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Twisted Thoughts Yield a Society of Broken PretzelsPlease bear with me - a little rant from the editor!By Paul Hayden March 1, 2021 Folks, I am getting to the boiling point about so much going on in our country. I am fed up with what appears to me to be utter nonsense and complete balderdash!We are being fed a whole smorgasbord of lies, of partial truths, of disinformation. And we are being led to feel like what we are seeing is not really what we are seeing. I don't casually use the term "gaslighting" (from a 1940s movie of that name), but there are those who would have us believe that we are crazy for believing in some sort of old-fashioned ways that we used to call "normal." The term "new normal" has been used quite a bit as we have fought the COVID19 problem. But not even everything to do with that whole national scenario is neat and clean, such that you feel you can believe everything you hear and read. We don't even know who to trust anymore! A lot of this discussion boils down to a need for honesty. Can we step back, reserve judgment, and take an honest look at all the facts, the big picture, and a larger perspective? Some Thoughts on Racism "Systemic Racism" It's all "whitey's" fault. There is a snowballing trend right now to use a giant, all-encompassing filter that sees literally everything in the light of the domination and dominion of white people over everyone else. Nothing else seems to matter. There is only one perspective, that RACISM is the only problem, and you must bow to that thinking or you are THE PROBLEM! Even blacks can be seen to be supporting white supremacists if they do not yield to the current tyranny. This can't be allowed to continue escalating. What we have is possibly more a "systemic racist reaction," where everything is seen as racism-based, and a hyper-sensitivity develops. An incident between two blacks is nothing, but the same incident between a white and a person of color is seen as "systemic racism." If a white calls the police about an incident concerning a black, it might just possibly be that the black is doing something illegal, possibly hoping to get away with it because they can always fall back on "the race card," a sort of get-out-of-jail-free card they can always play. "Reverse racism" Evidently, whites cannot be discriminated against, because they caused all this in the first place. They are the ones at fault. If a white cop shoots a black man, no matter if justified or not, he is in the wrong. But if a black cop shoots a white man, the "news" doesn't seem to care. These incidents have different values. If whites are hurt in any way by anyone of color, they simply deserve it, because they are white. It's a cosmic payback for all the hurt "they" have done through the centuries. Too often, race has been used in hiring or appointing as a form of virtue-signaling rather than in a sincere manner if no skin-color were taken into count. But you can't bring it up for discussion, or you are a "racist." Claiming "racist" to gain advantage or to close down a chance for dialogue or debate is just wrong. Often, the ideology driving these efforts seems more concerned with inflaming anti-white sentiment rather than mitigating any form of racism. (I recently saw this thought in an article, and I thought it was absolutely worth keeping and sharing, as it gets to the heart of some of the problems we are having. Do we really want answers, or unity, or peace? Or do we want more strife, division, and hatred?) If you are black and you do something against the law, if someone calls you on it or arrests you, are they racist? If a black calls another black the N-word, is it okay or wrong? Is this word only wrong if white people use it against blacks? How about reparations? How is it that blacks of today are believing that whites of today should pay them money - we're talking big money - for racist slavery of the past? That is, blacks today who have no direct ties to slavery, should be paid directly from white people who have no direct ties to slave ownership. How is that supposed to work out or be administered? I'm sure the government would be able to figure it out with perfect equity. After all, look at how well they have taken care of "Covid Relief" payments and economics! This is one of the most idiotic notions maybe in the history of man. Good grief - we have to all move on. Ethnicism Pride (or embarrassment!) of one's own heritage seems inherent in life. And I believe it is a good thing overall. Black pride is justifiable, and justified, to a degree. All different ethnicities and cultures have some value, the riches, the unique aspects, the history of each one. It adds to the richness of life itself. Every ethnic group can be proud of their heritage, what their particular group has added to the beautiful diversity of the world. Why make it a point of animosity and hatred? Equal Rights has become "Special Rights" - Selective Equal Rights? Race quotas for employment? Hiring by race rather than job qualifications or physical capabilities. This actually started decades ago with people being hired at least in large part because of the color of their skin – “affirmative action.” Did that help? What if we had ratios of basketball teams the same as our population? Only 13 out of 100 NBA players would be black, in the same ratio as blacks in our population!!! Same for the NFL. How would that work out? Transgenderism Girls thinking they are boys, or boys thinking they are girls. God help us, how are we going to really deal with this in a healthy way. Some now praise transgenders for their "bravery," rather than questioning their thinking or even their sanity as in years past. We are called to go along with whatever they think as if that is the only right thing to think or do. How does that really help anyone? We are called on to accept that a man is a woman, if that is what he thinks, when he cannot accept how God made him. In the next breath, we are called on to "trust science." Huh??? And children are being taught and even encouraged to decide what gender they are! We absolutely won't let children, like under the age of 18 or so, drive, drink alcohol, get married, join the military, or even vote. But the progressives want them to be able to have an abortion without their parents' consent and decide whether they are male or female. How is there any sanity in that? What could possibly go wrong? What if someone who identifies as a male winds up pregnant? I guess that should be a clear enough sign to help them in that decision! Homosexuality Just at face value, homosexuality just doesn't seem "natural," unless of course you are trying to justify it for your own benefit. (There are those who point to homosexuality" among various species, which is incredibly stretched and forced as comparable to human behavior and "thoughts" and choices.) We are told that people are born homosexual, but what about the transgenders? Are they born as a male, but they are really female? The question of morality and sin from a Biblical viewpoint is paramount to me, where it is seen as a sin. This is true in most cultures worldwide as well, except more recently in human history. The practice has been seen as unnatural, fringe, and wrong through most of history. Yet we are being told, even in many churches, that we must accept this behavior and ideology, or we are not "Christ-like." Economics Capitalism versus Socialism. More and more folks are being persuaded that capitalism is bad, and socialism is good, largely learning this through the education system as well as the fairly unified views of the conventional media. Yet as much as socialism is seen by so many, especially the younger generations, one is hard-pressed to point to a substantial success of this socio-economic-political system that has really worked and benefitted a country or society for an extended period of time. At the same time, it can be pointed out, that for all its faults and problems, capitalism as seen in the western world can be shown to have substantially benefitted those countries and the parts of the world where it is the norm. One only needs to ask why it is that so many people want to come to America or Europe or to capitalistic countries, and so few wish to relocate to countries under strict socialistic policies. Capitalism has helped more people be freed from the devastating effects of poverty than any other economic system in all of human history. It has its problems, and they might get worked out, unless we are driven back into socialism by a governmental system that completely destroys what has been so beneficial the past 200 years! The classic depiction of this conundrum of thinking is a young person driving a $50,000 car, living in a $2,000-a-month condo, working at a $60,000-a-year job, and texting on a $1000 phone, complaining about the evils of capitalism. Temporary Conclusion (This whole discussion is "to be continued...") Can we ever go back to being able to tell Polack jokes or Mexican jokes or Irish jokes or (God forbid) even black jokes? We need to be able to laugh at ourselves, and each other, once again. But we need to have more sincere care for one another as well. A good belly-laugh would be incredibly good for our country right now, but way too many would be offended! One meme I saw said that the movie Blazing Saddles from the 60s had been edited for political correctness, and would be shown from 8:00 to 8:07 pm on a Friday night!
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 Paul Hayden is a Christian believer, and an American patriot, necessarily in that order. He is a student of the Bible, and is avidly interested in our role in the context of history, as understood through the heart and eyes of faith. Paul has lived and traveled somewhat widely, and now lives in the heartland of the U.S. (central Illinois), with his wife Donna - they have five grown children. Since December of 2016, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief of www.ConservativeTruth.org."I was raised by a Christian minister, Kenneth Hayden, until his death when I was 10. Then my mom married a farmer. So I was raised in a very down-to-earth home. My faith has grown through the years, but both in conjunction with the institutional church and through small groups and individuals, including books as well as group settings, where deep, sincere faith is shared that aligns with Biblical truth."
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