home.social

#injustice — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #injustice, aggregated by home.social.

  1. The disintegration of liberalism and 'postliberal disillusionment'

    * "That sound you hear is not the world ending – it’s liberalism being monstered liberalism. Liberalism defines almost our entire social and political order in the west."

    "Broad, deep, relentless. And what matters most is the compounding effect: a near-constant sense of crisis in almost every sphere of life."

    “... It is the vehicle for this fury that is directed towards the major parties because of this very long sense of neglect and social economic disempowerment that has become so profound."

    "It turns out most of us no longer believe in progress...When people stop believing in progress, it quickly becomes a crisis for societies like ours. Our political order was built on the promise of expanding wealth and greater control over our lives. It said we could dream big, then pursue those dreams, and that if we didn’t achieve them, maybe our children would."

    "As disillusionment sets in, there is no shortage of culprits. One possibility is to tell a story about capitalism, which generates gaping inequalities and destroys the planet." >>
    theguardian.com/commentisfree/

    * The medicalisation of social problems is the sociological process by which everyday human experiences, behaviors, and societal challenges come to be defined, labeled, and treated as medical conditions or disorders

    * "Post-traumatic embitterment disorder
    is a pathological response to a single adverse life event perceived by the affected individual as a serious insult, humiliation, or injustice."
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-tra
    #liberalism #progress #CoreValues #inequality #injustice #experiences #disintegration #disillusionment #failure #democracy #erosion #CommonGood #decline #ressentiment #fury #medicalisation #PostliberalDisillusionment #retrograde #PostLiberalism #polycrisis

  2. If music worked to change things then singing our pain would have ended oppression long ago. We have made some progress but none of it is linear and one thing advances, another slides back. It's just an eternal lunacy.

    #life #justice #injustice #oppression #society #music

  3. If music worked to change things then singing our pain would have ended oppression long ago. We have made some progress but none of it is linear and one thing advances, another slides back. It's just an eternal lunacy.

    #life #justice #injustice #oppression #society #music

  4. If music worked to change things then singing our pain would have ended oppression long ago. We have made some progress but none of it is linear and one thing advances, another slides back. It's just an eternal lunacy.

    #life #justice #injustice #oppression #society #music

  5. If music worked to change things then singing our pain would have ended oppression long ago. We have made some progress but none of it is linear and one thing advances, another slides back. It's just an eternal lunacy.

    #life #justice #injustice #oppression #society #music

  6. If music worked to change things then singing our pain would have ended oppression long ago. We have made some progress but none of it is linear and one thing advances, another slides back. It's just an eternal lunacy.

    #life #justice #injustice #oppression #society #music

  7. The same messed society that pressures us into getting jobs -- as in plural because you need to have lots money simply to exist on this planet -- is the same messed society that allows CEOs and the 1% to steal people's wages while not paying taxes themselves.

    Like, create a fair society for absolutely everyone, and then we can talk.

    #Capitalism #CorporateGreed #TrickleDownEconomy #Inequality #Injustice #BeTheChange #ResetSociety #Socialism

  8. The same messed society that pressures us into getting jobs -- as in plural because you need to have lots money simply to exist on this planet -- is the same messed society that allows CEOs and the 1% to steal people's wages while not paying taxes themselves.

    Like, create a fair society for absolutely everyone, and then we can talk.

    #Capitalism #CorporateGreed #TrickleDownEconomy #Inequality #Injustice #BeTheChange #ResetSociety #Socialism

  9. The same messed society that pressures us into getting jobs -- as in plural because you need to have lots money simply to exist on this planet -- is the same messed society that allows CEOs and the 1% to steal people's wages while not paying taxes themselves.

    Like, create a fair society for absolutely everyone, and then we can talk.

    #Capitalism #CorporateGreed #TrickleDownEconomy #Inequality #Injustice #BeTheChange #ResetSociety #Socialism

  10. The same messed society that pressures us into getting jobs -- as in plural because you need to have lots money simply to exist on this planet -- is the same messed society that allows CEOs and the 1% to steal people's wages while not paying taxes themselves.

    Like, create a fair society for absolutely everyone, and then we can talk.

    #Capitalism #CorporateGreed #TrickleDownEconomy #Inequality #Injustice #BeTheChange #ResetSociety #Socialism

  11. Venezuela’s Acting President Thanks Trump and Rubio for Oil Deal

    The United States and Venezuela signed a major deal regarding oil and Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez is thankful to President Donald J. Trump and State Secretary Marco Rubio for it, according to a news report by Newsmax.

    To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt of Newsmax’s report. Some parts in boldface…

    Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez thanked President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the oil agreement between the two countries.

    The deal drew rave reviews from conservatives and criticism from Democrats.

    “That is why we chose the path of diplomacy with the United States of America, to transform our differences into cooperation. And that cooperation into investment, production, well-being, and concrete results for Venezuelans,” Rodriguez said in a televised address Saturday.

    I thank President Donald Trump, Secretary Rubio, and his government for the efforts made by both their administration and ours, as well as the entire Venezuelan team that dedicated their time to reaching this agreement,” she said.

    Rodriguez said the pact would run 25 years and target production of more than 1.5 million barrels a day.

    She said Venezuela would receive about $19 a barrel, which could generate more than $209 billion for the state.

    “It’s no use having our oil reserves underground just so they appear in a statistic or an accounting record and we can say we’re the country with the world’s largest reserves when we can’t convert them into development for Venezuela,” she said.

    Our reserves must be transformed into well-being, prosperity, and happiness for this country and enable us to restore our productive capacity so that we can establish ourselves as an energy and manufacturing powerhouse.

    Rodriguez added that the change would strengthen energy security in the Western Hemisphere and promote greater stability and balance in global energy markets.

    Trump announced the agreement Friday, calling it “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!”

    It covers 65 billion barrels of proven reserves across 17 fields, with the U.S. receiving 55% of output, including an ownership stake.

    The White House has described 100-year development rights, a term Rodriguez did not repeat.

    Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this development? Do you think the US-Venezuela oil deal will be beneficial for both nations? Do you think the deal will help America economically in the long run? What is your view of Venezuela since the dictator Nicolas Maduro was removed by America?

    You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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    Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

    #America #AmericaFirst #CarloCarrasco #ChatGPT #DelcyRodriguez #democracy #Democrats #DepartmentOfState #diversity #DonaldJTrump #DonaldTrump #economic #economics #economy #EconomyOfTheUnitedStates #EconomyOfVenezuela #energy #Facebook #Fediverse #gasoline #geek #geopolitics #Google #GoogleSearch #ICC #identityPolitics #Inclusion #Injustice #Instagram #Instapundit #InternationalCriminalCourtICC #Investagrams #IslamoLeft #justice #leftist #MAGA #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #MakeAmericaGreatAgainMAGA #MarcoRubio #Mastodon #nationalSecurity #nationalSovereignty #Newsmax #NicolasMaduro #oil #petrol #petroleum #politics #power #PresidentTrump #Republicans #SatanicDemocrats #SatanicLeft #socialMedia #sovereignty #StateDepartment #technology #TimKaine #Trump #TrumpSAmerica #Tumblr #Twitter #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #UnitedStatesOfAmericaUSA #USDepartmentOfState #USStateDepartment #Venezuela #woke #WordPress #WordPressCom
  12. US Visa of Biden-awarded Iraqi National Revoked

    The United States officially revoked the US visa of Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi, the Iraqi national who was awarded by the failed Biden Administration in 2022, according to US State Department citing her placement on the Terror Watchlist of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

    In a New York Post report, Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi’s alleged links to the Islamic terrorist regime of Iran and Iran-backed militias in Iraq drew headlines. She was also the target of two Republicans in the US House of Representatives accused of being the “key enabler of terrorist funding in Iraq.”

    To put things in perspective, posted below is the entire statement of the US State Department. Some parts in boldface…

    The U.S. Department of State has revoked the visa of an Iraqi national who was presented an award by the Biden Administration for her purported role in fighting corruption and her advocacy for “gender equity.”

    Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi was given the International Woman of Courage Award in 2022 by former Secretary of State (Antony Blinken) and former First Lady Jill Biden.

    The award recognized “women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality, and the empowerment of women and girls, in all their diversity.”

    This Iraqi national’s visa has now been revoked by the State Department following her placement on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Terror Watchlist. She is no longer present in the United States.

    Under President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, suspected terrorists will never be allowed to remain in the United States.

    Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this development? Are you aware that Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi was Iraq’s Finance Minister from 2022 to 2026? Do you suspect Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi may have been involved in financing connected with Islamic terrorists? Should all her communications and interactions with the Islamic terrorist regime of Iran be investigated?

    You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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    Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

    #America #AmericaFirst #Ayatollah #CarloCarrasco #ChatGPT #crime #crimeWatch #democracy #DepartmentOfState #diversity #diversityEquityInclusionDEI #DonaldJTrump #DonaldTrump #equity #evilOfIran #Facebook #FBI #FederalBureauOfInvestigationFBI #Fediverse #geek #gender #geopolitics #Google #GoogleSearch #ICC #identityPolitics #Inclusion #Injustice #Instagram #Instapundit #InternationalCriminalCourtICC #Investagrams #Iran #Iraq #Iraqi #Islam #IslamicTerrorism #IslamicTerroristRegimeOfIran #IslamicTerroristStateOfIran #IslamicTerrorists #Islamist #IslamoLeft #justice #MAGA #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #MakeAmericaGreatAgainMAGA #MarcoRubio #Mastodon #nationalSecurity #nationalSovereignty #NewYorkPost #politics #PresidentTrump #Republicans #socialMedia #sovereignty #StateDepartment #TaifSamiMohammedAlShakarchi #technology #terrorism #terroristStateOfIran #terrorists #Trump #TrumpSAmerica #Tumblr #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #UnitedStatesOfAmericaUSA #USDepartmentOfState #USStateDepartment #woke #WordPress #WordPressCom
  13. America Sanctions ICC President and Trial Lawyer

    Following the start of the campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) threat to national sovereignty, the United States Department of State announced it has sanctioned two ICC officials namely their president Tomoko Akane of Japan and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal.

    To put things in perspective, posted below is the entire statement of the US State Department by Secretary Marco Rubio. Some parts in boldface…

    The Trump Administration has been clear: the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.  We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty. 

    In furtherance of the diplomatic campaign we launched last month to address the ICC’s abuses of power, I am designating two ICC officials – President of the ICC, Tomoko Akane of Japan, and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer, Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal – pursuant to Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court.”  These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction

    The ICC has repeatedly attempted to assert authority over nationals of the United States and other countries that have not consented to its jurisdiction or ratified the Rome Statute.  This sets a dangerous precedent for all nations.  

    Our whole of government campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the ICC to national sovereignty will be sweeping and we expect more countries to join our campaign by ending their funding and participation in this politicized and unaccountable court. The ICC’s ability to target American nationals and those of other non-States Parties must end. The Trump Administration stands ready to take additional measures, if necessary, to systematically dismantle the ICC until it is incapable of threatening American sovereignty.

    Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this development? Do you support the US sanctions against the two ICC officials? Do you think other nations that are in conflict with the ICC’s encroachment and abuse of power will support rally behind the United States and support sanctioning of officials? If you live in a nation which has a working justice system, are convinced that the ICC is unnecessary?

    You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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    Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

    #Africa #America #AmericaFirst #Asia #CarloCarrasco #ChatGPT #crime #crimeWatch #democracy #DepartmentOfState #diversity #DonaldJTrump #DonaldTrump #Facebook #Fediverse #geek #geopolitics #Google #GoogleSearch #ICC #identityPolitics #Inclusion #Injustice #Instagram #Instapundit #InternationalCriminalCourtICC #Investagrams #Japan #justice #MAGA #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #MakeAmericaGreatAgainMAGA #MarcoRubio #Mastodon #nationalSecurity #nationalSovereignty #Nippon #politics #PresidentTrump #Republicans #Senegal #socialMedia #sovereignty #StateDepartment #technology #Trump #TrumpSAmerica #Tumblr #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #UnitedStatesOfAmericaUSA #USDepartmentOfState #USStateDepartment #woke #WordPress #WordPressCom
  14. A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

    Infinite punishment is infinite cruelty, endless injustice, immortal meanness. To worship an eternal gaoler hardens, debases, and pollutes even the vilest soul. While there is one sad and breaking heart in the universe, no good being can be perfectly happy.

    Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
    Lecture (1881-05-01) “The Great Infidels,” Booth’s Theater, New York

    More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #afterlife #Christianity #cruelty #divinejudgment #divinejustice #divinepunishment #eternalpunishment #eternity #heaven #hell #injustice #punishment

  15. A quotation from Frederick Douglass

    What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

    Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
    Speech (1852-07-05), “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York

    More about this quote: wist.info/douglass-frederick/8…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #frederickdouglass #savagery #perspective #civilrights #cruelty #dishonesty #enslavement #fourthofjuly #holiday #hypocrisy #independence #injustice #insincerity #liberty #pretense #slavery

  16. A quotation from Frederick Douglass

    What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength, than such arguments would imply.

    Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
    Speech (1852-07-05), “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York

    More about this quote: wist.info/douglass-frederick/8…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #frederickdouglass #argument #brutality #debate #enslavement #injustice #obviousness #slave #slavery #wrong

  17. Une pensée pour Marjane Satrapi qui vient de mourir à #Paris. #Persepolis m'a vraiment marquée. Une des #bd les plus importantes pour moi.
    Une pensée pour toutes les iraniennes et les iraniens. #courage

    Si vous voyez ou vivez une #injustice où que cela soit: considérez nous en parler! Écrivez, chantez, dessinez, parlez… Nous voulons savoir!

    #iran #iranien #iranienne #bandedessinee #bédé #autrice #morte #mort #décès #activisme #liberté #vérité #littérature #perseverance

    fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjane_

  18. A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

    Men are not superior by reason of the accidents of race or color. They are superior who have the best heart — the best brain. Superiority is born of honesty, of virtue, of charity, and above all, of the love of liberty. The superior man is the providence of the inferior. He is eyes for the blind, strength for the weak, and a shield for the defenseless. He stands erect by bending above the fallen. He rises by lifting others.

    Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
    Speech (1883-10-22), “Liberty,” Address on the Civil Rights Act, Lincoln Hall, Washington, D. C.

    More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #aid #assistance #bullying #compassion #greatness #help #inferiority #injustice #liberty #loveyourneighbor #protection #protector #providence #service #society #strength #superiority #virtue

  19. A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

    What is blasphemy? I will give you a definition; I will give you my thought upon this subject. What is real blasphemy?
       To live on the unpaid labor of other men — that is blasphemy.
       To enslave your fellow-man, to put chains upon his body — that is blasphemy.
       To enslave the minds of men, to put manacles upon the brain, padlocks upon the lips — that is blasphemy.
       To deny what you believe to be true, to admit to be true what you believe to be a lie — that is blasphemy.
       To strike the weak and unprotected, in order that you may gain the applause of the ignorant and superstitious mob — that is blasphemy.
       To persecute the intelligent few, at the command of the ignorant many — that is blasphemy.
       To forge chains, to build dungeons, for your honest fellow-men — that is blasphemy.
       To pollute the souls of children with the dogma of eternal pain — that is blasphemy.
       To violate your conscience — that is blasphemy.
       The jury that gives an unjust verdict, and the judge who pronounces an unjust sentence, are blasphemers.
       The man who bows to public opinion against his better judgment and against his honest conviction, is a blasphemer.

    Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
    Speech (1887-05) to the Jury, Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, Morristown, New Jersey

    More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #blasphemy #censorship #conformity #conscience #corruption #exploitation #hell #hypocrisy #indoctrination #injustice #oppression #persecution #publicopinion #punchingdown #slavery #theocracy #dishonesty #guiltyconscience

  20. A quotation from Marcus Aurelius

    Injustice is a kind of blasphemy. Nature designed rational beings for each other’s sake: to help — not harm — one another, as they deserve. To transgress its will, then, is to blaspheme against the oldest of the gods.
     
    [Ὁ ἀδικῶν ἀσεβεῖ: τῆς γὰρ τῶν ὅλων φύσεως κατεσκευακυίας τὰ λογικὰ ζῷα ἕνεκεν ἀλλήλων, ὥστε ὠφελεῖν μὲν ἄλληλα κατ̓ ἀξίαν βλάπτειν δὲ μηδαμῶς, ὁ τὸ βούλημα ταύτης παραβαίνων ἀσεβεῖ δηλονότι εἰς τὴν πρεσβυτάτην τῶν θεῶν.]

    Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
    Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 9, ch. 1 (9.1) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hays (2003)]

    More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/marcus-aureleus/8034…

    #quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marcusaurelius #marcusaureliusmeditations #blasphemy #harm #impiety #injustice #knavery #loveyourneighbor #meaningoflife #naturallaw #nature #sin

  21. I don't think telling conservatives that immigrants aren't the enemy is an effective strategy. The fundamental flaw in this approach, one that I see repeated across well-meaning immigration discourse, is that it misdiagnoses the problem. It assumes we are dealing with a population that has arrived at a conclusion based on faulty data. The thinking goes: if we can just provide the correct data the economic studies showing immigration's net benefits, the statistics proving low crime rates among immigrant communities, the historical narratives of how every wave of immigrants was once feared and then assimilated then the scales will fall from their eyes and they will abandon their prejudice.

    This is a profound and strategic error. It presumes a reality-based disagreement where one does not exist. The core of the issue is not misinformation; it is identity, emotion, and a specific moral framework.

    They're not misinformed; they're just racist. It's a whole different problem.

    And this is the part that, I believe, a lot of people, especially those operating from a place of good faith and empirical reasoning, find almost impossible to internalize: a significant portion of them want to be racist. They enjoy it. The hostility, the scapegoating, the creation of a despised out-group this is not an unfortunate byproduct of their political stance; it is a feature. It is the point.

    Let's break down why this is the case, and why our current strategies of "fact-based persuasion" are not just ineffective, but often counterproductive.

    First, the concept of "enjoyment." This isn't necessarily about cackling with glee at the suffering of others (though for some, it certainly can be). It's more complex and psychologically insidious. It's about the psychic and social rewards that a hierarchical, tribalistic worldview provides.

    1. The Reward of Cognitive Simplicity: A world divided into "Us" and "Them" is a simple world. Complex, intractable problems like economic precarity, cultural change, and political decay become easily digestible. You don't need to understand global supply chains, monetary policy, or the history of deindustrialization. You just need to point at the "other." The immigrant becomes a monolithic explanation for everything: your stagnant wages, the crime you see on the news, the sense that your community is changing in ways you don't control. This simplification is a relief. It's cognitively satisfying. Presenting a complex, nuanced reality doesn't just fail to persuade; it actively annoys them, because it demands more mental effort and robs them of that satisfying, simple narrative.
    2. The Reward of Moral Superiority: In a secular, pluralistic world, traditional markers of status and virtue have been upended. But within the framework of racial and cultural nationalism, moral superiority is easily and instantly earned. Your virtue is not determined by your actions, your empathy, or your contributions to your community. It is conferred by your identity. By virtue of being a "real American," or a native-born citizen, or a member of the dominant racial group, you are inherently superior. This is a powerful psychological balm for individuals who feel left behind, disrespected, or powerless in other aspects of their lives. The immigrant, by serving as the constitutive outside the "them" that defines the "us" provides the very material for this sense of innate virtue. Telling them the immigrant is not the enemy is not just a factual correction; it is an attack on their foundational sense of self-worth.
    3. The Reward of Social Cohesion and Belonging: Shared hatred is a powerful social glue. The act of collectively disparaging, fearing, and excluding an out-group creates intense in-group bonds. Think of the camaraderie found in sports fandom, but weaponized. The shared jokes, the common slogans, the mutual understanding of "what we're all against," creates a powerful sense of community and belonging. This is why arguments based on empathy for the immigrant fall on deaf ears. You are asking them to dissolve the very social bonds that give their lives meaning and structure, and to replace it with an abstract, cosmopolitan empathy that feels weak, disloyal, and isolating. The enjoyment comes from the feeling of being part of a tribe, a team, with a clear and common enemy.
    4. The Thrill of Transgression: In our modern, liberal society, overt racism is one of the last great taboos. It is socially punished, professionally risky, and culturally condemned. For some, flouting this taboo is a source of pleasure in itself. It's a way to assert their independence from a "politically correct" establishment they despise. The "own the libs" mentality is not a side effect; it's a core motivation. When they say something cruel or dehumanizing about immigrants and see the reaction of horror from their opponents, that is a victory. It proves they are not part of that soft, weak, empathetic world. They are strong, they are brave, they are saying the "quiet part out loud." Your fact-checking and your moral appeals are not seen as rational counter-arguments; they are seen as the predictable whining of the enemy, and their ability to provoke that response is a form of power.

    So, what happens when you approach this mindset with a pamphlet full of economic statistics from the Cato Institute or a heartfelt plea for common humanity?

    You are not speaking their language. You are offering a spreadsheet to someone seeking a religious experience. You are offering a salad to someone craving a sugary, fatty meal. Your facts are not just irrelevant; they are offensive to their small mind. They are an attempt to take away their cognitive simplicity, their moral superiority, their tribal belonging, and their transgressive thrill.

    Your well-reasoned argument is perceived as:

    - An attempt to confuse them (attacking cognitive simplicity).
    - An accusation that they are bad people (attacking moral superiority).
    - An act of siding with the enemy (attacking tribal cohesion).
    - The predictable, whining "political correctness" of the establishment (confirming their transgressive identity).

    This is why the strategy is doomed. You cannot reason someone out of a position they were not reasoned into. The fixation on the immigrant as the "enemy" is not a logical conclusion; it is an emotional and psychological need.

    What, then, is to be done? I don't claim to have a perfect answer, but the first step is a brutal and honest strategic assessment. We must stop wasting energy and political capital on a persuasion model that is designed to fail against this specific demographic. The goal should shift from "convincing the hardcore" to:

    1. Solidifying and Motivating the Coalition: Focus on energizing those who already believe in a pluralistic society. Stop trying to water down the message to appeal to a "racially anxious" demographic that may be unreachable. A clear, morally confident, and unapologetic defense of inclusion can mobilize the base far more effectively than a tepid, fact-based centrism.
    2. Institutional and Legal Fortification: Since persuasion is failing, protection must be the priority. Strengthen legal institutions, anti-discrimination laws, and pathways to citizenship. Make the structure of society resistant to the bigotry, since the hearts and minds of a significant portion are a lost cause for the foreseeable future.
    3. Addressing the Underlying Anxieties, But Not the Scapegoat: The economic and social despair is real. But the solution is to address it directly with bold policy universal healthcare, strong labor protections, investment in decaying communities while explicitly and relentlessly divorcing these solutions from the nativist narrative. The message should be: "Your pain is real, but the immigrant didn't cause it. Corporate greed and failed policy did. Let's fight the real enemy, not a scapegoat."

    In conclusion, the statement "immigrants aren't the enemy" is a factual truth, but it is a useless political weapon against a force that is not driven by facts. It is like trying to stop a stampede by reading a botanical guide to the grass being trampled. You're not addressing the energy or the intent of the stampede. We are not in a debate; we are in a conflict over the soul of a nation, and one side has drawn its identity and its pleasure from the existence of a designated enemy. Recognizing this uncomfortable, ugly reality is the first, necessary step toward developing a strategy that has any hope of prevailing.

    #antiracism #stopracism #endracism #racismisreal #racismstillexists #whiteprivilege #injustice #equality #justice #civilrights #politics #discussion #thoughts #society #usa #america #thisisamerica

  22. #VictoriaAustralia’s draconian new #AntiProtest laws will have a chilling effect on #FreeSpeech — and won’t keep anyone safe

    Far-reaching anti-protest measures and giving police more repressive powers only serve to increase the risk of escalating violence.

    by Sarah Schwartz, Jul 9, 2025

    "In response to the weekend’s attack on the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced she will forge ahead with new anti-protest measures and more #police powers.

    "In doing so, she is following what has become the new normal for state governments across the country: using acts of racism and violence as a pretext to #ClampDown on unrelated democratic rights.

    "Taking to the streets in peaceful protest is one of the main ways for people to come together and express our political views when our representatives aren’t listening to us. But this right is not without limits. Every person has a right to worship in safety. The attack on East Melbourne Synagogue was not a protest; it was an act of antisemitism. The suspect has been apprehended and charged with a multitude of criminal offences.

    "Two other incidents over the weekend, the targeting of a business with ties to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a US-backed #Israeli organisation linked to the massacres of unarmed #Palestinians seeking aid — and a weapons company with links to the Israeli military, are also being referred to as justifying new laws. It is important not to conflate these actions against Israel with an attack against a Jewish place of worship. International human rights law, as well as our current laws, already place limits on protests that involve intimidation and violence.

    "So what is actually being proposed in response? The Allan government is suggesting the creation of a new criminal offence for wearing a #FaceCovering at peaceful protests, banning 'dangerous attachment devices' (e.g. a #chain, a #BikeLock) — which have long been used in non-violent civil disobedience — and #criminalising peaceful protests around places of religious worship.

    "The ban on face coverings would be a first in #Australia. It would mirror measures used in #authoritarian states that force people to submit themselves to various forms of #StateSurveillance.

    "#VictoriaPolice has been using facial recognition software for years without any regulatory or legislative framework to prevent breaches of privacy. This technology, combined with a ban on face coverings at protests, would essentially amount to an obligation on behalf of individuals to submit to surveillance by the state, corporations and other groups that surveil protesters.

    "Unless you’re a #MiningCompany spending hundreds of millions buying politicians’ favour or can wine and dine decision-makers, peaceful protest is one of the main ways for people to hold governments and corporations to account. Protests for the eight-hour workday, #WomensRights, #FirstNationsRights and the #AntiWar movement have led to significant improvements in all of our lives.
    Know something?

    "Many people attending protests wear face coverings to protect their privacy and anonymity. For temporary migrants, the consequences of identification can include visa cancellation and detention. #FarRight groups, abusers of gender-based violence and other political groups have all been documented as engaging in doxing, surveillance and retaliatory violence against people identified at peaceful protests.

    "Even with exemptions, a ban would mean that people who wear facemasks for reasons of health, disability status, or religious or cultural reasons would be at risk of police targeting and made to justify their use of a face mask.

    "Adding new repressive police powers against peaceful protesters only serves to increase the risk of escalating violence at already heightened public demonstrations. People will not stop taking to the streets on issues they care about, even if the state tries to stifle their voices. Donald #Trump’s deployment of the #NationalGuard in response to protests in LA shows us how deploying more state force at protests increases rather than decreases the risk of violence.

    "A ban on protests outside or within a certain proximity to places of worship would mean police could arrest those engaging in peaceful protests for a genuine, non-discriminatory purpose — for example, protests by survivors of #ClergySexualAbuse or by congregants against the political activities of their own religious institutions.

    "It would also have the unintended consequence of rendering large areas of the state no-go zones for peaceful protest, due to the high number of places of worship. Similar laws in #NSW are already being challenged for their #unconstitutionality.

    "Taken together, this suite of laws, which would provide police with extraordinary powers against people peacefully raising their voices against #injustice, would have a chilling effect, deterring #MarginalisedGroups from attending protests and exercising their rights to freedom of expression, which the Victorian government has sought to protect.

    "Ultimately, banning face coverings at peaceful protests and banning protests outside places of worship would not have done anything to prevent what occurred over the weekend. Premier Allan knows this. Yet she is stuck in the same reactive law-and-order merry-go-round that saw NSW Premier Chris Minns enact fear-based, repressive anti-protest measures in response to what we now know was an opportunistic criminal conspiracy.

    "Encouraging people to express their political views peacefully is the antidote to non-peaceful forms of protest and is something that all governments should be encouraging and facilitating. At times like this, we should be able to trust our politicians not to fuel division and panic through misguided and knee-jerk responses, but to take measures to address the root causes of racism and hatred."

    crikey.com.au/2025/07/09/victo

    #AntiProtestLaws #ProtestLawsAustralia #ACAB #SilencingFreeSpeech #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Authoritarianism

  23. #Wetsuweten will be in court on August 21, 2025 as #Canada has filed a #MotionToStrike against their #climate #litigation case. Sound familiar? That’s because in July 2020, Canada filed a Motion to Strike against the Misdzi Yikh Charter challenge. Several years and an appeal hearing (that ended with the Federal Court of Appeal deciding that the section 7 of the Charter challenge was justiciable) later, Canada has filed for another Motion to Strike. Keep a lookout on RAVEN’s channels as we get closer to the hearing, we’ll be sharing lots of educational materials and actions to take to support Wet’suwet’en. Learn more about the #CharterCase and #donate to support the #legal action here.

    raventrust.com/campaigns/wetsu

    #IndigenousRights #NativeRights #Law #CDNpoli #BCpoli #StopEcocide #Injustice #colonialism #capitalism #IndigenousLand #BritishColumbia #UNDRIP #FirstNations

  24. My wife got FB jailed (suspended for violating standards?) when she changed her profile pic to a homemade pretzel on New Year's morn! She appealed & emailed (several times w/ no response). She has pics on there that she would like to download as the computer she had them on originally crashed & they are the only copies she has, but can't access them at this point. Anyone know how to contact FB or what is wrong with pretzels? #facebook #facebookjail #injustice #pretzels

  25. Dear friends of wabbits and #Bright eyes,
    I am about to have
    #Welsh rarebit, grilled cheesey on toasties for #brekky
    ...But first the NEWS:

    1. Blah, blah, blah
    ​:ablobcatpopcorn:​
    2. World whirled
    🌐
    3.
    #Injustice
    Yep same old, same old.
    ​:gi:​

    What about if you are a
    #actorvisit #hacktivist? Well do we use #Hyphanet? No idea. #Dunno. [also available as Beginners Mind in dharma] ☸️

    I am barely anything. Though I am getting better at
    #Linuxing with #GNU-Debian. Better go and cheque #distrowatch and check outed the latest hype. ​:ablobcatbongokeyboard:​
    distrowatch.com/

    I would get a
    #Parrot but... listening to all that #noise? #Nah! I have a #mind full of jabber #already, #thank you very much... ​:ablobcatgoogly:​

    Have a wonderful timing. Be fortunate, kind and seek the seeker, not the sucker...
    ❤️
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphanet

  26. Systemic racism in science: Reactions matter

    science.org/doi/10.1126/scienc

    “‘The history of the scientific enterprise demonstrates that it has supported gender, identity, and racial inequity. Further, its institutions have allowed discrimination, harassment, and personal harm of racialized persons and women.’”

    #SystemicRacism #Inequities #Science #Sexism #Injustice

  27. #AntiBlack #racism & #discrimination are deeply embedded in our #Canadian institutions, policies, workplaces and society. The social & economic #consequences of this have been dire for #BlackPeople resulting in a #multigenerational #WageFap for members of #BlackCommunities in Canada. This is an #injustice that must be set right,” said Bea Bruske, President of the #CanadianLabourCongress .

    #Black #ClassAction #lawsuit filed on behalf of Black #FederalEmployees in #Canada
    canadianlabour.ca/clc-justice-

  28. Queen of Sheba visits Solomon

    After or in-between our series on finding a church, we would like to share an exhortation given a few weeks back by brother Simon Peel at the Newbury ecclesia which we could follow thanks to the Google Hangouts.

    It referred back to the second part of the two Books of Chronicles (or the ‎ Diḇrê Hayyāmîm, “The Matters of the Days” or the Paraleipoménōn) which are the final books of the Hebrew Bible in the order followed by modern Judaism; in that generally followed in Christianity, they follow the two Books of Kings and precede Ezra–Nehemiah, concluding the history-oriented books of the Old Testament. That 2° book of the Solomon Chronicles or 2° Paralipomenon comprises the reign of Solomon (chapters 1-9), and the reigns of the kings of Juda (10-36) and covers the same period as the last three Books of Kings.
    The objects of Solomon his interest are the temple and its worship, not to supplement the omissions of Books of Kings but  to write the religious history of Juda with the temple as its centre, and, as intimately connected with it, the history of the house of David.

    Solomon, renowned for his wisdom, describes her journey to Jerusalem to meet with him.
    According to the book of Kings in the Bible, the queen arrived in Jerusalem and asked King Solomon a series of difficult questions. He responded wisely to each one. The queen presented Solomon with many gifts and returned to her home.

    Solomon is the one who gave us some more insight of God (in Proverbs a.o.) and let us know that God loves justice and wants us to work with integrity and refrain from offering or accepting bribes or giving in at worldly matters which are not justifiable for God. He also show the dangers of the rich, which are typically powerful, plus the tendency of the heart to abuse and overindulge.

    He might have been a very busy person and therefore got the nickname “ant” or “An-Naml” (The Ant), who was a friend of God, but by his want or his lust for more, got sidetracked. In the Qu’ran it is the ant which looks at him and says things about him, which Solomon could hear and did not mid of. He knew Who he had to ask for teaching him how to do things and how to get more knowledge. He could thank for the great bounties that God had granted him and his parents to be able to use them in the way that He had commanded and was the cause of His pleasure so that he would not deviate from the right path, since being thankful for those abundant favours is not possible save with His succour and aid.

    There is so much in this world we can gain, but there are more important things we can loose. The writers of the Book of books did not hide their faults and this way we also come to see how it went with Solomon who could come closer than anyone else in saying that he gained the whole world. We can see that h must have had the best and was articulate and very well-known. all luck seem to come like nothing but in the end, he died a man who had lost it. He got also to know that he lost the nation God had entrusted him with. This should be a good warning for us, even when we do have much less than Solomon.

    We should check ourselves and be careful not to be not be over-righteous, neither to be over-wise, bringing ourselves in danger to destroy ourselves.
    Solomon tells us not to be fools, but to use discernment. We are to trust in God and follow him, but never once to believe our goodness or our wisdom comes from our own effort.

    Queen of Sheba visits Solomon

    2 Chronicles 9

    Steven Gerrard with his explosive new book, My Story

    I saw an advert for Steven Gerrard’s autobiography* the other day. It is entitled ‘My Story’.

    Do you know how many autobiographies are called ‘My Story’? Gazza – ‘My Story’, Aled Jones – ‘My Story’, Sarah Ferguson – ‘My Story’, Julia Gillard – ‘My Story’, Cheryl Cole – ‘Cheryl, My Story’ (she’s just left her first name to seem more approachable I guess), Ryan Giggs – ‘My Life, My Story’ (he’s stepped it up a gear), and a ton of others.

    I don’t read autobiographies, the only one I’ve read is Nelson Mandela’s. They strike me as a last ditch attempts for celebrities to bleed out some cash from us before they fade from our memories.

    So why does Steven and all these other’s want to tell us their stories? There are hundreds of pages where they get to paint a picture of themselves so that when you finish that last page you come away thinking the best possible thoughts about that person. They can play up their achievements, they can deal with their mistakes, they can downplay their faults, they can give us perspective on that time they got arrested for the nightclub brawl – you can view that part of their life through their eyes and see that the other guy totally deserved to be hit in the face four times.

    I am exactly the same, I spend a large majority of my time trying to make you think that I’m better than I am. My whole life is spent trying to perfect a charade. I spend the majority of my time trying to convince anyone I meet that I am someone slightly different than I am. I am still myself but I don’t show everything. I reign in my temper, I reign in my sarcasm. I play up the niceties, I play up the jokes. I feign interest. I’m not quite the man you might think I am.

    My Facebook and my Instagram accounts show a side of me that I want you to see.

    I trick myself a lot of the time. It’s only when you have a wife with a very good memory that you realise how often you contradict yourself without realising.

    I even did it a few sentences ago when I have tried to make you think that I am more intellectual than I am because I have poured scorn on those Z-list celebrities (there you go I’ve done it again) whilst also casually dropping in that I only read accounts of respectable and influential political figures.

    Chronicles paints a very positive picture of Solomon. There is not a bad word said about him. If Solomon was to commission a biography, then this is the text that he would want to be used. From Chapter 1 to Chapter 9 we have a wonderful account of a king who could do no wrong.

    King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    The Queen of Sheba** is in awe. There is peace, there is wisdom, there is wealth, there is spirituality and there is this man in the centre of it all who is faultless.

    “How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!”

    Solomon could put on a show. He has skill and talent and charisma and he can make a queen exclaim how wonderful he is.

    We are with the Queen of Sheba. We see everything and we read Chapter 9 and we are wowed by it.

    “The palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD”

    and we are overwhelmed!

    Of course, the Queen of Sheba doesn’t know the whole story. If Chronicles is the autobiography, then Kings is the sensationalist scoop. We get a hint of it in Chapter 10 of Chronicles and verse 4,

    “Your father (Solomon) put a heavy yoke on us.”

    1 Kings 11: 4-6

    1 Kings 11:4–6 (ESV): 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.

    Solomon is a man of contradictions. He is wise and yet foolish. His wisdom turned from godly to worldly. It was a talent that Solomon had to choose how to use. He used it to govern well but he also knew all the right words to say and the right things to do to get any woman he wanted. But on the flip side of that he then allowed those women to rule over him and get him to do whatever they wanted. He not only built them their gods and temples but actively worshipped there with them.

    Solomon is not quite the man we thought he was. Which means he is more like you and me than maybe we first thought.

    For all Solomon’s wisdom and success as a King, the overall account of his life leaves a sour taste in our mouths. There is such high hopes for this man to be a great and godly man and yet he has a major flaw that throws him completely off the godly track.

    This sour taste is true for a lot of things in life, whether it’s Rolf Harris or capitalism, we can be easily mislead, disappointed, appalled and disillusioned. I don’t think there has ever been a government in existence which hasn’t lived up to expectation.

    You also don’t have to look too hard to find that the food we eat and the clothes we wear are tainted by the blood, sweat and tears of underpaid and exploited workers in the third world. Our wealth exists because other people are poor. Someone goes hungry because I eat too much, someone goes naked because I don’t want to spend the extra money and buy ethical clothing.

    If a Chronicles account was written about our country today it would marvel at the technology we use, the fine apparel we wear, the cities we have built, the science we have discovered but if a Kings account were written it would show at what expense and pain and suffering all these things were done.

    So what do we do about this? How do we live our lives and think our thoughts knowing this? Do we take the Chronicles approach and forget all about the negatives and focus on just the good things or do we take the Kings approach and acknowledge the evil that is there?

    Practically there is very little we can do apart from buy things more ethically but even then that is a lifestyle that is above and beyond what I get paid. Even if I could afford to do it, there is not enough people doing it to make the world sit up and do things differently.

    The world and its injustices are too big for our actions to change them, even if you were a leader of a powerful country and you tried to change the way wealth is distributed you’d be booted out at the next election. The only way this can be fixed is for the Kingdom to come. Our very clothes and our very food can be reminder of the unfairness of this world and the real need for Jesus to come and sort it out.

    You may think I’m being a bit harsh on Solomon and I’m giving the impression that he was hiding the poor people away and only allowing the Queen of Sheba to see the freshly painted parts of his Kingdom. Scripture makes it clear that the whole Kingdom was unprecedentedly wealthy and that

    “all the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart”.

    This is not a charlatan, Solomon genuinely was a very wise man.

    King Solomon, Russian icon from first quarter of 18th cen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    We know that Solomon’s downfall happened at the end of his life so there is good reason to expect that up until that point he was the godly, wise king that Chronicles makes him out to be. When the Queen of Sheba came to visit, Solomon and his Kingdom truly were at their spiritual pinnacle and yet how subtly welcomed was the evil that led the LORD to become angry with Solomon in verse 9 of chapter 11.

    1 Chron 28: 9

    1 Chronicles 28:9 (ESV): David’s Charge to Solomon
    9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

    Basically, don’t pretend. Don’t try and fool God because he knows you. The Chronicles account is what human beings would have seen of Solomon whereas Kings is what God would have seen and it ends by saying that ‘Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD’. Although we can try to impress others with our autobiography or charade of our life…God is never fooled. He knows our every desire and our every thought.

    So what’s our relationship with God? Are we honest with Him? There’s a strange relationship between us isn’t there? He knows everything about us and we know everything about us yet we sometimes still try to hide it. It’s a similar relationship we had with our parents when we were young.

    “Simon, did you take the money that was on the table?”

    “No”

    “Simon, I know you took it. I just want you to apologise.”

    “You can’t assume I took it, that’s unfair. What proof do you have?”
    “Did you take it?”

    “Yes, but it’s unfair for you to assume that was true.”

    All my parents wanted me to do was to own up, but I was afraid of the punishment and then I was angry at the assumed guilt even though my parents knew me well enough to know I was guilty.

    It’s the same with God, maybe we don’t confess our faults or acknowledge the reality because we’re scared of what God will do to us? But all He wants is a confession, an acknowledgement that we need his forgiveness. Our pride should have no place in God’s biography of us.

    There is a clue to Solomon’s pride in his prayer of dedication in 2 Chronicles 6. If you scan through from verse 21-40 you will see that Solomon always refers to the people being the one who will be the sinners not himself. Verse 24 as an example

    “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you”.

    Verse 26,

    “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you.”

    Verse 27,

    “Teach them the right way to live.”

    It maybe that this is the way the English translation renders it and it maybe that, again, I am being unfair on Solomon especially because I am already viewing him in a negative light but it seems to me that Solomon knows the people are more than capable of sinning and needing redemption but he doesn’t consider the same for himself.

    Compare this to his father’s prayer in Psalm 51 after David is confronted by the prophet Nathan:

    Verse 3 – “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.”

    Verse 7 – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

    Verse 17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise”.

    The Queen of Sheba Kneeling before King Solomon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    Admittedly, it is a completely different scenario and the mood of the Solomon and David would have been polar opposites but we don’t have anything we can turn to that says that Solomon felt the same about his failings.

    Where ever you are at this morning, whether you feel you could entertain the Queen of Sheba and she would be waxing lyrical about your godly wisdom or whether you feel like a prophet has come and exposed your sin there are lessons to be learned.

    Whatever our situation we need to echo the words of Psalm 139 and verses 23-24 –

    “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

    I like this because it admits that we probably don’t know ourselves as well as God does. If I knew about an offensive part of me, I would like to think that I would do my utmost to get rid of it, but maybe there are things that I am too blind to see and I want God to remove them if they are a blocker to my entrance to the Kingdom.

    If we cannot be completely honest with ourselves and God then we aren’t the sort of people God wants in his Kingdom. We know how vehemently Jesus reacts to the Pharisees, he practically spits his tirade at them.

    “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

    Solomon was human. Like us, he had his strong points and his weak points. He had his ups and his downs. Solomon tried to present his most admirable parts to the Queen of Sheba but only God knew the reality. We all have different aspects we struggle with, for Solomon, it was his wives. There is no point trying to hide it because God knows it all- including the secret/hidden things. At the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon came to realise this for himself:

    Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14

    Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 (ESV): 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

    Romans 7:23-25

    Romans 7:23–25 (ESV):  23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

    There are always going to be two sides to our autobiography. There is no way to hide the fact that we have two sides to us. There will always be this constant war in our bodies. Thanks be to God, that delivers us through Jesus.

    Jesus himself understands this temptation to present ourselves in a certain way.

    “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

    – Simon Peel

    *

    Notes

    * Steven Gerrard – legendary captain of Liverpool and England – tells the story of the highs and lows of a twenty-year career at the top of English and world football.

    ** Josephus clearly identifies the queen who visited Solomon as “the woman who ruled Egypt and Ethiopia,” and tells us that her name was Nikaulis.

    +

    Preceding articles:

    Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #4 Transitoriness #2 Purity

    Believing in the send one and understanding that one does not live by bread alone

    ++

    Additional reading

    1. What should we learn from Solomon’s story?
    2. Was Solomon saved?
    3. In 1 Kings 8, how was Solomon’s prayer heard by so large a crowd?
    4. What is the difference between wisdom, knowledge and understanding?
    5. What stories in the Bible talk about lust?
    6. A look at materialism
    7. Count your blessings
    8. Capitalism and economic policy and Christian survey
    9. Is there any scripture that commands me to confess my sin to the person I lied to?
    10. Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
    11. How can I ask God to take away a desire to be rich?
    12. How can grounding in biblical truths help us to distinguish godly wisdom from worldly wisdom?
    13. Purify my heart
    14. How can I restore my faith?
    15. When can one be considered righteous?
    16. Two states of existence before God
    17. God does not change

    +++

    Further reading

    1. Tonight’s thoughts: Solomon’s Books
    2. Solomon: Whose Glory Was A Shadow
    3. Solomon Builds the Lord’s Temple
    4. Queen Of Sheba
    5. How Solomon Would Choose A Candidate
    6. The Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Christ. Thursday after All Saints’, 2015
    7. Only What Is Done For God Will Last
    8. The Inerrancy of Proverbs
    9. Tafsir Naml
    10. Would that you had walked the path of Solomon once more
    11. There Is No Exchange For Peace
    12. Ecclesiastes 9-10: Discover His heart: His Word provides the wisdom we need to keep sharp!
    13. Wisdom – do you have it?
    14. Wisdom Continues To Speak!
    15. Week 46 Can We Be Too Righteous or Too Wise?
    16. Challenge #4 – Pride

    +++

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