Francis Berger's Blog, page 122
June 12, 2020
Collapse - A Matter of Priorities
What's more important in the end? Saving Western civilization or saving souls? All serious Christians inherently know the answer to this question, but until recently I assume most - yours truly among them - nurtured hope for the salvation of both.
Though it pains me to say it, I no longer entertain this notion. Though I am far from the first to suggest it, I find myself increasingly accepting the notion that our civilization cannot be saved. Moreover, given its current form and substance, our civilization probably shouldn't be saved. As unimaginable as it may seem at the moment, any attempt to save our civilization that does not include a thorough reordering and restructuring of its current metaphysical assumptions and beliefs is guaranteed to lead to more harm than good.
I say this not from the vast plains of some nihilistic desert or from the depths of some fathomless pit of despair, but rather from the standpoint of priorities. Yes, our civilization is important, but our souls are infinitely more important. This does not imply that efforts to stem the rising tide of evil should be peremptorily abandoned. On the contrary, our spiritual endeavors against evil must intensify in this time and place, but this intensification must be arise from the proper perspective with the right objectives in mind.
Yes, the potential collapse of Western Civilization is tragic, but soul damnation is more tragic by far.
The remainder of this post is a repost from a piece I wrote back in March 2019. I share it now because I believe it reveals my own personal turning point concerning the subject at hand.
For years I considered the current decline of the West and Western Civilization to be a tremendous historical, cultural, societal, and civilizational tragedy. Regardless of where the beginning is placed, there have been many civilizational rises and falls within the umbrella term "Western Civilization." From the ancient Greek city states to the Roman Empire to the more recent falls of dynastic royal empires in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe and the crumbling of the Soviet empire in the twentieth, the history of the West is filled with the ebbs and flows of rising and collapsing empires, kingdoms, and republics.
Civilizations within the West collapsed for a variety of reasons: natural disasters, invasions, over-extension, fatigue, decadence, or a combination of some or all of these factors and dozens more not mentioned. The history of the West demonstrates a simple truth - regardless of the cause or causes, all civilizations eventually collapse.
For all intents and purposes, it appears the current liberal-democratic civilization that has its roots in the Enlightenment and French and American Revolutions of the eighteenth century is rushing headlong toward collapse. This obvious deterioration once caused me a great deal of consternation because, despite all of its innate paradoxes and contradictions, I firmly believed the liberal democratic model had been and continued to be a force of good in the world.
Yet, when I take stock of the absurd and idiotic cultural and civilization pathologies liberal democracies have embraced and promulgate, I have come to one rather obvious conclusion - there is very little good in what accounts for Western Civilization today. Rather than lament the eventual collapse of this current manifestation of civilization in the West, I have come to the point where I welcome it.
Liberal democracies in the West have spun too far away from Reality in their beliefs, policies, and behaviors to make any kind of restoration or return to the real impossible. Our current liberal democratic model distinguishes itself from other fallen civilizations by being the only one that actively seeks its own destruction. The causes for Rome's decadence were many and there were elites who undermined the Empire for their own personal gain, but not to the extent our current liberal, leftist, democratic elite undermines the foundations of their own society and culture. Simply put, our rulers today follow the same strategy a deadly virus follows when it infects its host. Like a deadly virus, our current rulers will not stop until they have destroyed the thing keeping the civilization alive. Culturecide. Civilizationcide. Call it what you will - our elites will simply refer to it as progress.
Now this in itself could be regarded as tragic if the host, that is our current form of Western Civilization, was an ascending one filled with a vigorous strength of the mind and soul inspired by Reality, propelled by faith and reason, and fueled by a sincere desire for Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.
Our current liberal democracies are the complete antithesis of that. In my humble opinion, things are so bad we can no longer even classify our current liberal democratic model as an example of a descending civilization. What is called Western civilization today fell out of the sky and hit the water long ago. Our civilization is submerged and sinking fast, with no bottom in sight. Yet, it will hit bottom one day, and when it does, that will officially mark the end.
What will take its place is a matter of speculation, but one must assume the worst. Our current elite are revolutionary in spirit. Their destruction of liberal democracy serves a higher purpose - the implementation of a new civilization. One can easily assume the likely form this new civilization will take.
In the future, historians will undoubtedly sift through artifacts and records from our collapsed civilization in an attempt to understand what caused our technologically advanced and materially-abundant civilization to fall apart so swiftly and dramatically and give way to the totalitarian nightmare that followed. I am certain what they discover will both puzzle and amuse them.
As unbelievable as it will seem to them, future historians will inescapably conclude that our liberal democracies were brought down by little more than a laughable assortment of hare-brained irrationalities and idiotic suppositions defiantly and hubristically imposed upon the people and Reality in the derisory name of altruism and human rights. Simply put, future historians will write us off as irrational fools because we allowed ourselves to be destroyed and enslaved by nothing more than preposterous notions and absurd political correctness.
This is why I no longer lament the eventual death of our current form of civilization. The causes leading to its eventual collapse are too asinine to categorize as tragic. Laughable? Sure. Senseless? Indeed. Silly? You bet.
Tragic? No way.
Though it pains me to say it, I no longer entertain this notion. Though I am far from the first to suggest it, I find myself increasingly accepting the notion that our civilization cannot be saved. Moreover, given its current form and substance, our civilization probably shouldn't be saved. As unimaginable as it may seem at the moment, any attempt to save our civilization that does not include a thorough reordering and restructuring of its current metaphysical assumptions and beliefs is guaranteed to lead to more harm than good.
I say this not from the vast plains of some nihilistic desert or from the depths of some fathomless pit of despair, but rather from the standpoint of priorities. Yes, our civilization is important, but our souls are infinitely more important. This does not imply that efforts to stem the rising tide of evil should be peremptorily abandoned. On the contrary, our spiritual endeavors against evil must intensify in this time and place, but this intensification must be arise from the proper perspective with the right objectives in mind.
Yes, the potential collapse of Western Civilization is tragic, but soul damnation is more tragic by far.
The remainder of this post is a repost from a piece I wrote back in March 2019. I share it now because I believe it reveals my own personal turning point concerning the subject at hand.
For years I considered the current decline of the West and Western Civilization to be a tremendous historical, cultural, societal, and civilizational tragedy. Regardless of where the beginning is placed, there have been many civilizational rises and falls within the umbrella term "Western Civilization." From the ancient Greek city states to the Roman Empire to the more recent falls of dynastic royal empires in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe and the crumbling of the Soviet empire in the twentieth, the history of the West is filled with the ebbs and flows of rising and collapsing empires, kingdoms, and republics.
Civilizations within the West collapsed for a variety of reasons: natural disasters, invasions, over-extension, fatigue, decadence, or a combination of some or all of these factors and dozens more not mentioned. The history of the West demonstrates a simple truth - regardless of the cause or causes, all civilizations eventually collapse.
For all intents and purposes, it appears the current liberal-democratic civilization that has its roots in the Enlightenment and French and American Revolutions of the eighteenth century is rushing headlong toward collapse. This obvious deterioration once caused me a great deal of consternation because, despite all of its innate paradoxes and contradictions, I firmly believed the liberal democratic model had been and continued to be a force of good in the world.
Yet, when I take stock of the absurd and idiotic cultural and civilization pathologies liberal democracies have embraced and promulgate, I have come to one rather obvious conclusion - there is very little good in what accounts for Western Civilization today. Rather than lament the eventual collapse of this current manifestation of civilization in the West, I have come to the point where I welcome it.
Liberal democracies in the West have spun too far away from Reality in their beliefs, policies, and behaviors to make any kind of restoration or return to the real impossible. Our current liberal democratic model distinguishes itself from other fallen civilizations by being the only one that actively seeks its own destruction. The causes for Rome's decadence were many and there were elites who undermined the Empire for their own personal gain, but not to the extent our current liberal, leftist, democratic elite undermines the foundations of their own society and culture. Simply put, our rulers today follow the same strategy a deadly virus follows when it infects its host. Like a deadly virus, our current rulers will not stop until they have destroyed the thing keeping the civilization alive. Culturecide. Civilizationcide. Call it what you will - our elites will simply refer to it as progress.
Now this in itself could be regarded as tragic if the host, that is our current form of Western Civilization, was an ascending one filled with a vigorous strength of the mind and soul inspired by Reality, propelled by faith and reason, and fueled by a sincere desire for Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.
Our current liberal democracies are the complete antithesis of that. In my humble opinion, things are so bad we can no longer even classify our current liberal democratic model as an example of a descending civilization. What is called Western civilization today fell out of the sky and hit the water long ago. Our civilization is submerged and sinking fast, with no bottom in sight. Yet, it will hit bottom one day, and when it does, that will officially mark the end.
What will take its place is a matter of speculation, but one must assume the worst. Our current elite are revolutionary in spirit. Their destruction of liberal democracy serves a higher purpose - the implementation of a new civilization. One can easily assume the likely form this new civilization will take.
In the future, historians will undoubtedly sift through artifacts and records from our collapsed civilization in an attempt to understand what caused our technologically advanced and materially-abundant civilization to fall apart so swiftly and dramatically and give way to the totalitarian nightmare that followed. I am certain what they discover will both puzzle and amuse them.
As unbelievable as it will seem to them, future historians will inescapably conclude that our liberal democracies were brought down by little more than a laughable assortment of hare-brained irrationalities and idiotic suppositions defiantly and hubristically imposed upon the people and Reality in the derisory name of altruism and human rights. Simply put, future historians will write us off as irrational fools because we allowed ourselves to be destroyed and enslaved by nothing more than preposterous notions and absurd political correctness.
This is why I no longer lament the eventual death of our current form of civilization. The causes leading to its eventual collapse are too asinine to categorize as tragic. Laughable? Sure. Senseless? Indeed. Silly? You bet.
Tragic? No way.
Christianity Won't Save The West
Not because it can't, but because the vast majority of Westerners don't want it to. Let's go a step further - the vast majority of people who identify as Christians don't want it to either. That's difficult to accept, but an honest assessment of our current circumstances make all of this evidently clear, as least as far as I'm concerned.
I've written several blog posts about Western Civilization and Christianity in which I argued that without the latter, the former would soon collapse. When I wrote those posts here and here, I never could have anticipated that the real potential for collapse would arrive so quickly - but here it is.
Of course, I am not the only blogger in the universe who has made this connection; Bruce Charlton and William Wildblood have been practically screaming it from rooftops for years. But barely anyone has listened. Even now, their voices and the other scattered voices of sanity go unacknowledged. Why? Very simple. Most people in the West are not interested in saving their civilization, let alone their souls. That's really what it comes down to in the end.
That's not despair on my part - merely the cold acceptance of fact. For months people in the West - and the rest of the world - were subjected to an outright psychological and spiritual terror campaign via the birdemic virus. Though I didn't expect anything of the sort, a small part of me did hope and pray that people in general, and people in the West in particular, might emerge from the lockdown with some semblance of a spiritual awakening. Instead of spiritual awakening we got what some wags on the net have referred to as the 'awokening.'
The West has never been more spiritually dead than it is now - and I sense it is going to become even 'deader' in the coming weeks and months.
So, Christianity cannot save the West if the West does not want it to. It's that elementary. Nevertheless, Christianity can save individuals and small groups if we allow it to. I must stress that by Christianity here I am referring to following the promise of Jesus, not membership in one of our many, all too many hideously corrupt churches. If you happen to belong to one of the handful of uncorrupted churches or some SSPX order or some hidden Orthodox monastery on a mountain somewhere, good on you. As for the rest of us, we're pretty much on our own.
Except we're not - on our own, I mean. First and foremost, we have Christ. Nothing else is really required, but we do also have each other. Though we may not all know each other and may never meet, we are all connected in brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ. This brotherhood and sisterhood is what Western Civilization ought to be; but it isn't. And it hasn't been for a while.
All the same, each one of us who follows Christ is microcosm of a greater civilization than Western Civilization ever was or could ever be. This civilization reveals the personal God to the world. This civilization not only believes in life everlasting, but orders all of mortal life around it. This civilization honors the sanctity of individual and aligns itself with Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. This civilization is creative. This civilization is Divine Love.
As long as each of us remains in Truth, as long as each of refuses to live by lies, and as long as each of puts our faith, hope, and love in Christ, this great civilization - this macrocosm which is THE macrocosm - will continue to exist, both here and in life everlasting, even as the formerly great civilization that refuses to save itself continues crumbling all around us.
I've written several blog posts about Western Civilization and Christianity in which I argued that without the latter, the former would soon collapse. When I wrote those posts here and here, I never could have anticipated that the real potential for collapse would arrive so quickly - but here it is.
Of course, I am not the only blogger in the universe who has made this connection; Bruce Charlton and William Wildblood have been practically screaming it from rooftops for years. But barely anyone has listened. Even now, their voices and the other scattered voices of sanity go unacknowledged. Why? Very simple. Most people in the West are not interested in saving their civilization, let alone their souls. That's really what it comes down to in the end.
That's not despair on my part - merely the cold acceptance of fact. For months people in the West - and the rest of the world - were subjected to an outright psychological and spiritual terror campaign via the birdemic virus. Though I didn't expect anything of the sort, a small part of me did hope and pray that people in general, and people in the West in particular, might emerge from the lockdown with some semblance of a spiritual awakening. Instead of spiritual awakening we got what some wags on the net have referred to as the 'awokening.'
The West has never been more spiritually dead than it is now - and I sense it is going to become even 'deader' in the coming weeks and months.
So, Christianity cannot save the West if the West does not want it to. It's that elementary. Nevertheless, Christianity can save individuals and small groups if we allow it to. I must stress that by Christianity here I am referring to following the promise of Jesus, not membership in one of our many, all too many hideously corrupt churches. If you happen to belong to one of the handful of uncorrupted churches or some SSPX order or some hidden Orthodox monastery on a mountain somewhere, good on you. As for the rest of us, we're pretty much on our own.
Except we're not - on our own, I mean. First and foremost, we have Christ. Nothing else is really required, but we do also have each other. Though we may not all know each other and may never meet, we are all connected in brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ. This brotherhood and sisterhood is what Western Civilization ought to be; but it isn't. And it hasn't been for a while.
All the same, each one of us who follows Christ is microcosm of a greater civilization than Western Civilization ever was or could ever be. This civilization reveals the personal God to the world. This civilization not only believes in life everlasting, but orders all of mortal life around it. This civilization honors the sanctity of individual and aligns itself with Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. This civilization is creative. This civilization is Divine Love.
As long as each of us remains in Truth, as long as each of refuses to live by lies, and as long as each of puts our faith, hope, and love in Christ, this great civilization - this macrocosm which is THE macrocosm - will continue to exist, both here and in life everlasting, even as the formerly great civilization that refuses to save itself continues crumbling all around us.
June 10, 2020
The Return of a Half-Forgotten Sunset
I happened to be browsing through the photo gallery on my iPad today, and I came across a sunset I had photographed back in February. At first, I couldn't recall taking the photograph, but after a few seconds it all came back to me.
I had just come home from work and was about to enter the house when I looked to the west just beyond the chicken coop - still a dilapidated ruin back then - and noticed the warm light of a sunken sunset as it painted captivating mauve and pink hues onto the clouds. The scene, or more specifically, the quality of light, reminded me of a Mednyánszky painting, so I dug into my backpack, withdrew my iPad, and took a snapshot.
I studied the photo for about a half-an-hour later that evening and spent some time comparing the light I had captured to the quality of light the Wandering Baron so masterfully recreated in so many of his landscapes. 
I remember feeling distinctly happy for many hours afterward. Oddly enough, seeing the photo again now has provided a few more hours of warm contentment.
It's amazing what a little light and color can do. It really is.
I had just come home from work and was about to enter the house when I looked to the west just beyond the chicken coop - still a dilapidated ruin back then - and noticed the warm light of a sunken sunset as it painted captivating mauve and pink hues onto the clouds. The scene, or more specifically, the quality of light, reminded me of a Mednyánszky painting, so I dug into my backpack, withdrew my iPad, and took a snapshot.
I studied the photo for about a half-an-hour later that evening and spent some time comparing the light I had captured to the quality of light the Wandering Baron so masterfully recreated in so many of his landscapes. I remember feeling distinctly happy for many hours afterward. Oddly enough, seeing the photo again now has provided a few more hours of warm contentment.It's amazing what a little light and color can do. It really is.
June 9, 2020
The Joy Evil Ceaselessly Attempts To Obscure
Some readers of this blog might assume I am nothing more than a cantankerous curmudgeon whose only pleasure in life comprises being infinitely irritated by the ever-intensifying inanities and insanities with which evil infests the world. Well, in all fairness, those assumptions are not completely groundless. I can get quite cantankerous and irritated when it comes to evil - especially these days - but this does not imply that I ever let evil get the upper hand.
I believe Christians are spiritually and morally bound to walk a rather perilous line in this mortal life. On the one hand, we must remain vigilant about and alert to the presence of evil in our midst and, more significantly, to the evil within ourselves. In addition to the trials, tribulations, and suffering we all must endure at various points throughout our lives, we must also be able to recognize, resist, condemn, and confront evil whenever and wherever we encounter it. Contrary to contemporary belief, our duties do not entail making accommodations for or compromises with evil. Nor are we obliged to tolerate, permit, or condone evil. If and when we do, we are obliged to repent our sins in much the same manner we are obliged to forgive those who genuinely and sincerely repent their own sins. On the other hand, we must not allow our recognition and awareness of evil to drive us to fear or despair. One of the key ways evil tempts us to fear and despair is by constantly working to darken or obliterate our joy.
Considering current circumstances, the mere mention of joy may seem out of place for some, but for true Christians, joy can never be out of place, not even during the darkest and most agonizing of times. This is the divine essence of the cross - the great triumph rising from the depths of seeming ruin. And if you remain open and perceptive to this triumphant joy, you begin to sense that it permeates the world in all that is true, beautiful, and virtuous. Much more than mere comfort or delight - joy fuels fascination and enchantment. It creates the capacity for realization - the comprehension that we belong to Divine Creation, and as such, are divine creations ourselves; divine creations who possess the potential to join Divine Creativity.
Evil ceaseless aims to strip us of our joy; to dull the sense of enchantment; to dim faith and hope; to severe our connection to Divine Creation and our connection to our own divine selves. If evil cannot vanquish the joy within us outright through fear, hatred, and despair, it will work to dilute our joys into vulgar pleasures. This method entails a longer route, but the end destination remains the same. Evil wants us all to shun the great triumph altogether and embrace only the ruinous depths.
Above all else, evil demands we abandon the joy that leads to heaven. I personally cannot conceive of anything more malevolent and baleful, which helps explain why I often come across as curmudgeon in my posts. In my defense, I believe high stakes render my belligerence excusable and forgivable. In any event, I never allow my antagonism for evil to dissipate my joy. To do so would be to play into evil's hands. And that's what it all comes down to in the end. The only power evil has over us is the power we grant it. This undeniable fact is both terrifying and liberating, but handled properly, it can become one of our most constant and reliable sources of joy.
I believe Christians are spiritually and morally bound to walk a rather perilous line in this mortal life. On the one hand, we must remain vigilant about and alert to the presence of evil in our midst and, more significantly, to the evil within ourselves. In addition to the trials, tribulations, and suffering we all must endure at various points throughout our lives, we must also be able to recognize, resist, condemn, and confront evil whenever and wherever we encounter it. Contrary to contemporary belief, our duties do not entail making accommodations for or compromises with evil. Nor are we obliged to tolerate, permit, or condone evil. If and when we do, we are obliged to repent our sins in much the same manner we are obliged to forgive those who genuinely and sincerely repent their own sins. On the other hand, we must not allow our recognition and awareness of evil to drive us to fear or despair. One of the key ways evil tempts us to fear and despair is by constantly working to darken or obliterate our joy.
Considering current circumstances, the mere mention of joy may seem out of place for some, but for true Christians, joy can never be out of place, not even during the darkest and most agonizing of times. This is the divine essence of the cross - the great triumph rising from the depths of seeming ruin. And if you remain open and perceptive to this triumphant joy, you begin to sense that it permeates the world in all that is true, beautiful, and virtuous. Much more than mere comfort or delight - joy fuels fascination and enchantment. It creates the capacity for realization - the comprehension that we belong to Divine Creation, and as such, are divine creations ourselves; divine creations who possess the potential to join Divine Creativity.
Evil ceaseless aims to strip us of our joy; to dull the sense of enchantment; to dim faith and hope; to severe our connection to Divine Creation and our connection to our own divine selves. If evil cannot vanquish the joy within us outright through fear, hatred, and despair, it will work to dilute our joys into vulgar pleasures. This method entails a longer route, but the end destination remains the same. Evil wants us all to shun the great triumph altogether and embrace only the ruinous depths.
Above all else, evil demands we abandon the joy that leads to heaven. I personally cannot conceive of anything more malevolent and baleful, which helps explain why I often come across as curmudgeon in my posts. In my defense, I believe high stakes render my belligerence excusable and forgivable. In any event, I never allow my antagonism for evil to dissipate my joy. To do so would be to play into evil's hands. And that's what it all comes down to in the end. The only power evil has over us is the power we grant it. This undeniable fact is both terrifying and liberating, but handled properly, it can become one of our most constant and reliable sources of joy.
June 8, 2020
Collapse - William Wildblood
An excerpt from an excellent piece William Wildblood posted on his equally excellent blog yesterday:
We are living through the collapse of Western civilisation and it is astonishing how few people seem to realise this. I suppose the average person can't face hard reality and as long as he is personally comfortable will ignore all the signs of societal breakdown. Everything seems fine from a superficial point of view. Some who do acknowledge reality believe the collapse will be a long drawn out one with gradual decline so it will not be in our day that things come to a crash but the speed at which events are currently moving suggest this may not be the case.
When a culture loses confidence in itself as the West has done, it is more or less doomed. If it will not defend itself because of weakness, cowardice and sentimentality as we have seen is the case over the last few days, it is a lost cause. And if it no longer recognises proper authority as built up by a tradition informed by truth and goodness and one that honours God or at least some transcendent principle then it moves from a phase of creativity to one of destruction. We have been on that path for 50 years or more. That is to say, a point was reached around 50 years ago when the balance between good and evil tilted decisively in favour of the latter, notwithstanding the fact that there had been crises before. But this was the time when our civilisation decided to take the path that leads to net evil.
The onset of liberalism always betokens the end of a civilisation. It is the phase when the fruits of that civilisation begin to be eaten with no new seeds planted. The relaxing of principles, discipline and sexual morality gradually erodes proper structure and order, and a focus on egalitarianism, the inevitable bedfellow of liberalism, means that the quantitative is emphasised at the expense of the qualitative which diminishes in importance. What else is the current obsession with racism but a sign that quantity has triumphed over quality? It's the same with all movements that tend towards levelling out. They all deny difference and so deny quality. That means they sacrifice truth to lower order human emotions such as resentment, fear, envy and hatred. These are the driving forces behind so much that happens in the world today and the fact they are given their head, and that their ugly faces are daubed with prettifying make up which, like all make up, is a mask of artificiality, confirms we have lost sight of reality and embarked on a path of spiritual destruction. When vice is depicted as virtue society has given itself over to the lie because it shows that it cares more about appearance than reality.
Read the rest here.
I also highly recommend William's Remember the Creator, which I classify as indispensable reading for this time and place.
We are living through the collapse of Western civilisation and it is astonishing how few people seem to realise this. I suppose the average person can't face hard reality and as long as he is personally comfortable will ignore all the signs of societal breakdown. Everything seems fine from a superficial point of view. Some who do acknowledge reality believe the collapse will be a long drawn out one with gradual decline so it will not be in our day that things come to a crash but the speed at which events are currently moving suggest this may not be the case.
When a culture loses confidence in itself as the West has done, it is more or less doomed. If it will not defend itself because of weakness, cowardice and sentimentality as we have seen is the case over the last few days, it is a lost cause. And if it no longer recognises proper authority as built up by a tradition informed by truth and goodness and one that honours God or at least some transcendent principle then it moves from a phase of creativity to one of destruction. We have been on that path for 50 years or more. That is to say, a point was reached around 50 years ago when the balance between good and evil tilted decisively in favour of the latter, notwithstanding the fact that there had been crises before. But this was the time when our civilisation decided to take the path that leads to net evil.
The onset of liberalism always betokens the end of a civilisation. It is the phase when the fruits of that civilisation begin to be eaten with no new seeds planted. The relaxing of principles, discipline and sexual morality gradually erodes proper structure and order, and a focus on egalitarianism, the inevitable bedfellow of liberalism, means that the quantitative is emphasised at the expense of the qualitative which diminishes in importance. What else is the current obsession with racism but a sign that quantity has triumphed over quality? It's the same with all movements that tend towards levelling out. They all deny difference and so deny quality. That means they sacrifice truth to lower order human emotions such as resentment, fear, envy and hatred. These are the driving forces behind so much that happens in the world today and the fact they are given their head, and that their ugly faces are daubed with prettifying make up which, like all make up, is a mask of artificiality, confirms we have lost sight of reality and embarked on a path of spiritual destruction. When vice is depicted as virtue society has given itself over to the lie because it shows that it cares more about appearance than reality.
Read the rest here.
I also highly recommend William's Remember the Creator, which I classify as indispensable reading for this time and place.
This Time The "Revolutionary" Circle Will Probably Not Loop Back Around
A little more than a year ago, I wrote a post in which I argued that a great deal of the attraction to progressive ideals is rooted in erroneous assumptions that contemporary progressive movements actually deliver 'progress' - in both the positive, betterment sense and in the forward-moving, linear sense of the word. More specifically, progressivism resonates because it signifies improvements and benefits for all, improvements and benefits that advance forward in time and space, thereby leaving the past and the oppression it contained firmly behind.
Though a case could be made for successful and beneficial progressive movements of the past (mostly from the 1890s to about the 1920s), most of what accounts for progressivism in the past century or so has failed to follow the advancing improvement framework of progress and has instead slipped into the framework of leftist revolution, which is marked by a seeming move forward that eventually curves back around and finds its end point at the revolution's starting point, albeit under far more degraded and brutal conditions.
George Orwell captured the development of this leftist-revolutionary movement perfectly in Animal Farm, which was, of course, modeled after the real world example of the Russian Revolution. In both the cases, the oppressed liberated themselves from their perceived oppressors, but gradually fell victim to those who had promised them emancipation through rebellion. In my previous post on the subject, I referred to this movement as a demonic circle, which can be summarized as an attempt to escape hell to create heaven that ends with imprisonment in the same hell under more hellish conditions.
The recent explosions of mob protest and violence has been framed by some as an opportunity for progress. A terrible and prevalent social injustice has (once again) been thrust into the light, urged on by angry calls for improvement and 'structural reform.' These calls have been met with placating promises to initiate societal changes and do better as a civilization, leading many to believe that some sort of positive revolution is currently taking place.
Nevertheless, what we are seeing now is neither positive nor revolutionary in nature. As Dr. Charlton pointed out in a recent post, the revolution is already behind us; it took place mostly behind the scenes while people around the world were forcibly confined to their homes for being walking biohazards. The essence of the largely undetected revolution was an immense consolidation of global elite power. The mob violence over the past week is an example of this consolidated power flexing its additional, newfound muscles.
The events of past two weeks are being framed as an opportunity for progress - a chance for society to make drastic improvements and move positively forward in both time and space, but the nature of the events do not belie anything positive or forward-moving. Nor do they hint at the further development of anything revolutionary, not even in the negative 'demonic circle' sense. When the lockdown came into effect, I suspected the powers-that-should-not-be would use it as a demonic circle blueprint to build an atomized surveillance society over which they would have complete and uncontested control, but this objective appears to have fallen by the wayside. Systemic control seems to be giving way to systemic failure.
If this proves true, then the coming weeks and months will feature very little 'putting together or building up' to offset the 'taking apart or tearing down.' This not only negates conventional notions of social and civilizational progress, but it also negates the 'demonic circle' movement of past revolutions because there will basically be no starting point to curve back around to and "end at".
I have heard some argue that this is actually the better scenario in the end, especially for Christians, but I imagine this only applies if Christians face this challenge properly (for lack of a better word).
Though a case could be made for successful and beneficial progressive movements of the past (mostly from the 1890s to about the 1920s), most of what accounts for progressivism in the past century or so has failed to follow the advancing improvement framework of progress and has instead slipped into the framework of leftist revolution, which is marked by a seeming move forward that eventually curves back around and finds its end point at the revolution's starting point, albeit under far more degraded and brutal conditions.
George Orwell captured the development of this leftist-revolutionary movement perfectly in Animal Farm, which was, of course, modeled after the real world example of the Russian Revolution. In both the cases, the oppressed liberated themselves from their perceived oppressors, but gradually fell victim to those who had promised them emancipation through rebellion. In my previous post on the subject, I referred to this movement as a demonic circle, which can be summarized as an attempt to escape hell to create heaven that ends with imprisonment in the same hell under more hellish conditions.
The recent explosions of mob protest and violence has been framed by some as an opportunity for progress. A terrible and prevalent social injustice has (once again) been thrust into the light, urged on by angry calls for improvement and 'structural reform.' These calls have been met with placating promises to initiate societal changes and do better as a civilization, leading many to believe that some sort of positive revolution is currently taking place.
Nevertheless, what we are seeing now is neither positive nor revolutionary in nature. As Dr. Charlton pointed out in a recent post, the revolution is already behind us; it took place mostly behind the scenes while people around the world were forcibly confined to their homes for being walking biohazards. The essence of the largely undetected revolution was an immense consolidation of global elite power. The mob violence over the past week is an example of this consolidated power flexing its additional, newfound muscles.
The events of past two weeks are being framed as an opportunity for progress - a chance for society to make drastic improvements and move positively forward in both time and space, but the nature of the events do not belie anything positive or forward-moving. Nor do they hint at the further development of anything revolutionary, not even in the negative 'demonic circle' sense. When the lockdown came into effect, I suspected the powers-that-should-not-be would use it as a demonic circle blueprint to build an atomized surveillance society over which they would have complete and uncontested control, but this objective appears to have fallen by the wayside. Systemic control seems to be giving way to systemic failure.
If this proves true, then the coming weeks and months will feature very little 'putting together or building up' to offset the 'taking apart or tearing down.' This not only negates conventional notions of social and civilizational progress, but it also negates the 'demonic circle' movement of past revolutions because there will basically be no starting point to curve back around to and "end at".
I have heard some argue that this is actually the better scenario in the end, especially for Christians, but I imagine this only applies if Christians face this challenge properly (for lack of a better word).
June 6, 2020
Virtue Signal Level: Epic
Any added commentary from my end seems utterly superfluous.
June 4, 2020
We Wrestle Not Against Flesh and Blood
This is fundamentally a spiritual war. Never forget that. Ever.
Ephesians 6:10-18 (bold added)
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Ephesians 6:10-18 (bold added)
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
June 3, 2020
My Experience With Systemic Racism
In his post today, William M. Briggs firmly asserts the non-existence of systemic racism against blacks. In the post Briggs writes:
Every major corporation, celebrity, university, politician, association, and even the American Meteorological Society, which just started a Culture and Inclusion Cabinet, issued statements professing their solidarity with blacks and lamenting with them the “systemic racism” they experience. (I challenge you to find a large professional organization that hasn’t.) This “systemic racism” was the natural and understandable justification for the looting, pillaging, violence, and mayhem the rabble engaged in for more than a week.
There is no such thing as “systemic racism” against blacks. The statements from every entity in the Cathedral—the web of elites who rule us—-proves it. If there was “systemic racism” emanating from the system, which is comprised of corporations, celebrities, universities, the bureaucracy, professional associations, and even weathermen, the system could never have issued all those statements condemning it. And supporting the riots.
Instead, whatever is the most orthogonal extreme opposite of “systemic racism” for blacks exists.
Every corporation, as far as I know without exception, have a plethora of diversity officers on staff, whose singular purpose is to ensure blacks are given positions, even to the extent of weakening job requirements. Success is measured by quota. Enough diversity is never sufficient, either. Routine HR announcements swearing fealty to Diversity and condemning “systemic racism” are issued. Virtue signaling by officers and HR is omnipresent.
Every university, college, seminary, and academy hungers for greater “diversity”, which everybody knows means more blacks, fewer whites, fewer Asians, and more people who embrace various sexual perversions. Students are labeled “diverse” is they are not white or Asian. The amounts of money spent to ensure greater positions for blacks is vast. Blacks score less well than any other group on SATs, ACTs, MCATs, GREs, and other tests, yet are allowed lower scores for matriculation and graduation. Indoctrination of all students against racism, systemic or otherwise, is mandatory.
Every academician proclaims “systemic racism”, and holds the theory that only whites can be racist, because (presumably) whites have mysterious powers.
Every political organization goes out of its way to ensure blacks are “visible”. Appointments to committees, the judiciary, boards, and on and on have quotas, stated and unstated. The military is open about its quotas, and has been for a long time.
Every media and Big Teach organization regularly and routinely and as a matter of strict policy shades coverage and searches in favor of blacks, either by not reporting black crime, especially against whites (black crimes against whites is larger than whites against blacks), or by repeating endlessly the fiction that “systemic racism” is pervasive. The “1619 Project” from the New York Times stating that America’s founding purpose is racism is bad historical fiction, filled with purposeful lies and disinformation. It won the Pulitzer prize, the highest journalistic honor.
Even the least of us, Hollywood celebrities, chant endlessly about the evils of “systemic racism.” These negligible thinkers have fully assimilated the propaganda that it is impossible to be racist against whites. Movies and TV go out of their way to disproportionately feature blacks. Critics compete to praise, or overlook flaws, in projects predominately featuring blacks.
And did I mention Affirmative Action and the loss of Freedom of Assembly?
The entire culture is saturated with the idea that racism against blacks is everywhere, constant, and debilitating.
Now, if “systemic racism” is so pervasive and obvious and constant, where is it? Where—exactly where?
Is it in business? No. Is it in schools? No. The military? No. On TV? No. Is it in any official organization of any kind? No. It is nowhere to be found, yet it is everywhere. That is what systemic means. We are told it is everywhere. People believe it is everywhere. It therefore must be everywhere. But nobody can find it. Read the rest here.
Mr. Briggs' encapsulation of the non-existence of systemic racism more or less matches my own personal experiences with the phenomenon throughout my life. Though I could easily detect what could be classified as racism among certain individuals and some small groups, I never succeeded in identifying let alone locating the pervasive systemic racism leftists the world over vehemently scream about. Of course, the flippant and automatic response to this observation is a simple - of course you don't, you're white - which implies my 'whiteness' is firmly entrenched within the racist system, rendering me blind to the injustice, oppression, and violence that permeates the world around me.
I had encountered the term systemic racism when I was a university student, but I did not have to deal with the concept on a daily basis until I became an inner city high school teacher in the Bronx. Now when I say deal with the concept, I mean just that - a concept. As a concept, systemic racism was everywhere. It formed the core focus of my pedagogical training in New York and became a persistent presence in my day-to-day working life as a teacher of 'underprivileged youth of color'. Though the concept was ubiquitous, I had an extremely difficult time finding actual evidence of systemic racism anywhere.
For five years I worked for a black principal in a high school in the Bronx. He made a six-figure salary, lived in Westchester County, drove to work in a sporty Mercedes-Benz, and eventually earned a doctorate at UPenn. All-in-all, he was a decent fellow, but he was quite convinced of the existence of systemic racism. The vice-principal of the school was a black woman who drove a BMW SUV to school and also earned a doctorate eventually. Once again, a decent person, but firmly entrenched in the notion that the system was inherently racist against all people of color. One of my former colleagues, a young, black science teacher, earned a doctorate and went on to become a much-celebrated urban education professor at Columbia University. He wears really snappy suits complete with bowties and stylish hats. He's been featured in Ted Talks and has written a couple of best-selling books. The subject matter of his books? The relentless evil and violence of systemic racism.
I worked at that school in the Bronx for five years and had fairly positive experiences overall, but the shadow of 'systemic racism' darkened everything I encountered. Even when it was not spoken of openly, it was implied. Though my supervisors appreciated my work at the school, they often bemoaned the lack of 'teachers of color' in inner city schools, insinuating that students would be far more engaged in learning if the person at the front of the room looked like them. When students failed to perform, which was all-too-common, systemic racism was often cited as the culprit. Teaching Shakespeare was considered colonial and insensitive. I heard this not from my black supervisors, but from a half-insane white literacy coach who insisted I was insensitive to systemic racism and had nothing but scorn for my black and hispanic students.
The school was housed in a relatively old school building on Sedgewick Avenue. Though it could have used a little refurbishment and maintenance here and there, it was a functional building, complete with blackboards, books, desks, chairs, laptop computers, smartboards, and free breakfasts and lunches for nearly every student. Despite this, educators in New York bemoaned the conditions and cited them as a cause for student underperformance, which entailed it was evidence of systemic racism. It was evidence of systemic racism because schools in white neighborhoods were infinitely better equipped and funded, which helped explain why white kids did better academically.
The problems the students brought to school in the Bronx were mostly attributed to systemic racism. Oddly enough, I encountered these same problems when I worked in a small mining community in the northeast of England. Almost all of the students there were white, but to a greater or lesser degree they displayed the same sorts of problems the kids in the Bronx did. These problems were pinned on economic inequality and domestic issues in the northeast of England. Strange.
Of course, systemic racism was still prevalent in the northeast of England as well, as evidenced by an Ofsted report filed during my time there that cited a lack of diversity at the nearly completely white school and peremptorily docked marks from the institution as a result. I can't imagine how the school could have remedied this grievous lack of diversity considering that 98% of the people living in the area were of white British descent. It mattered little that the administration had a Holocaust remembrance day and invited several African artists and priests to the school for cultural and diversity events. None of that alleviated the unbearable whiteness of the place. I mean, it was a glaring example of systemic racism if there ever was one.
I could go on for pages, but most of it would be about matters that have already been discussed and debated in countless other places before. To sum up, I heard about systemic racism throughout my teaching career, but I never once uncovered any evidence of the kind of extensive racism that was perpetually being promulgated by all those around me. That can only mean one of two things - either systemic racism really does not exist or, conversely, I am so irrevocably embedded within the system that I have become essentially blind to this most pernicious evil of evils.
Though I never encountered systematic racism per se when I taught, I became acutely aware of the System and how the System employs lies like systemic racism to ensure perpetual resentment, inversion, and conflict. You see, I don't believe in the existence of systemic racism, but I do believe in systemic soul damnation - and that's something almost no one sees, let alone believes in.
Every major corporation, celebrity, university, politician, association, and even the American Meteorological Society, which just started a Culture and Inclusion Cabinet, issued statements professing their solidarity with blacks and lamenting with them the “systemic racism” they experience. (I challenge you to find a large professional organization that hasn’t.) This “systemic racism” was the natural and understandable justification for the looting, pillaging, violence, and mayhem the rabble engaged in for more than a week.
There is no such thing as “systemic racism” against blacks. The statements from every entity in the Cathedral—the web of elites who rule us—-proves it. If there was “systemic racism” emanating from the system, which is comprised of corporations, celebrities, universities, the bureaucracy, professional associations, and even weathermen, the system could never have issued all those statements condemning it. And supporting the riots.
Instead, whatever is the most orthogonal extreme opposite of “systemic racism” for blacks exists.
Every corporation, as far as I know without exception, have a plethora of diversity officers on staff, whose singular purpose is to ensure blacks are given positions, even to the extent of weakening job requirements. Success is measured by quota. Enough diversity is never sufficient, either. Routine HR announcements swearing fealty to Diversity and condemning “systemic racism” are issued. Virtue signaling by officers and HR is omnipresent.
Every university, college, seminary, and academy hungers for greater “diversity”, which everybody knows means more blacks, fewer whites, fewer Asians, and more people who embrace various sexual perversions. Students are labeled “diverse” is they are not white or Asian. The amounts of money spent to ensure greater positions for blacks is vast. Blacks score less well than any other group on SATs, ACTs, MCATs, GREs, and other tests, yet are allowed lower scores for matriculation and graduation. Indoctrination of all students against racism, systemic or otherwise, is mandatory.
Every academician proclaims “systemic racism”, and holds the theory that only whites can be racist, because (presumably) whites have mysterious powers.
Every political organization goes out of its way to ensure blacks are “visible”. Appointments to committees, the judiciary, boards, and on and on have quotas, stated and unstated. The military is open about its quotas, and has been for a long time.
Every media and Big Teach organization regularly and routinely and as a matter of strict policy shades coverage and searches in favor of blacks, either by not reporting black crime, especially against whites (black crimes against whites is larger than whites against blacks), or by repeating endlessly the fiction that “systemic racism” is pervasive. The “1619 Project” from the New York Times stating that America’s founding purpose is racism is bad historical fiction, filled with purposeful lies and disinformation. It won the Pulitzer prize, the highest journalistic honor.
Even the least of us, Hollywood celebrities, chant endlessly about the evils of “systemic racism.” These negligible thinkers have fully assimilated the propaganda that it is impossible to be racist against whites. Movies and TV go out of their way to disproportionately feature blacks. Critics compete to praise, or overlook flaws, in projects predominately featuring blacks.
And did I mention Affirmative Action and the loss of Freedom of Assembly?
The entire culture is saturated with the idea that racism against blacks is everywhere, constant, and debilitating.
Now, if “systemic racism” is so pervasive and obvious and constant, where is it? Where—exactly where?
Is it in business? No. Is it in schools? No. The military? No. On TV? No. Is it in any official organization of any kind? No. It is nowhere to be found, yet it is everywhere. That is what systemic means. We are told it is everywhere. People believe it is everywhere. It therefore must be everywhere. But nobody can find it. Read the rest here.
Mr. Briggs' encapsulation of the non-existence of systemic racism more or less matches my own personal experiences with the phenomenon throughout my life. Though I could easily detect what could be classified as racism among certain individuals and some small groups, I never succeeded in identifying let alone locating the pervasive systemic racism leftists the world over vehemently scream about. Of course, the flippant and automatic response to this observation is a simple - of course you don't, you're white - which implies my 'whiteness' is firmly entrenched within the racist system, rendering me blind to the injustice, oppression, and violence that permeates the world around me.
I had encountered the term systemic racism when I was a university student, but I did not have to deal with the concept on a daily basis until I became an inner city high school teacher in the Bronx. Now when I say deal with the concept, I mean just that - a concept. As a concept, systemic racism was everywhere. It formed the core focus of my pedagogical training in New York and became a persistent presence in my day-to-day working life as a teacher of 'underprivileged youth of color'. Though the concept was ubiquitous, I had an extremely difficult time finding actual evidence of systemic racism anywhere.
For five years I worked for a black principal in a high school in the Bronx. He made a six-figure salary, lived in Westchester County, drove to work in a sporty Mercedes-Benz, and eventually earned a doctorate at UPenn. All-in-all, he was a decent fellow, but he was quite convinced of the existence of systemic racism. The vice-principal of the school was a black woman who drove a BMW SUV to school and also earned a doctorate eventually. Once again, a decent person, but firmly entrenched in the notion that the system was inherently racist against all people of color. One of my former colleagues, a young, black science teacher, earned a doctorate and went on to become a much-celebrated urban education professor at Columbia University. He wears really snappy suits complete with bowties and stylish hats. He's been featured in Ted Talks and has written a couple of best-selling books. The subject matter of his books? The relentless evil and violence of systemic racism.
I worked at that school in the Bronx for five years and had fairly positive experiences overall, but the shadow of 'systemic racism' darkened everything I encountered. Even when it was not spoken of openly, it was implied. Though my supervisors appreciated my work at the school, they often bemoaned the lack of 'teachers of color' in inner city schools, insinuating that students would be far more engaged in learning if the person at the front of the room looked like them. When students failed to perform, which was all-too-common, systemic racism was often cited as the culprit. Teaching Shakespeare was considered colonial and insensitive. I heard this not from my black supervisors, but from a half-insane white literacy coach who insisted I was insensitive to systemic racism and had nothing but scorn for my black and hispanic students.
The school was housed in a relatively old school building on Sedgewick Avenue. Though it could have used a little refurbishment and maintenance here and there, it was a functional building, complete with blackboards, books, desks, chairs, laptop computers, smartboards, and free breakfasts and lunches for nearly every student. Despite this, educators in New York bemoaned the conditions and cited them as a cause for student underperformance, which entailed it was evidence of systemic racism. It was evidence of systemic racism because schools in white neighborhoods were infinitely better equipped and funded, which helped explain why white kids did better academically.
The problems the students brought to school in the Bronx were mostly attributed to systemic racism. Oddly enough, I encountered these same problems when I worked in a small mining community in the northeast of England. Almost all of the students there were white, but to a greater or lesser degree they displayed the same sorts of problems the kids in the Bronx did. These problems were pinned on economic inequality and domestic issues in the northeast of England. Strange.
Of course, systemic racism was still prevalent in the northeast of England as well, as evidenced by an Ofsted report filed during my time there that cited a lack of diversity at the nearly completely white school and peremptorily docked marks from the institution as a result. I can't imagine how the school could have remedied this grievous lack of diversity considering that 98% of the people living in the area were of white British descent. It mattered little that the administration had a Holocaust remembrance day and invited several African artists and priests to the school for cultural and diversity events. None of that alleviated the unbearable whiteness of the place. I mean, it was a glaring example of systemic racism if there ever was one.
I could go on for pages, but most of it would be about matters that have already been discussed and debated in countless other places before. To sum up, I heard about systemic racism throughout my teaching career, but I never once uncovered any evidence of the kind of extensive racism that was perpetually being promulgated by all those around me. That can only mean one of two things - either systemic racism really does not exist or, conversely, I am so irrevocably embedded within the system that I have become essentially blind to this most pernicious evil of evils.
Though I never encountered systematic racism per se when I taught, I became acutely aware of the System and how the System employs lies like systemic racism to ensure perpetual resentment, inversion, and conflict. You see, I don't believe in the existence of systemic racism, but I do believe in systemic soul damnation - and that's something almost no one sees, let alone believes in.
June 2, 2020
Hell May Not Be Empty Yet, But It Will Be Soon
Hell is empty, and all the devils are here. Ariel's declaration from The Tempest has become a meme all to itself; I have seen it employed countless times online over the past decade-and-a-half to describe a variety of evil circumstances and events. But in this time and place I can't help but feel that these previous applications of the quote did not do it full justice. Yes, evil circumstances certainly existed in the past ten or twenty years, but were they truly evil enough to empty hell of all its devils?
Ariel's statement is primarily one of recognition - a sudden awareness of the existence of men who are essentially evil - but the language he employs is supernatural in scope. In this respect, it mirrors what some people must be experiencing today - a cold, perhaps even reluctant realization of evil in their midst. Like Ariel, I imagine some would even use demonic imagery to describe this evil, but I suspect such language would remain firmly grounded in the metaphorical in the minds of most. In other words, evil men are merely like devils; hell, the imaginary place from which they spawn.
Though metaphoric comprehension denotes a step in the right direction, it offers only a partial understanding of the reality we are currently experiencing. It is hard to know if all the devils are here in this time and place, but one thing is certain - many are. And their numbers are increasing by the day. The pressure they are building and the chaos they are fomenting is undeniable.
If hell is not empty yet, then we must be getting close - awfully close.
Ariel's statement is primarily one of recognition - a sudden awareness of the existence of men who are essentially evil - but the language he employs is supernatural in scope. In this respect, it mirrors what some people must be experiencing today - a cold, perhaps even reluctant realization of evil in their midst. Like Ariel, I imagine some would even use demonic imagery to describe this evil, but I suspect such language would remain firmly grounded in the metaphorical in the minds of most. In other words, evil men are merely like devils; hell, the imaginary place from which they spawn.
Though metaphoric comprehension denotes a step in the right direction, it offers only a partial understanding of the reality we are currently experiencing. It is hard to know if all the devils are here in this time and place, but one thing is certain - many are. And their numbers are increasing by the day. The pressure they are building and the chaos they are fomenting is undeniable.
If hell is not empty yet, then we must be getting close - awfully close.
