Thursday, January 26, 2012

1781- MAJORITY RULE?

I was going to finish the last post on the Protestant Reformation study we started last month- but we do have a few news items that I think we should cover.

First- for those of you who haven’t read my posts for a while- you need to know that I critique both Repubs and Dems- sometimes severely.

For instance I was [am] a very ‘anti war’ person. I felt the Iraq war- and the long land occupation in Afghanistan were bad mistakes.

I do feel we were indeed justified to ‘hit back’ after 9-11- but the massive ground wars- and all the various reasons given- well I just felt the strategy was flawed.

I also have sided with Progressives on immigration- I take a very non conservative- pro liberal view on immigration- almost to the degree of being a ‘Sanctuary City’ supporter- yeah- that bad.

So I say that to say this- when I critique the President- trust me- I have done it with both sides of the aisle.

Yesterday I read a scathing column by Maureen Dowd [NY Times] and she described the President as someone who was aloof- isolated and has surrounded himself with Chicago insider friends- who all tell him that the American people are not worthy of him.

Now- for whatever reason- just about all the articles Dowd has done this past year have been strongly criticizing Obama.

Dowd- as well as the whole N.Y. Times crew- are pretty liberal in their politics.

Then why do this?

Another NY Times reporter just put out a book on Obama- she said basically the same thing- and she covered the internal conflicts in the White House- things between Michele Obama and the staff [former chief of staff Rahm Immanuel].

The book [The Obama’s] was basically a tell all. She talked about some heated arguments that the staff had over Michele.

When Michele Obama was asked about the portrayal- she said that she’s tired of other people [White people] calling her an angry Black woman.

I heard Jodie say she did not understand why she said this- because in the book she does not bring up color- simply reported the facts.

The progressive media [liberal view] love to use the race card against those on the right [I am not on the right!] but if you dare use it against them- they become incensed [Geraldine Ferraro- Bill- Hillary Clinton- etc.]

So for various reasons- the more liberal media have decided to not back Obama the way they did at the start.

Now- the point here is not simply political gossip- but the reality of how much we see/read in the news is truly honest- and how much is spin that prevents the true story from coming out.

These past few weeks we have had some disturbing news about the so called Arab Spring countries.

Egypt held their first parliamentary elections and voted in a majority of Islamists. Now- many have said that sure- the Muslim Brotherhood has made great gains- but that’s ‘the will of the people’.

I heard former pres Jimmy Carter say this.

His team went over to monitor the elections [he has a group that does this] and they said ‘yes- the Muslims took over- but we must all respect the voice of the people- if that’s what the majority wants- then that’s a great thing’.

What’s wrong with this? The fact is the Muslim Brotherhood do want to institute Shariah law in the land.

Now- many have chosen to work with this group [Obama has] and the simple reality is they are a force and we will have to deal with them some day.

So fine- I understand.

But how many of us would be singing the praises of a right wing Christian group- who wanted to institute law based on the 10 commandments- and wherever this law is already enacted they execute gays- subjugate women- and even kill the women who commit ‘adultery’ [which in some cases means you were raped].

Now- that’s Shariah law. Would Carter be saying ‘well- if that’s what the Americans want- to vote in a bunch of right wing Christians who will do this- then we must respect that this is the voice of the people’.

What voice?

Where are the voices defending those who are being oppressed and killed under these regimes.

Our ‘dear friends’ in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain- they are all guilty of these human rights abuses- yet we are silent.

It so sad that Carter- and those in the media who I have heard praising the fact that this is ‘the voice of the people’.

It makes no difference if the majority wanted it- if what they want is still oppressive- then we should not be so quick to praise it.

I read 2 stories this week about Libya- the headlines were ‘Gadhaffi’s forces take back city’.

What?

I thought the guy was dead.

Well yes- he is. But his side have regrouped and did take back a key city in the West- Banni Walid.

Now- for them to have done this is big news- but you wouldn’t know that by the coverage- because the media are not truly covering it [the articles I read were small and hidden in the back pages].

The other Libyan article was even more surprising- protestors rose up in the Eastern city of Ben Ghazi- a city that has been under Rebel Influence for many years- this is the eastern City that sparked the original protests.

People rose up and stormed the official government headquarters and ransacked the place.

The new leader of the country was hiding in the back.

Iraq- since we pulled out a few weeks ago- that country is rapidly descending into a Civil War and it looks like they will split up between the Kurds- the Sunni’s and the Shiites.

Hate to admit this- but Biden was right.

So- after this bad track record- all the places where we have backed the Arab Spring- they are worse off now than before- that’s a fact.

They are more unstable- the Christian population is in much more danger- and none of them have been able to elect and institute a better regime than the one they kicked out.

So what are we doing about that?

Nothing- instead we are continuing with our call for ‘you bad leaders need to step down’ [Syria].

Many people in Syria do not want Assad to go- many of the Christians in the country fear that if he topples- they will face the same persecution that their brothers are facing in Egypt.

When the Islamist parties take over- that’s terrible for the Christian minorities in these countries.

So why no big media coverage of the failures over these things?

It just would not look good for Obama in an election year.

But like I said at the top- some are growing tired of what they see as an aloof president [the liberal press said this- not the right] and as they grow tired they begin reporting the stuff- both the good and the bad.

I have no appetite for how many arguments Michele Obama had with Rahm Emmanuel- or how ‘depressed’ Obama is [the Times almost ran a story on this- they decided not to run it].

But I am concerned that we report the truth about the Arab Spring- that if the toppling of these leaders has lead to great instability- and the death of many Christians- then we should not be saying ‘well- this is the will of the people’.

Whether or not the majority agree to oppress the minority- it’s still wrong- and it’s a shame that the Western media won’t report it.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John

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