Day: March 26, 2018

Evangelical Hypocrisy

Fandango7 Comments

518AE8FB-8357-4930-B35D-4FBCC0A8A4F6At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m going to post yet another rant about the hypocrisy of America’s evangelical Christians. So if you are one, you might want to stop reading now.

Donald Trump’s approval rating with self-identified white evangelical Christians has recently jumped by 6%. This despite the controversy about hush money paid to a porn star and to a Playboy playmate on his behalf right before the 2016 presidential election in order to hide extramarital affairs that took place just months after Trump’s third wife gave birth to his fifth child.

American evangelicals have decided that they are willing to ignore Trump’s personal immorality because they are getting something far more important in return. Namely, the chance to impose their own (alleged) morality on others. They are fixated on removing abortion and other women’s rights, as well as those for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders.

As to overturning or eliminating programs designed to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the planet we all live on? Not to worry. God, they assure us, will take care of that.

And while acting this hypocritically, these holier-than-thou evangelicals are ignoring the moral aspects of adultery — something they were unwilling to do when a Democrat (Bill Clinton) was in the White House.

Donald Trump, a serial adulterer and sexual assaulter, gets a free pass because of the right’s obsession with abortion, gay rights, and other so-called sins. At the same time, they fiercely defend their right to force their religion on the rest of society, especially on those who do not share their far-right beliefs.

Religious hypocrisy isn’t new, but under Donald Trump it has reached a whole new level. And it has never been as obvious.

Editorial cartoon © Jimmy Margulies.

Posts in the Can

Fandango28 Comments

2018 A2Z BadgeI’m a little worried that I’m not blogging correctly. You see, I’ve read a number of posts from other bloggers recently who have talked about all of the posts they have in their draft folder. Or who have said something like, “I’m going to be away from home [or busy with work] for the next few days so I’ve scheduled a bunch of posts to publish in my absence.”

Do you know how many posts are in my draft folder? Zero, nada, zilch. And that makes me worry that I’m an inefficient blogger.

Starting this coming Sunday, I’m going to be participating in this thing called the “A to Z Challenge. ” You write 26 posts for the 26 days that are not Sundays (except for the first Sunday, which is April 1st) during the month of April. Your 26 posts start with the letter A and end with the letter Z. It seems that hundreds of other bloggers will be participating in this challenge, as well.

I mention this because I’ve read some posts of others who will be doing this challenge and quite a few have given a progress report on how many posts for that challenge they’ve already written; posts that are just sitting “in the can” waiting for the applicable day to arrive.

Do you know how many posts I’ve prepared in advance for that A to Z challenge? Zero, nada, zilch.

And many of these other bloggers have chosen themes for the entire month of challenge posts. I have no theme selected because I have no idea what I plan to post about each letter each day.

I like to think that the way I don’t plan ahead makes me a master of spontaneity. But some may say I’m just scatterbrained.

Or maybe I’m just inefficient.

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “inefficient.”

Failure to Communicate

Fandango8 Comments

9689BD5B-2BFB-4471-B465-A306C445FB2BOne of my favorite movie quotes comes from the Paul Newman movie, “Cool Hand Luke.” In that movie, Newman plays Luke, a chain gang prisoner, who is being addressed by the prison warden, played by Strother Martin, and who goes by “Captain.”

Captain says to Luke, “You gonna get used to wearing them chains after a while, Luke. Don’t you never stop listening to them clinking, ’cause they gonna remind you what I been saying for your own good.”

Luke replies, “I wish you’d stop being so good to me, Cap’n.”

Angered by Luke’s retort, Captain responds, “Don’t you ever talk that way to me. NEVER! NEVER!” He then starts beating on Luke, who rolls down the hill. Captain continues, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach.”

What strikes me about this “failure to communicate” quote is how true it is these days. Just look at our elected representatives in Congress. They are continuing to fail to communicate with one another. They are all so entrenched in their own ideologies and beliefs that nothing meaningful ever gets accomplished.

When I was a member of my high school debate club — yes, I was a bit of a nerd in high school  — the faculty sponsor said, “Listen for understanding, not for rebuttal.” I thought that was wise advice, but does anyone do that anymore? Do people actually listen for understanding?

It doesn’t matter what the topic of conversation is. It can be politics, ideology, philosophy, religion, climate change, abortion, immigration, energy, culture, or society in general. Few people, it seems, are interested in truly communicating with one another. They just seem to dig in their heels and argue.

It’s even true in our personal lives. How many times have you gotten into an argument with a friend, with your spouse, your parents, your kids, or even with a co-worker, where you are not really hearing what the other person has to say? Are you and the person on the other side of the argument honestly and openly communicating with one another? Are you truly listening?

Do you ever find yourself involved in a debate on Twitter or in the comments sections on Facebook  or on a blog post where everyone is “talking,” but it seems that no one is listening to or trying to understand others’ perspectives?

I admit to doing that more than I should.

What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.