(Originally posted on my FB Site June 16, 2009)
I need to get something off of my chest. A couple days ago, while I was enjoying time away visiting my Sister who is miraculously recovering from a burst brain aneurysm, my dear friend was under fire after making a supportive post about John Voight on his FB Wall. He reached out for support and unfortunately I missed the opportunity to provide it. I read the whole thread and those who voiced their hearts were in no need of my assistance; they were amazing in defending and articulating the conservative viewpoint in defense of my dear friend. In the attacking opposition, there were so many things said that troubled me, much I keep hearing elsewhere, that I considered adding my voice after the debate was over. I am glad my Mother taught me, “When in doubt, wait it out.” So, I waited until I knew what to do, hence, as I said, I have a lot to get off of my chest - here.
As my fellow conservatives recognize, it always seems so challenging trying to reason and have a civil debate with liberals. This has bothered me greatly as I continue my sincere and earnest endeavor to do my part encouraging a healthy debate and a respectful exchange of thoughts and ideas. I try to understand “why” they believe what they do even if I will never agree, especially when they do not ever try to understand my point of view in kind. Still, you can only lead a horse to water, as it has been said. I can no more make anyone thirst to “hear” than I can make a horse drink at the water’s edge to which he has been led. I get it that they simply view the world through a very different lens than we do. We look at the same things but we do not see the same things. Moreover, their interpretation of our point of view is so off base; how can they know our view when they do not see through our lens nor ever bother to try? This is a point I cover in the Chapter “The Grass is Always Browner on the Other Side” in the book I am currently writing.
What furthers the “discussion challenge” is that so often the liberal Political Party, the self appointed and anointed distributors of information, works to drive their points ever so close to the fence of truth so as to muddy the lines that distinguish between them, creating the necessary confusion and appearance of truth for the majority of voters, the casual constituents and listeners. When in heated debate with liberals, you get enough of these “muddied” issues thrown at you fast and furious; it can be frustrating trying to communicate a point of truth. They can not hear the truth nor distinguish it because when you state it, they think you are proving their point for them, using the muddied distortions against you like a frenzied Messala in the Chariot race against Ben Hur, beating his horses with an emboldened glee and taste of hopeful victory in his mouth. Then it escalates into ugliness from there, a jump-off point for me. Proverbs warns us to not argue with a fool in his folly. It is all breath spent in vain.
(Attached is video clip of this race from the greatest movie of all time, “Ben Hur”) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQvpJsTvxU
To illustrate my points, the following are a couple of unedited quotes from the attacking opposition, which I will address each strand at a time:
I. “Sadly, this is what causes: Hate, Fear, doubt, hostility. Yet, another celebrity/media person (reference to John Voight) paid to create the above mentioned. If you look for bad things, you'll find bad things. Stop looking. Every single person that he mentioned: Rush, O'riley, Beck, Hannity etc... They ALL inject hate and fear into people who take them serious. Listen and you will not hear ONE SINGLE good thing they have to say, NOT ONE. I'd love to get paid that kind of money but I have morales and ethics and a love for the good of what our country can and will be. …”
MY HUMBLE TWO CENTS:
No doubt both sides of the political spectrum feel a passion for America and what is right for Her. In part, I can buy that this is what motivates the left. In larger part, they fail to see exactly how they are guilty of the very things of which they accuse the right. As demonstrated in some of the words from the attacking position revealed here, this is the hate and hostility I see and it comes from the left. They seem like angry and hateful people. I have been personally attacked by every liberal with whom I have ever tried to have a decent conversation, including family members who I love more than life itself. I had a dear friend cut me out of his life with hurtful words and baseless accusations. (See Notes where I vulnerably shared this experience as it happened, dated May 16, 2009 “Liberals Rules of Tolerance… I & II) I am not saying the right is guiltless. But like me, conservatives don’t agree with everything coming from our side just because they are our side. We stand for principals not positions and people, and ANY and ALL who are guilty of breaking them, regardless of side, we address in the same way.
When it comes to how the much of left sees the right, A) we are accused of injecting fear and hate, C) we are seen as being easily led like Kool-Aid drinkers to the Fox News slaughter without minds of our own, and 3) that because we disagree it is seen as not having one good thing to say. Again, the truth lies close to the fence of the lie so let me separate these stringy strands and break this down:
A - Hate is a passionate emotion. It is not a bad emotion; it is what you do with it that is bad. God hates evil. We are called to hate evil in kind and to turn from that which is bad. Conversely, God loves goodness, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, grace, and righteousness, and we are called to embrace them. These two sides are equally passionate and yet do not contradict. Here’s the stringy strand: God calls us to hate sin but love the sinner. These are two distinct issues to God and thus to the conservative. Not so to the liberal. They see the sin and sinner as one in the same. When we take a stand against evil, they say we are hostile and hateful against the evil-doer. Conservatives can passionately love a person and as equally passionately hate what they do. We understand this distinction; they do not. For us to take a stand against an action of theirs is to hate them. They see our opposition as hate and their own opposition as righteous indignation against our hate. But it is not the truth.
B - O’Reilly, Beck, Hannity, and Rush do NOT inject fear and hate just because they passionately oppose liberals/disagree. What the left fails to understand is that conservatives are not “inject-able.” These men merely give us our voice, a voice we already have individually and on our own!! They aren’t influencing us like we are mindless idiots; they speak what we already believe! Conservatives are people of principal, many of us because of faith, so we are not as vulnerable to swallowing enticing Kool-Aid. We have already done a lot of research and thinking for ourselves. We stand by all things that line up with our principals – period. These men just articulate that. Further, being passionately concerned is not fear mongering. Better to have your eyes wide open and deal with harsh realities than to fall into a ditch and later wonder how did it happen and when could we have prevented it? I know this all too well as I have a God given gift for smelling smoke LONG before anyone ever sees it. Someone has to yell fire and sound the alarm of warning. God mercifully provides those “seers.” Like it or not, sounding the alarm is mercy. Why do we have to be burned before we appreciate it?
C – I do not agree with President Obama on anything he stands for. This does not mean that I have nothing nice to say. For the conservative, it is not about being nice but about being right. I am not going to pretend I like something I don’t. I am not going to pretend I am not upset when I have to pay for overseas abortions with my tax dollars just so I can be “nice.” I am a very gracious and kind person but I am equally passionate about what is right. My passion does not nullify my kindness. If you offer me nothing nice, I have nothing nice to say – period. If President Obama did something I agreed with I would be the first to say so! I am still waiting - for anything! Until then, I am not going to pretend I agree with something to prove I have something nice to say. For the record, I have heard Rush, Hannity, Beck, and mostly O’Reilly say many nice things about Obama, but as it is merited only, as it should be. Liberal critics have not listened long enough to get the whole picture. I watch and listen all day every day so I do.
II. “The reason that the republicans continue to implode in on it self is because they think that they are better than everyone else and forced their own agenda no matter if they broke the law, are the most greedy and allowed the non regulation of many different things: hints the failed war, failed economy and working really hard making he world hate us.”
MY HUMBLE TWO CENTS:
This one is humorous to me. Still, it is another stringy strand. The left has no clue what the Republican problem is. First of all, they are not imploding, but this is what the left sees and wants to believe. Indeed, in truth, what they are is severely fractured. In that, they are not fractured for reasons the left supposes. They completely miss the point of what fractures the Party as does the Republican Party! Conservatives are clear about it. Conservatives continue to stand on timeless and simple principals, our Founding Principals, and the Republican Party left us, hence the fracture. They want us to get on board with their compromising leftward movement and we refuse to budge, instead taking the stand our Founders prayed we would in painstakingly formulating our American Republic. The Republicans can either return to us or lose our vote. It is that simple. The Republican Party will either heal by returning to the conservative base or be forever severed from conservatives who will vote for conservatives and not compromising Republicans. Conservatives everywhere continue to unite, grow, and find our voice regardless. We could care less if the left leaning Republicans implode or whatever leftists think they are doing. Conservatives are finding their voice again and WE speak for ourselves. Our votes will tell the story as they always do when we wake from slumber and take action for what is right.
As for working really hard for the world to hate us, it is a sad thing and extremely naïve to believe we have caused Islamic Terrorists to hate us and attack us. For brevity sake, because this is already too long, please refer to my Journal Entry where I talk about my encounter with a former terrorist, in the Notes area. It addresses this point directly. (First Note dated March 20, 2009)
Last, in a post on my own Wall several days ago, a liberal friend I care about (and I have many in my life) challenged some of the words he saw posted. I could not respond properly to him at the time. In response to a “Tiller: Abortionist” article, someone wrote that they were glad the F--- was dead. My liberal friend heard hate and anger. I saw righteous passion in defense of the unborn. His feelings were expressed more intensely than I would have personally expressed but regardless, I totally agreed with his passion and his point of view. He hates evil and loves what is good. I doubt he wishes anyone evil, including Tiller. His being glad about Tiller being dead was more about being glad Tiller can never kill another baby. His heart was angry about those who defended Tiller and called him a hero for killing partial birth babies and a passionate defense for those defenseless babies who never had the choice Tiller had, both in having a life and in who chooses who gets to have life. I want my passionate friend to defend me any day! I know I would survive!
I cannot make a horse drink. Even I won’t drink muddied water. Still, somehow I try to reason in hopes that at least one untangled stringy strand might spark a light that shines on the truth. In the same way I saw the “issues” of my passionate conservative friend, I am equally listening to hear my liberal friends. I am trying to encourage the liberals to do the same for us in kind. More often than not in life, it is not the words or the tone that tells the story; so I intentionally look past the words someone uses and the tone with which they speak to really HEAR the issues and the points they are making. It is what lies beneath in the heart where you find the truth for any side. I try to emulate God who does not look at the outward appearance but instead looks at the heart. I want to drink all the truth to which He leads me. It is a fresh un-muddied well of life to all who find it. I hope my words are salty enough to inspire the same thirst that will reap that refreshing reward.
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