Pursuing What?

Must be time again for another reality check; the latest delivered by Thomas of Bad Ass Bard. Thomas correctly pointed out that recent posts have been much more political than they used to be. I noted this recently as well, and at other times in the past. So, what am I all riled up about?

There is example after example of creeping sharia all over the country – a country, I might add, that frequently exhibits “holiday” trees in late December, and even that is often protested. I’m not a huge fan of Christmas trees to begin with, especially taxpayer funded, but the inequality of it is galling.

I also think it is important to note the trends in certain areas of life. Radical Islam is a serious worldwide threat on a number of levels, not just our physical safety. We can’t ignore it and expect there to be no consequences. Western society is slowly being enveloped by Islam, and the more the percentages grow, the more radical it gets. This affects my generation far less than that of my daughter and the succeeding generations.

A recent poll by the Policy Exchange think tank captures the problem in one finding: 59 percent of British Muslims would prefer to live under British law rather than Shari’a; 28 percent would choose Shari’a. But among those 55 and older, only 17 percent prefer Shari’a, whereas in the 16-to-24 age group the figure rises to 37 percent. Almost exactly the same proportions apply when the question is whether or not a Muslim who converts to another faith should be put to death …

For now, we have the right to not obey Islamic law, and if we don’t exercise that right, we will lose it.

There is a documented step-change in sexual crime in areas where Muslims reached a certain percentage of the population in areas of London. Paris has had tens of thousands of cars burned in the last few years, and there are parts of the city dominated by Muslims where the police are not safe to enter. Tournantes and religiously motivated rapes by Muslims occur with distressing regularity in France, Norway, Sweden and their governments and media suppress the information. The French media is deliberately suppressing what would otherwise be a huge international story. Imagine what the international media coverage of night after night of rioting, looting, and car burnings in New York or L.A would be like. Imagine if a law was passed that restricted who could write about such things. It has been, in France.

Some say Europe is lost. Certainly dhimmitude is gaining traction there, and honor killings are on the rise. Salman Rushdie and Hirsi Ali live under death sentences. Filmmaker Theo van Gogh was executed. And the fatwas and protests continue apace with each faux offense. The media, a group very much in a position to effect change, is hiding the truth, and allowing governments to hide it as well. The fact that most people don’t know what is going on prevents them from pushing back against these events. This is the world my daughter and any children she may have will have to live in, where Europe is far less free than it used to be, and the United States is heading in that direction. This is what we’re leaving them.

The American media is also deliberately suppressing some news that doesn’t fit with it’s overwhelmingly left/liberal ideology. And while honest errors do occur, the failure to adequately correct them or publicize the corrections is something of which the media should be ashamed. Positive war news has been buried deep in articles for years, or when it is near the top, quickly followed with more, and bad, war news, even if it is unrelated to the original story. Recently there has been a slight change in that – I’m not sure if it is enough to call a trend yet, but given recent developments in Iraq, I expect it to quickly swing back the other way. The overall picture is that the public has no idea what is really happening, because the media is purposely presenting an inaccurate picture of the war. It really is Vietnam all over again, just not in the way framed by the media.

Then we have the global warming issue. An issue I would like to point out, that has been hyped by the press four other times in the last century.
1895 – upcoming ice age!
1929 – earth overheating!
1954 – global cooling!
1977 – global warming!

As the article points out,

Some in the media would probably argue that they merely report what scientists tell them, but that would be only half true.

Journalists decide not only what they cover; they also decide whether to include opposing viewpoints. That’s a balance lacking in the current “debate.”

This isn’t a question of science. It’s a question of whether Americans can trust what the media tell them about science.

So, what’s the bottom line in all this? I’m really ticked off at the media. Like it or not, the media is shaping the world by what and how it covers, and what it fails to cover. As Orson Scott Card pointed out, media coverage in the late 30s helped influence Britain’s failure to adequately prepare for WWII. It’s impossible to calculate how many lives that cost. It is doing the same today; when we should be preparing for a long war with people whose ideology demands our death or submission, we instead seek ways to adjust our society to their religious restrictions. While these radical Islamists may be a minority of the global Muslim population of over a billion people, the numbers we’re talking about are huge, and more than enough to demand a response. Especially given the unique nature of this war, where we are fighting an enemy within and without. Ultimately our lives, and more importantly, our freedom, is at stake.

What could the media do about all this? Do their jobs. Report the truth. Stop worrying about the outcome and let the chips fall where they may.

Do these issues justify the amount of posts I’ve spent on them? I think they do, especially related to Islam. I wrote in Chickenhawk Christians that the enemy is very clear about their intentions and what we should expect. But I will certainly concede the “truth in advertising” argument. In a blog named “Pursuing Holiness” it’s reasonable to expect the majority of posts to be related to that topic. I’ve let my anger about these issues go too far, and I’ve taken my attention off of what is far more important, to the detriment of my spiritual life and my Christian witness. The truth is that if we forfeit the freedom we now enjoy and end up suffering persecution the way that Christians (and all non-Muslims) do in Islamic countries, the church will grow and God will be glorified here as He is in North Korea and China and many other places. The media isn’t doing anything outside of the will of God; He has the power to prevent all these things from happening if He chooses. And I need to keep that fact in mind to temper my anger.

As I wrote just about a year ago,

I love America, and I’m a patriot. But at the end of the day, I am mindful of the wisdom of those who have come before me:

They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them, and admitted openly that they were foreigners and refugees on earth. Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own. They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return. Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

I love America and I believe it is the best country in the world, but this isn’t really my home.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Right Truth, The Pet Haven Blog, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Rightlinx, The Magical Rose Garden, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein… has no mercy, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wake Up America, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Random Yak, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao’s Blog, The Florida Masochist, Conservative Cat, Jo’s Cafe, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Planck’s Constant, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, High Desert Wanderer, The Yankee Sailor, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.