The culture
war continues to rage. It is the cultural battle between the left-leaning
progressives and traditional values conservatives. Abortion, same-sex marriage,
global warming, identity politics, the environment, and much more form the
landscape of the battle ground. What is at stake is nothing less than the
survival of western civilisation as we know it.
This war is
fought more by words than by weapons. Progressives have been very adept at
using words to advance their cause. A good example of this was employing the
term ‘marriage equality’ to promote the cause of same-sex marriage in the west.
What catch phrase did the traditional marriage people have?
Semantics is
about the ‘meaning of words’ and we need to use it properly in order to be
understood. Sometimes, however, it can be used to mislead, or even to deceive.
Here are
some interesting use of words:
•‘Undocumented workers’ is
a progressive term, which can also mean ‘illegal alien’ to the conservative;
•
•A ‘holiday tree’ is
another name for Christmas tree;
•‘Happy holidays’ and ‘Compliments
of the Season’ are meant to replace ‘Merry Christmas,’ so as not to offend
non-Christians in the West (even though many non-Christians enjoy Christmas, in
and out of the West.
•‘Reproductive rights’ is
synonymous with abortion rights;
•Opposing a progressive
in the White House in Washington, Number 10 Downing Street in London, the Lodge
in Canberra, or other citadels of political power, is called ‘opposition;’
•Opposing a conservative
in the citadels of power is called ‘resistance;’
•A person who wants to
retain the traditional definition of marriage is called a ‘bigot,’ ‘hater,’ and/or
‘homophobe;’
•Accepting and
supporting the left’s agenda is ‘tolerance;’
•Standing for
traditional values is called ‘intolerance;’
•Opposing the agenda of
a radical, identity-politics based group is called ‘racist;’
•Opposing the agenda of
the new-fangled feminists is ‘sexist;’
•When you want lower
taxes so as to keep more of the money you earn, that’s called ‘greed;’
•‘Climate change’ and ‘global
warming’ are used as apocalyptic terms, demanding massive government
intervention and wealth redistribution. Even to question the science on this
matter, a person will be branded a ‘climate-change denier,’ which is highly
pejorative;
•When workers are taxed
to fund the entitlement of others, that is called ‘paying your fair share;’
•Paradoxically, in order
to ‘celebrate diversity,’ progressives demand conformity;
•Any viewpoint that is
non-progressive is called ‘hate speech;’
•Traditional justice is
getting what you really deserve, reward or punishment, without fear or favour.
•Yet social justice is
getting what you did not earn or do not deserve, and that can be a form of
blatant favouritism.
Can you now
see how manipulative and emotive these, and other terms, can be? No wonder
people feel intimidated to speak out, even if they are fair-minded people with
no malice in their hearts. They can be bullied and slandered for not towing the
line. It is nothing short of character assassination and a vicious violation of
the ninth of the Ten Commandments to ‘not bear false witness against thy
neighbour.’
Such phrases
as these, and more, repeated again and again, have the ability to change
thinking, which can result in a changed culture. The unthinkable becomes
eminently possible once the normal meaning of words are replaced with catchy,
trendy, ‘feel good’ slogans.
This is so
even if the new celebrated phrase is misleading, meaningless, or has no
connection to reality. No wonder the major cultural organs of society like the
media, academia, judiciary, and entertainment industry, have been dominated by
the progressives, even though it has been clearly shown that the implementation
of their agenda does not work.
Words
matter.
What can we
do? Ultimately, as we will see later, the backbone of the cultural war and the
real opposing sides are not visible flesh and blood people but spiritual
principalities, powers, and forces of darkness in high heavenly places (see
Ephesians 6:12). The Marxist, feminist, Islamist, and wild-eyed far-left
progressive may be antagonistic of your values and/or personhood, but they are
not your real enemy. They are objects of God’s love and candidates for the
gospel (and, thank God, some of them have responded).
So the
impetus of the culture war is spiritual. Spiritual solutions are what are in
order. We will learn more about these solutions in Part Four.
The Age of
Fools
Ultimately,
the manipulation of word meanings and the real legacy of the culture war has
led us into a ‘strange age.’ This is where the normal, common-sense,
Judeo-Christian values have been replaced with things that neither make sense
or work. Consider the following:
•
Good is called evil and
evil is called good;
•
The exception is the rule;
•
Fantasy is chosen over facts;
•
Rhetoric is deemed more
valuable than reality;
•
Charisma is cherished more than
character;
•
Style is preferred over
substance;
•
Minority rules - and to hell with the
welfare of the majority;
•
Individual rights trump community
welfare;
•
The abnormal is declared normal and
normal is treated like a disease;
•
Intolerance has now become the ‘new
tolerance’ & classic tolerance is relegated to the museum;
•
Nonsense is now the new ‘common
sense,’ while true ‘common sense’ has been beaten senseless, surviving on a
life-support machine, and the knob is about to be turned off.
Had King
Solomon, author of most of the Book of Proverbs, lived today, he might have had
a different description for this era: the ‘Age of Fools.’ If this is the case -
and the evidence seems clear - then we need to scurry back to a pathway of
wisdom if we are going to have any hope of a decent future.
(The above
article is taken from Today/Tomorrow by Kameel Majdali).
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