BVMLTT

"Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those  they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.

T. Sowell

"Telling people of a certain color that they are irredeemable is not a good strategy for societal peace or racial harmony.  It's abuse.  Please stop hiring Robin DiAngelo for your DEI trainings.  The more I study human psychology, the more I realize how dangerous her teachings are."

Chloe S Valdary

Interesting view from a POC

https://winteryknight.com/2020/07/30/is-there-evidence-of-systemic-racism-in-the-united-states/

Fruits

Love,

Joy,

Peace,

Patience,

Kindness,

Goodness,

Gentleness,

Faithfulness,

Self-Control.

The list above is what are commonly referred to as the fruits of the spirit, they are the things that outwardly demonstrate the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.

Yet we so often see believers advocating things like...

Anger,

Rage,

Fury,

Grievance,

Struggle,

Scream,

Resist,

Kick,

Fight,

Savagery,

Barbarism,

Rebellion,

Harshness,

 

or engaging in things that reek of...

Hatred,

Vitriol,

Lying,

One wonders if they think that the author of Galatians was wrong?

Or that those were for a different time?

Or that we've discovered some new ones?

Of if they just don't care?

Or if they see the original nine as being to passive or permissive?

Potpourri

"The left is losing the middle."

Elon Musk

I'm not sure the left is losing the middle, I think they believe that they can win without the middle.

Bernell Trammell, was shot in front of his business last week.  Surprisingly there have been no BLM protests, and very little "mainstream" news coverage of his killing.  I wonder why.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53444752

"The current debate on race relations and slavery - which has seen statues toppled and names removed from buildings - has concentrated on the European and American role in the trade of fellow humans.
 
But there is another, lesser known, aspect of the slave trade - which also raises uncomfortable questions. The Nigerian journalist and novelist, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, had a great grandfather, from the Igbo tribe of south eastern Nigeria, who traded in a number of goods, including human beings."

No, it's not a "lesser known aspect of the slave trade", it's widely known.  It's just ignored because it doesn't fit the current narrative.

"If there truly is a wrong side of history, then God must exist.  Otherwise, there'd be no objective right and wrong; moral values/duties would be nothing but useful fictions.  But if God exists, then shouldn't we care first and foremost about whether we're on *His* side."

Seth Dillon

There are a number of problems with the "right side of history" trope.  But, this is probably the most obvious.  For a "right side of history" to exist (or be a meaningful distinction) there must first be a "right" that can be applied to everything  that has happened throughout history.   Absent a standard that can be applied universally (which would seem to indicate an objective standard), then there is no "right side of history".

https://www.philasun.com/week-in-review/black-woman-found-hanged-in-white-roommates-garage/

The headline reads, "Woman found hanging in her White roommate's garage".      The body of one story gives a more accurate account.  "Gloria Bambo, a South African citizen, and a resident of McKinney, Texas was found hung inside her garage."   It seems clear that, there's no point in letting facts get in the way of a good headline.   Or in failing to use the apparent suicide of another black person to advance a narrative.

"All truth comes from science" is a truth claim about science that comes from philosophy.  And if a claim has to be scientific for it to be true, that statement isn't true.  So, science is built on philosophy, and any building can only be as sure as it's foundation.

Frank Turek

https://blogs.ams.org/blogonmathblogs/2020/06/21/what-does-anti-racist-mathematics-look-like/

Apparently it's been decided that "mathematics is part of a societal system that is inherently racist.".

If folks are going to remove racism from math, they'd better figure out a way to maintain the integrity of math itself.  Failing to do so just might have unintended consequences.  You know, things like structures collapsing, mechanical devices failing to work, and rethinking virtually everything we know about various scientific disciplines.   Math has always been something that we had to accommodate.   I've never been particularly good at math, yet I had to learn to accommodate my lifestyle to math, not the other way around.    For example, the banks have never been sympathetic to my argument that my checkbook was "balanced" in my check ledger, and building inspectors were not particularly receptive to "it's close enough".  

"Propagandists in the classroom are a luxury that the poor can afford least of all.  A mastery of mathematics and English can be a ticket out of poverty, a highly cultivated sense of grievance and resentment is not."

Thomas Sowell.

"Mathematics is becoming part of grievance studies."

Nancy Pearcey

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/does_mathematics__western_imperialism.html

Two things I've seen recently that I find strange.

1.  A plethora of leftists posting pictures of African Americans who are using their legally owned guns to protect businesses or other people.  The assumption, driven by prejudice, seems to be that since "conservatives" hate and fear black people that these pictures will scare us.  Of course the response from those on the right is usually supportive of African Americans who use their 2nd Amendment rights for the good of themselves and others.   What's more interesting is that pro 2nd Amendment conservatives have been encouraging African Americans for years to use guns for self defense.   

2.  The fact that there have been certain individuals who engaged in the wanton destruction in MPLS who aren't black, or leftists, or whatever.  As if they think that a person's skin color or politics somehow mitigates their crimes (I guess that's exactly the argument they've made for quite some time).   The reality is that making the "Because a "conservative or white" person did something wrong, then it's OK for everyone else to do the same thing.   Unfortunately, it's called individual responsibility for a reason.  Individuals are responsible for their actions, regardless of race or politics.   My problem is that I saw too many people of varying skin colors engaged in arson, rioting, destruction, etc to buy the "It's all a bunch of white agitators from out of town" narrative.  

I know there are more then two strange things, but these stuck out recently.

BVMLTT

" I have an extremely low tolerance for professing Christians who, under the guise of "love" ae, in reality hermenutical socialists."

Darrell B. Harrison

"It's wild that a few years ago, I was on the left.  Believing in wealth distribution, racial victimhood, hope and change, all of it...

That's one of the reasons I so forcefully combat this stuff.  Because I used to believe in it.  That used to be me.

I know that poison first hand."

Leonydus Johnson

"Group solidarity often means letting the lowest common denominator shape the culture and life within the group and determine the direction of it's future.    This can range from black students' being accused of "acting white" for being conscientious about their studies to automatic criticisms of police actions against rioters or criminals.  These are self inflicted wounds that can jeopardize the whole future of a people."

Thomas Sowell

"Black Lives Matter is the most MIS-NAMED orginzation on Earth!

When your name suggests you care about this (...........All black lives...........) when you really care about this (police emoji)   call your self something else."

Tyehimba Jahsi

"Let's be honest.  Increasing numbers of *professing*Christians today don't see scripture as being all-encompassing, meaning, they don't view it as being authoritative over every aspect of their life.  The Bible is useful for setting a moral compass, but that's pretty much it."

Darrell B. Harrison

Serous question: has "Black Lives Matter" actually achieved anything positive for Black people as a community- legislative change, improved race relations, etc?  If so, what?  Or has the overall impact of police pull-backs and such been negative?  Answers from both sides welcome."

Wilfred Reilly

"How much money collected by BLM has gone directly into a community in the form of education, childrens recreation and learning spaces, health clinics, food banks, grocery co-ops, micro lending for small business?"

Muriel Schwenck

"Does anyone KNOW the answer to this?  I'd actually be willing to believe anything from $0.00 to quite a bit.."

Winfred Reilly

"Sitting here studying Nathan's question to King David in 2 Samuel 12:9- "Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in Hos sight?"- and thinking about the myriad sins we tolerate in our lives because we have such a low view of God and His standard of holiness for us."

Darrell B. Harrison

"As far as I can tell, the "Black Lives Matter" movement has resulted in more black deaths, increased crime in minority communities, and loss of livelihoods in places affected by riots and looting.

It's also made race relations worse.

Tell me what positives justify this damage."

Zuby

"Beware of anyone-including any Christian-whose construct of "justice" is framed in terms of preferred outcomes.  In Scripture, "justice" is a judicial term the emphasizes the integrity of the PROCESS of determining what is right, not with guaranteeing outcomes."

Darrell B. Harrison

"The word "equity" (meyshar) appears only 8 times in Scripture-all in the Old Testament.  the word denotes the righteous and impartial manner in which God judges all people.  Never is the word translated to mean equality in terms of (re) distribution of material wealth.

Darrell B. Harrison

Lies

It's interesting what people will say about others, when truth and accuracy isn't a concern.

I've never criticized the DFL for trotting out 2 old white guys as their final two candidates, while bypassing multiple younger, less white, but still rich options.

What I've been critical of is that the DFL has criticized the GOP for being the party of "old, white, men", while positioning themselves as the opposite.   Well they tried the P-BO experiment, and now they're back to old, rich, white, men.   It's pointing out hypocrisy, nothing else.

I've never, and would never, criticize a presidential candidate for choosing a running mate of any ethnicity if that person was the best, most qualified, choice.

What I will criticize is choosing a running mate solely based on the color of their skin or their gender.   When the process excludes people based on skin color and gender, it's really hard to argue that it's not racist and sexist?  

It's almost like people just like to make shit up, regardless of the truth.  

BVMLTT

“Nick was speaking on history not white people of today he explained why white people were such savages and why they raped the entire world if you’re white you come from a bloodline and history of rape and murder that’s not hate speech that’s truth talk. It’s a sad evil truth.  On top of black people were breeded like dogs for hundreds of year and tortured, had to survive the middle passage, were given the worst food hundreds of years. Anyone who can survive all that their pffspring is just going to be physically tougher and stronger their.Hence why black people dominate athletically as well and we can erase white people through procreation in every aspect of physicality we are superior. I’m sorry your feelings are hurt by truth.”

RevoltRollin

“I love all my white friends but black gene is pretty dominant gene . If you were to mix all the populations of people  in the world, what color would they be? Anything you mix with black comes out black.”

Jerome Holloway Jr

Hey, the demand was to listen to ALL black voices.   Y'all didn't say that had to be grammatically or historically accurate.

"The most liberating event in history for black people isn't the end of the slave trade, the end of segregation, or the end of colonialism,

The most liberating event in history for black people (and all sinners) is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Rejoice in that."

Samuel Sey

"To me, it kinds sums up the modern 'social justice' movement that activists spent (around) 40 years debating what to replace the outdated term "colored people" with (i.e. Negro, Black, AA etc.)... and settled on "people of color"."

Wilfred Reilly

"...I had heard of criminals masquerading as freedom fighters, harassing innocent people and setting alight vehicles; those rogues had no place in the struggle.

Freedom without civility, freedom without the ability to live in peace, was not true freedom at all."

Nelson Mandela quoted by Terry Crews

"The constitution of the United States is, in letter and in spirit, and anti-slavery instrument, demanding the abolition of slavery as a condition of it's own existence, as the supreme law of the land."

Fredrick Douglass

"The irony in being a free black man to vote as I see fit, but also being tld I have to vote for whatever the Democratic candidates are in order to be black."

Dominique Clare