut from the same cloth. I grew up around the Danny Johnsons and Roy Moores of the world (and literally crossed paths, in the case of Johnson) and I recognize this brand of evil. It IS evil and we should call it as such. The point not being to be gracelessly intolerant of these sorts of sinners. The point is to protect the innocents who are hurt by these sorts of atrocities.
The problem is, that you’re not Jesus. The second problem is, that your self righteousness is showing. The third problem is, that you haven’t demonstrated that the quote and the post are inaccurate. You’ve just continued to justify your behavior. The fourth point is that, “gracelessly intolerant” pretty well describes your attitude.
No, I'm not Jesus, but we all are called to follow in his steps.
It's not self righteous to say, "Damn, these child molesters, women abusers, liars that are trying to also run our country are a danger to women, to people, to our nation."
How is that self righteous? You almost certainly can't support that charge.
Perhaps that's a bit of false humility (bordering on self righteousness...?) on your point?
I agree with the point of your post, you should know. Indeed, those who are self righteously indignant about the single mom who was caught in an affair, for instance, or about the "illegal" immigrant who crossed the border without the right permission... these people should take a step back.
But I'm not talking about little misdemeanors. I'm talking about serious assaults on people who have been historically oppressed. I'm saying when we're talking about serious crimes like slavery, rape, abuse, etc, we have plenty of room for righteous anger.
I'm adding a rational caveat to your post. Do you agree with that point?
I don't see how you could disagree in good faith.
I will add that, in every day life with "normal" racists, molesters, murderers, etc... people I deal with in my real world life, I am able to show them grace and work with them, be welcoming to them, even be friends with them (in a professional manner)... with actual serious crimes and those who've committed them, I am and have demonstrated an ability to be gracious to them.
But when it comes to these same people, if they were unrepentant and committed to their atrocities, running for office, hell no. That is NOT the time for grace.
We must call a monster a monster when it comes to them taking leadership roles.
Alabama: Do the right thing.
So much of your justification is undermined by the fact that you’ve chosen to focus exclusively on Trump and Moore, (whose transgressions mostly occurred decades ago), while remaining virtually silent on the multitudes of others whose behavior is much more recent. Of course suggesting that it’s all about protecting the innocent ignores fact that neither Trump nor Moore are being accused of current acts of this nature.
It seems pretty likely that (given your defensive response) that this post struck a bit of a nerve and that you’ve abandoned the Jesus who preached grace for the Jesus of wrath.
You really don’t believe that you comparing your reaction to two of the numerous abusers in government to Jesus isn’t self righteous. Or that passing judgment on my humility isn’t self righteous.
I find it telling that you claim to agree with the point of the post, yet spend the majority of your comments trying to justify your anger and how your anger is righteous and others is not.
It’s interesting that I didn’t post this with you in mind, yet your narcissism compelled you to think otherwise. The fact that your initial response is not to agree, but to justify speaks volumes.
As I’ve said numerous times, your virtual silence (and excuses for it) on the larger issues make it hard to see past your partisanship. Just like the threads that end with unanswered questions that you’ve dodged undermine your credibility when you complain about people not answering you, your narrow focus on what two men did in the past, undermines your claims about trying to “protect” people.
It's far from "righteous anger" to demonize someone personally unknown based upon allegations made against those people by other unknown people. Worse, it is a compounding of animosity begun by others with no true intention of relating the truth. That is, the leftists at WaPo run a story, make out that it is worse by listing among the accusers women who aren't accusing Moore of anything at all, and then running with all this as if it is absolutely true and credible while ignoring all that puts the credibility in question, not to mention ignoring all that have come out to defend the man's character. The monster is Dan.
I’m willing to grant that it starts as appropriate anger, but if one continues to dwell in that place of anger, it can’t help but change the person.
One last comment, then I've cast all the pearls I'll cast.
From your post...
Anger continued on past its usefulness becomes unjust, then dangerous
The time for anger remains until the perverts have been removed from office and a place to do damage. Just as Jesus kept giving grief to the rich and powerful and deadly arrogant leaders of his day, you stay angry at the injustice until it's gone.
No justice, no peace.
As long as the abuser remains in power, stay angry. Fight the oppressive power.
Once again, Dan...I'm still waiting for the links to your posts calling for Clinton...or any other Dem sexual abuser...to step down. Where's your posts expressing your outrage over the creepy behavior of Joe Biden? Your "anger" is a lie.
1. Your point demonstrates exactly what the post suggests. That living in anger too long leads to self righteousness.
2. No justice no peace is just a tactic to bully people into the result you want, not s rational plan for justice.
3. Once again, you’re not Jesus, and no He didn’t. He, and His followers submitted to a regime that was arguably one of the most unjust and corrupt in history, and it cost them dearly.
The problem with your Jesus analogy is that His was a spiritual, not political, movement. He didn’t offer threats of general violence or to withhold peace, He offered peace. When you take Jesus out of context, you diminish the power of His message and trivialize the gospel.
Calling your own hunches “pearls” is more than a bit of a stretch.
To be fair, this is an example of Dan running off without leaving questions unanswered so I guess that’s positive.
I love how Dan “agrees” with the point of the post, then spends multiple comments laying out excuses and reasons to demonstrate that he actually doesn’t agree with the post.
"As long as the abuser remains in power, stay angry. Fight the oppressive power."
And he's right, Craig! Those abusers on the left who continue to support the killing of the unborn are about the worst, most perverse oppressors one can imagine. Those lefties support the suppression of religious expression...that is, living one's religion in all areas of one's life, which the founders were extremely keen on protecting...thereby oppressing those who do (bakers, florists, photographers, B&B owners, etc.). Those lefties oppress the workers by taxing them mercilessly. The worst abusers and oppressors are those Dan supports with his vote. He ignores those abuses by feigning outrage over some alleged sexual situations.
I have to note the singular “the abuser” as opposed to the plural “all of the abusers”. Makes one wonder if he’s not quite being honest about this being an anti-Trump/Moore thing.
Wouldn’t you say that someone who supports an abuser, that defends an abuser, that actually threatens those the abuser abused, shares some degree of culpability? That one could refer to them as an abuser as well?
The term is used subjectively by those feigning outrage.
To say the least. Of course, it’s not subjective that someone committed suicide yesterday after being accused of sexual misconduct. You have to wonder how much of that is s fear of being subjected to the love and grace shown by the Dan and Feo’s of the world. We may never know, but I’d have to imagine that having people who don’t know you calling you “pervert” and “pedophile” all over does a fair degree of harm to those on the receiving end. But that seems to be a price some are willing to pay in order to nurture their wrath.
Here's the irony: Call someone a pervert based on unsubstantiated allegations, but delete those who correctly speak of the perversion of homosexuality. Is it any wonder the claim of Christian by feo and Dan seems so false?
Yes, Dan follows a Jesus that only shows grace and love to those who agree with his politics.
Post a Comment